Black in Britain: In conversation with Kiell Smith-Bynoe about his new show RED FLAG
Stafi Samaki and Sharlene Oola in conversation with Kiell Smith-Bynoe about his new show RED FLAG airing on Channel 4 this Friday. You can listen to the podcast here.
SS: Hi everyone, I’m Stafi, welcome to Black in Britain: In Conversation With. Today we are with Kiell, um, Smith-Bynoe, a writer, actor [and] comedian best known for his role in BBC’s Ghosts, along with his appearances in Stath Lets Flats and Enterprice.
SO: Hi guys, it's Shar here. We're excited to say that Kiell has a new sketch coming to Channel 4 this Friday called Red Flag, which follows a bunch of wild characters and scenarios they end up in. Today we're just gonna chat a bit about the show and get to know Kiell. So hello officially to, you can say a quick hi, and if there's anything else you wanna add to the audience, just go ahead.
KS-B: Hi. I've got absolutely nothing to add. That was a great intro.
SO: Great!
SS: Amazing, thank you! We were, like, so nervous! We were like ‘how do we introduce you?’ Like are we gonna do a great one or not?
KS-B: [Laughs] No, that was perfect.
SS: Amazing.
KS-B: Might copy and paste that actually.
SS: [Laughs]
KS-B: Use it myself.
SS: Um, it was great. We'll actually send it to you as well. Um, so our first question is, we wanted to– we watched the first episode of Red Flag and it's hilarious. Um, could you tell us a little bit more about how the show came to be? Was there something specific that triggered this idea?
KS-B: Yeah. Um, so… 2017, I worked with Kayode Ewumi on Enterprice and no– even before that, we worked on Hood Documentary together. Um, and we always had these ideas for sketches. Um, I think it's like, it's quite a done thing for actors and comedians to comment on things that have happened and be like, oh, “that's a sketch”, “that could be a sketch”. And, um, Kayode, and I did that quite regularly and came up with something with a few ideas that we were actually like, well, let's actually make that sketch rather than just saying like, oh, that could be a sketch. And, um, so we had a few, uh, that we had just written out like loosely. We had like a… the– the title and a few lines of what it would be about. And, um, then we actually spent some time and worked on them and, uh, started writing them. And I mean, this was just an idea that me and him had. And we, we went through a lot of, um, meetings and companies and people who were interested, but weren't really sure about certain aspects of the idea. Um, and it got to the stage where we were just like, we'll just do it ourselves. Um, so we were kind of planning to do that. And then, um, we spoke to a producer, uh, called Rupert who was at Shiny Button at the time and he was interested. And, um, then from there we started working on it and actually got paid to work on it. And then, um, so one of, well, two of the sketches that we had from 2017, uh, actually made it into the show so, they'd been in the process from a b– from the very beginning, from when we had the start of the idea. And, um, yeah, so it's been a long process, it's been five years in total, um, from the original conception and, um, yeah, now we're, we're here about to, about to put it out.
SO: Wow, that's amazing.
KS-B: Yeah.
SO: Well kind of, like, following on from that. Have you had any, like, ‘Red Flag’ experiences in real life and did any of those things inspire the show?
KS-B: Um… Any red flag experiences in real life? I don't, I mean, I wanna say like yes, every day, but also I don't [laughs] also, I can't, I can't think of one. Um, maybe like, I–? I feel like there's always, there's always a time where I should say something about something happening, but instead I, like, as it's happening, I'm like “Can’t wait to tell my friends this story!” instead of being like, “Uh, excuse me? Why's your car on my foot?” [Laughs] or, you know, something like along those– um I… I can't actually think of an example, but um, have any of those influenced the show? Well, there’s a wobbly table sketch. Um, that was written by Stevie Martin, who's in this room with me now.
SO: Cool!
KS-B: And I mean, that is… I wanted to find some– There's a, there's a few sketches in the show. I think you should leave where, um, they are, they're small everyday things that have been exaggerated into something like mad and that's, uh, exactly what I wanted to do with this show. And I wanted to find something that's so mundane and, um, also relatable that you could parody and then, basically the idea was that I wanted every– I want, from now on, everyone who ever goes into a restaurant and has a wobbly table to go: “You see that sketch?”
SO and SS: [Laughter]
KS-B: Um, and that, that probably came from that happening to me at some stage. So that's probably from a real life experience, but, um, there's no big story to that. The table is just wobbly. Um, but aside from that, I don't think, I can't think of any. If I do, I'm gonna be thinking about that throughout the rest of this interview.
SS: [Laughs]
KS-B: If I do, I'm just gonna shout it. No matter what question you've asked me, I'm gonna answer that.
