HIS STORY Glenn Wool, 40, comedian
Maxwell and I met roaming the hills of north London when we were in our mid-20s and had the same circle of friends. I was living with Ed Byrne and we’d all hang out at his house for days on end.
Our main way of communicating is by teasing. I’ve harassed him about being short for as long as I’ve known him. His go-to slam for me is that I’m a very hirsute gentleman. If you were to read the transcripts of our phone conversations, you’d be under the impression that we don’t like each other. Which isn’t true at all.
We are at our best when we’ve downed a couple of pints and are propping up a bar. He’s wonderful and loud and the life of the party. He can get going and all of a sudden the whole bar’s looking at him and enjoying the story. We were out one night in Austria and he was cracking people up, but no one knew who he was. Before leaving, a German couple came up to him and gave him €20 and said: “That is for the laughs.”
He has a quiet side, too. To make the man happy, give him a history book and help him into a chair.
Both of our marriages broke up around the same time. Sometimes Max would come over to my house to stay. He’s really loyal and that’s important when you share so many secrets with a person.
We’ve had some wonderful arguments – a few go-arounds about religion. We’re both huge fans of Jesus, not that we’re Christians in that we don’t go to church. We disagree on the minutiae. But I think it’s more we just both want a bit of a row; we want to unload and it’s a safe target area and we’re comfortable with each other. I love that I always know I can say whatever the hell I want to Maxwell and he can take it.
HIS STORY Andrew Maxwell, 41, comedian
When I first met him, Glenn used to wear a lot of Arran jumpers. He was a man in his 20s dressing like a folk singer from the 50s; it was an unusual look. I remember sitting in a tiny B&B room in Bristol after a ghastly gig, sharing a bag of crisps, setting the world to rights and just laughing at the appalling situation we were in.
We’re absurd together. He’s a big hairy bear of a man. I’m a little sort of whippet. Over the years he’s made so many jokes about my height it’s now at the point of complete absurdity. The jokes involve me being microscopic, invisible even. But it’s never cruel, it’s just to pass the time.
Glenn is a quintessential Canadian man. He’s very polite. He can go silent for a while. He is a good listener. With a career in show businesses, one minute you’re running hot and you’re on every TV show in the world, the next minute you’re not. It’s a life of snakes and ladders.
We both love to go for a schvitz [a sauna]. But we do not like bad etiquette in the schvitz. Don’t bring your scent in there! We don’t want your Olbas oil! Once we went to this steam room in Holloway. We were comfortable in each other’s largely naked company. Then this dude came in and slowly but surely cleaned himself. He was scrubbing and scrubbing and bits were flying everywhere and landing on us. It was so disgusting it’s a memory that’s never left either of us.
We’re both news junkies and enjoy discussing what’s going on in the world. But nothing really riles us. Except I don’t like people thinking I’m invisible and he doesn’t like people combing him in public.
Andrew Maxwell will perform Yo Contraire at Latitude Festival (16–19 July) and Andrew and Glenn will both be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe.
