I sang and wrote all the material for a group called The Kondo Brothers, who mutated into The Kondos, and then The Condos because everyone wanted to spell it that way anyway.
We won our heat on New Faces of '88 by 22,000 votes and ended up live in the Grand Final where we finished third.
Central TV were scared we'd do something odd like sing a song with silly obscene lyrics or something. ( I admit I was tempted to get me knob out, just so's we'd end up on the front page of The Sun. But I didn't. I wish I had now.) Anyway, here are some of the quotes we've got over the years:
"Striking satire" - THE GUARDIAN
"One of the most original singing acts around" - WHAT'S ON
"The best singing I've ever had on my show" - VANESSA FELTZ
"Hysterical. There is no one like them" - THE STAGE
"Absurdly funny songs" - ISLINGTON GAZETTE
"Bubbly, humorous, disciplined" - THE STAGE
"Witty, irreverent, satirical" - THE IRISH TIMES
"Splendid musical send ups" - THE STANDARD
"Great harmonies, outrageous songs. Excellent." - FESTIVAL FM
"Side splitting" - TIME OUT
This was the short film I made last year which was on the "Shooting Gallery" series on Channel 4. It was described in Time Out as 'An efficient and cleverly observed film about a man paying a visit to his one-time teacher. But is it about conveying belated gratefulness or taking revenge?Directed by Paul Katis, "Starting Over" has done the festival rounds and features convincing performances from Garfield Morgan and Jonathan Kydd.'
I did an improvised play for Mike Bradwell (who now runs the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush London) when he was at Hull Truck Theatre Co, and this necessitated researching a character for three months and then improvising with the other actors (who I'd never met up until that moment). The taped result became the play! It was a huge success at the Bush Theatre, and extended its run. I personally got a lot of praise as the synthesiser player "Alex Tyle". My character made his own pop video! This caused the paper 'The Listener' to say "It's worth watching the play for Jonathan Kydd's performance alone" and The Times to say "an excellent performance from Jonathan Kydd" The Standard was equally eulogistic, describing me as "terrific" and "very funny". Naturally after all this praise, I didn't get any work for 6 months and changed my agent in disgust.
I was in the 1981 Perrier Award Runner Up show "Theatrical Digs" at the Edinburgh Festival, singing several songs, doing lots of sketches and playing in particular "The Yodelling Dog Boiler" Harry Jarvis, with inimitable lines like "When on me rounds last Monday, I spotted Mrs Sprote, She had her pet Chihuahua, Concealed inside her coat. I said to her I said I said, emerging from the fog, I'll have to boil that dog Missus. I'll have to boil that dog." All three of us were reviewed as being "stars of the future". I'm still waiting!
The Ferrero Rocher ad which I voiced ("The Ambassador's reception is noted for its exquisite taste" and "eccelente" being a couple of my lines) was considered one of the worst ever made for TV. It was so bad it became a cult. "Dreadful cheesy voice over" was used to describe me. As was "useless dubbing". People had failed to work out it was a foreign commercial and it was done somewhat "tongue in cheek". It ran for four years.
I was in an ad for the Automobile Association (where a young boy buried his father's car in the sand) "It's in the sand" was an oft heard cry at parties for a period when I walked in) The six year old boy playing my son couldn't believe he'd got the part and kept asking me when he'd be cast. "But we're here shooting it" I kept telling him. "This is it." "But I might not be any good Keith"(he kept calling me Keith) "You are. This is it. You're filming it." (We were in Spain at the time, so it would have been a very expensive audition) It won awards as the best ad at several festivals. It ran for four and a half years.
Central TV were scared we'd do something odd like sing a song with silly obscene lyrics or something. ( I admit I was tempted to get me knob out, just so's we'd end up on the front page of The Sun. But I didn't. I wish I had now.) Anyway, here are some of the quotes we've got over the years:
This was the short film I made last year which was on the "Shooting Gallery" series on Channel 4. It was described in Time Out as 'An efficient and cleverly observed film about a man paying a visit to his one-time teacher. But is it about conveying belated gratefulness or taking revenge?Directed by Paul Katis, "Starting Over" has done the festival rounds and features convincing performances from Garfield Morgan and Jonathan Kydd.'
I did an improvised play for Mike Bradwell (who now runs the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush London) when he was at Hull Truck Theatre Co, and this necessitated researching a character for three months and then improvising with the other actors (who I'd never met up until that moment). The taped result became the play! It was a huge success at the Bush Theatre, and extended its run. I personally got a lot of praise as the synthesiser player "Alex Tyle". My character made his own pop video! This caused the paper 'The Listener' to say "It's worth watching the play for Jonathan Kydd's performance alone" and The Times to say "an excellent performance from Jonathan Kydd" The Standard was equally eulogistic, describing me as "terrific" and "very funny". Naturally after all this praise, I didn't get any work for 6 months and changed my agent in disgust.
The Ferrero Rocher ad which I voiced ("The Ambassador's reception is noted for its exquisite taste" and "eccelente" being a couple of my lines) was considered one of the worst ever made for TV. It was so bad it became a cult. "Dreadful cheesy voice over" was used to describe me. As was "useless dubbing". People had failed to work out it was a foreign commercial and it was done somewhat "tongue in cheek". It ran for four years.
I was in an ad for the Automobile Association (where a young boy buried his father's car in the sand) "It's in the sand" was an oft heard cry at parties for a period when I walked in) The six year old boy playing my son couldn't believe he'd got the part and kept asking me when he'd be cast. "But we're here shooting it" I kept telling him. "This is it." "But I might not be any good Keith"(he kept calling me Keith) "You are. This is it. You're filming it." (We were in Spain at the time, so it would have been a very expensive audition) It won awards as the best ad at several festivals. It ran for four and a half years.