SO: Fair enough, fair enough.[Laughs] Um, so obviously you wrote with a team of, of different writers. Was there anything you learned about yourself as a writer, like having to work with other people or anything?
KS-B: Um, what did I learn? I learned that it's quite difficult to write a show with someone who's in a different country, uh, and that you can only speak to on Mondays. Um, Kayode who I started the show with. Um, as we… throughout the process was in different stages of his career and this stage is called retirement and he’s, um, he doesn't, he's not acting anymore. He's not in front of the camera anymore. He's still involved creatively. And, uh, as a producer and, um, we wrote magician and, uh, murder mystery together. Uh, so he’s still involved in the decisions and the creative decisions, but not acting in it, and he’s not in front of the camera. And, uh, but there were some things that we had to decide together. And that was a challenge when I’d message him on a Wednesday and he doesn't get back to me on Monday– until Monday and I'm like, “We've already shot it. Sorry, mate.”
Um, who else was on there? Sam Campbell wrote on there, he wrote the zoo sketch and Jamie Demetriou wrote two of the sketches as well, who I've worked with before on Stath. Um, uh, only on Stath actually. And yeah, he wrote two of the sketches and it– that was very easy. I mean, his… I know his sense of humour because I've worked on shows that he's written for the… over the last three years, I’d say. And, um, I just knew that like, from when he pitched the idea, I knew it was gonna be great. I knew it was gonna work. And, um, obviously because it’s, it's under the banner of ‘my show’, I got the opportunity to be able to edit or add things. Um, and we had like little additions and little, uh, tweaks and stuff, but yeah, it was, um, hopefully if it– if we get a series, then we'll actually get to all be in the same room together and write that way rather than just like send each other ideas and then, um, do it remotely.
So I'm, I'm really hoping that that happens and, and we'll actually be able to have a writer's room and then everyone can feed in loads more ideas. We actually had some sketches that we weren't even able to… to do because they would've just been too difficult for this, the budget that we had, uh, for the pilot. Uh, Katy Wix, who was also in Stath Lets Flats and she's in Ghosts as well, she wrote a really funny sketch that we, we weren’t able to use ‘cause it was too big. Um, so hopefully we'll get to– to do that in the series.
SO: Yeah, we hope so, we hope so.
SS: Yeah.
SO: Um, as you said, like you worked with Jamie on his show; do you find there's like a.. a big shift in dynamic ‘cause now it's like ‘your thing’ and your friends are on your thing now?
KS-B: Not really, actually. I think that, um, although we started out as colleagues – Ha ha! I just got to the end of that sentence in my head and realised what it sounded like.
SO: [Laughs]
KS-B: Um, sounds like a poem! Um, although we started out as colleagues, we are definitely now friends and just being on set with your mates is I think is the best thing. Um, and I think that's true of any profession. Like, whatever it– whatever job you're doing, it, it's better with your friends. Um, whether it's a job that, where you want the time to go faster or you like are enjoying the, the whole day and you want, you wish you had more time. Regardless of that, I think if you're with friends, it– it's a lot better. And um, the way that it works on Stath, doesn't… it never felt like it was like ‘his show’ and his show only. And he's calling the shots and that's it. I think it's very much an ensemble um… I mean, obviously he's writing the words and, and creating the world, but I think that, especially when it got into the later series, we know our characters so well that we can add things and have suggestions and he was up for it. And it was very much an uh, a team effort. So I think, I think the same could be said for, uh, when we did Red Flag. ‘Cause he was actually in one of the sketches that he wrote, he was in the conga sketch.
SO: Mm-hmm.
KS-B: Yeah.
SO: Nice. OK. Uh, I wanted to ask you a little bit about like, internet influence–
KS-B: Mm!
SO: …‘cause obviously that's been a big deal recently and you were in things like Diary of a Badman and things like that. Um, we sort of grew up watching those shows, you know, Don’t Jealous Me, Smokeys Barber, Mandem on the Wall-
KS-B: Yeah.
SS: [Singing] Mandem on the wall! [Talking] Sorry, just had to sing that.
All: [Laughter]
SO: And obviously that was, like, so iconic, especially for us being young black people.
KS-B: Mm-hmm.
SO: And just wanted to know, how do you think that shaped your career and like how would your life be different if you didn't go on the internet?
