Lockdown seemed like the perfect time to watch loads and loads of stuff, but the more I watched, the more sort of sick I felt about myself. So, in the past few weeks I’ve watched less telly than I have done at any point in my adult life, just to ensure that I don’t become one with the couch, though I occasionally drift away from working to watch a web series on my laptop. My biggest binge is probably the same as it’s been for about 11 years, which is a series of YouTube videos starring a character that David Earl created called Steve Cumberland.
David does standup as a character called Brian Gittins, but when vlogging first became a thing he started making the Cumbo videos too. He’s this perfectly flawed modern day character – essentially a very, very sweet loser who has convinced himself that life’s the party, and he’s the DJ. His delivery totally undermines everything he says; he can be telling the viewers that he had an incredible night out, but in reality, he probably sat in a car, waiting for some teenagers to come and smoke weed with him. When he laughs, he’s looking at you and praying deep down that you’re laughing too. There’s an upward lilt at the end of the laugh that says, “is that funny?! I really hope it is because if it’s not I have absolutely nothing!”
Cumbo is relatively untapped, but for my money he stands alongside the character greats: your David Brents, Alan Partridges, Jill Tyrells. I get as excited about him releasing a video as I would a new episode of Human Remains. He can do anything and I find it funny. There’s a great four-episode miniseries on his channel, or you can just watch him playing the Sims. It’s all incredible. David’s performance throughout is untouchable. It’s such a brilliant and subtle observation of someone on the edge, without overdoing it.
There’s an amazing amount of pathos with the character, too. These days, there’s an occasional tendency in comedy drama to keep comedy and drama separate within a show, but he manages to make his pathos so funny – he doesn’t allow himself to just pluck at your heartstrings.
I think with the best characters, you want to see them go on a journey, Partridge being the best example of that. I heard the Gibbons brothers [who write Partridge with Steve Coogan] say that he’s a character who was trying to be old when he was young, and now that he’s old he’s trying to be young. I think Cumbo works in a similar way. You’re watching as he desperately tries to hold on to any semblance of cool, but as time goes on it gets harder and the stakes become higher. He’s constantly trying to convince the audience that he’s growing stronger and stronger as he’s definitely becoming tired and weak. I love the episode where he goes to Cornbury Music Festival on his own, and he’s just released a pilot which is an amazing showcase. I’ve watched it about 15 times.
Series one and two of Stath Lets Flats are available on All4