KS-B: That is a great question. I think that I was, um. There is a… attitude to going and doing those sketches that I've kept since that time. And I think that, that was like– I mean the first one that I would've done, would've been when I was fresh outta drama school. So, maybe 2010, I probably did the first video with, um, with Tolu [Tolu Ogunmefun] and the attitude to that was like, you turn up, you don't really know what your part is. You've been given, like, the smallest amount of information. You turn up with like… maybe, he said, like “Bring a shirt.” And you brought a shirt, you dunno if it's the right colour, you dunno if it's like– you could, you could be bringing, like, a school shirt and you're meant to be playing like… I don't know, like a guy at a fancy dinner party or something; you're just getting it wrong! But it's like, the attitude is just: you turn up with the thing and hope that it, it like works out and you dunno what time you start, you dunno what time you finish. You're just there until it's done.
And I think that attitude towards working is something that I've kept with me where it's like “Let's just get it done” and not like, let's get it done in the quickest way, but let's get it done the best. And um, also scenarios changing very quickly. I think, um, with Stath in particular, it was like the, uh, [mutters] series three, there was a lot of change to the scripts. Um, ‘cause Jamie was still writing as we were filming it. And there were times where we would’ve just been given a script and it was like, “Okay, this is what I'm doing.” and we'd do it. And like… that felt… I mean, when we were doing that for YouTube, it was sort of like, “This is just what's happening” um, and that happening on TV, or like to go worldwide, it's crazy, but it obviously works because like people love the show and it it's got the accolades it deserves and whatnot. But I think that attitude definitely, um, helped coming from a place where you’d just sort of turn up.
I mean, we used to shoot videos, um, just like, whatever street we could find. And like, especially when I was doing videos with A Squeezy [Arnold Jorge] um, it was like, we'd go to– he'd have me somewhere in like the– the middle of Northwest London and be like, “We’ve got 10 minutes to shoot this before school finishes and all these kids come out, so we've gotta like get this shot.” And so those, those things you, um… I think you keep with you and it makes you less precious about it and less like, “Oh yeah, but this has gotta be right!
And that's gotta be right! And this has got–!” It's like, sometimes all of that doesn't matter. Um, and there was an element of that with, with Red Flag in terms of like, we had to shoot two sketches in– two sketches a day for three days. And, um, there were times where it was like “We've got 5 minutes left, we've gotta get this.” Um, and some people, some actors can't work in those… conditions? Conditions. Um, some actors can't work when it's like that much pressure or, can do it but find it very difficult. And I sort of feel at home doing that because of that, um, that internet experience that sort of “Turn up and get it shot before the council come and remove you.”
KS-B and SO: [Laughing]
SO: Yeah, that's great. That's very interesting.
KS-B: Yeah. That's a great question, I've never been asked that before!
SO: Yay! [Laughs]
SS: Um, our next question is, um, you've spoken in the past about having to somewhat tone down your blackness to fit into predominantly white spaces. Like when you were in drama school.
KS-B: Mm- hmm.
SS: Um, did you feel like this is something you still need to do? Or like how has it made you feel when you’ve had to?
KS-B: D’you know what, I was– I was talking about this recently on another podcast and, d’you know, I think, like it's really interesting how the– how times have changed with that. And I think, like, it can work in our favour. Um, and I think when you re– when you find things that can work to your favour, just like… rinse it. Um, and I, I remember the first time– I mean I used to, before I was full-time acting, ‘cause I've only been full time for 6 years– uh, 2016– before that I was like doing all sorts of like little jobs that I hated, um, and I remember sometimes in between those little jobs, I'd have meetings at, say a production company or audition or whatever it was and be like really overthinking what I'm wearing. Um, and sometimes not even necessarily for an audition, for an audition is different because you've gotta look the part. But in terms of like being able to just like rock up and have a meeting about something that you're about to do, or, um, a conversation about something that you've got planned in the future, um. I would always be like, “Well, I can't… I can't wear hat. I can't wear tracksuit”, those sort of things. And I remember going into offices and spaces like SBTV’s office or Link Up TV and all of those things and like… Jamal [Edwards] was like, like running the company and just like… tracksuit. And I was like, “What? You can be comfortable in these meetings?” and like just things like that.
And like, not having to change, I mean, the way that I would… the way that I would speak, um… It's a difficult one because what, no, not difficult, but when I left drama school, all my friends told me that I sounded like Anne Robinson. So… [Laughs] so there's that. Um [Laughs] but, um, I think like even the way that I, I would speak to my friends, I sort of, I felt like I couldn't do that, um, in certain spaces. And then the more that I've, I’ve worked in the industry and the more that I, um, learn, I realise that it's, it's very much about being yourself and you've gotta be as much of yourself as you can be. And that's what gets you into the places that you wanna be, I guess.
Um, and I think a really great example of that is Guz Khan, um, who's a standup actor comedian, and like [laughs] he's, I think he's the truest form of that because that guy doesn't even wear the clothes that they have for him on set. [Laughing] He just wears his own clothes. He wears his own clothes, he drives himself, he brings his own food, sometimes. He's like not interested in like all of the, the show-biz aspect and the like, “Oh, we've gotta get someone to pick you up from your house!” he’s like “I can drive, what you picking me up from my house for?” Um, and that sort of thing, and I think like, a lot of that's important to keep, but I think that, um– I sort of strayed from the question thereI just realised– but, um, I think I did sort of tone down my, like where I came from and my background and all of those things until I realised that I didn't need to. Um, and I'm glad that I learned that when I did or I'd probably still like, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a big enough job to like, say someone else's words and, uh, embody someone else's journey as a character. And then like, if you're doing that, if you’re already acting, pretending not to be yourself before you take on a character, there's a lot going on. So, um, yeah, I think, I think I definitely did when I started out, but I've, I've learned not to. Um… yeah.
SO: Well, that is amazing. We absolutely love to hear it, because that's what our platform is about.
KS-B: Mm.
SO: Um, yeah, a bit of a lighthearted question now,
KS-B: Mm-hmm.
SO: But what was a show that made you laugh really hard when you were younger?
KS-B: Um, So many shows just popped into my head. Kenan & Kel… Um, Did you ever see Good Burger?
SO: Yes! Oh my God, I love that film.
KS-B: The first time I ever– I used to think that when people said, like “cried with laughter”, I thought it was like a, like a phrase. I thought it was [laughs] I thought it was like, “Bob's your uncle!” or something.
SO: [Laughs]
KS-B: Like, you know, like I thought it was just a phrase that people say. And I remember watching Good Burger and I cried with laughter and I was like [stunned pause] I couldn't, I– before that happened, I couldn't even imagine what it meant. And, um, yeah, so that's always stuck with me. Um, what else? I also really liked Ren & Stimpy, which is, I… I mean, I haven't watched that in years, but when I think about it, it's disgusting!
SO: [Laughs]
KS-B: Um, when they used to do those, like, super zoom-ins up his nose and that.
SO: Yeah!
KS-B: Not for me.
SS: What was the show?
KS-B and SO: Ren & Stimpy.
SS: Ren & Stimpy?
KS-B: Yeah.
SO: It's one of those shows you watched, like, late when you probably shouldn't be watching it.
SS: Oh yeah! The one– Nickelodeon! The Nickelodeon–
KS-B: Yeah yeah yeah.
SS: It was [on] really late. It was so wild, I will not lie.
KS-B: Yeah. Yeah, It was one of those ones. Um, what else? It was– I used to watch a lot of cartoons, um, Freakazoid. Do you remember that?
SO: I don’t know what that is.
KS-B: No? Um, I mean, I'm guessing I'm a little bit older than you guys. Um, probably about 10 years.
SO: [Laughs]
KS-B: Um, yeah.
SO: But do you– do you feel like those things that you watched when you were younger have influenced your comedy now?
KS-B: Oh, definitely! Yeah. I mean, I still reference things like Animaniacs and, um, Power Puff Girls, things like that. I think like, that was all really, um, I can't think of the word. Um, I think that was, I think it, um… shaped the way that I find things funny. Um, and I just like,
Yeah, I think cartoons– definitely cartoons, um, but also there were some, like some shows that I used to watch. Like, I mean, not when I was– not when I was a child, but when I was like in my teens, I used to watch Fonejacker and I used to love, like the idea that one person could just, like, be all these characters. And I think thatm that really still influences me now. And… and as you've seen in Red Flag, like I want, I want variety in the characters. And I think like given, if we get a series, then I 'll be able to do more of that and, and be as varied as possible. But I think, um, that was one of the things for me that I really loved to see, like one person doing a variety of things.
And that's probably why I loved cartoons so much, just like to see, like… [laughs] someone get hit with a piano and then like, you know, like, um, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and stuff when he, like, he just like clicks– he doesn't click that's a magician– but like when he's just in another costume-
SO: Mm-hmm.
KS-B: -Or he just takes on the characteristics of a thing and then has like a little prop or a little, um, jacket or something that adds to the character. All those sort of things is like, uh, and the genie from Aladdin, for example, as well is another example of that, of just like, turning into a character and having the little accessories with it that adds to the, um, thing–
SO: Yeah [Laughs]
KS-B: -like on Trouble cause he had Trouble. He also had, um, I can't remember what channel, uh, WWF was. Um, but I wanted to like watch wrestling. So he'd record that for me. And then like also just pop some other bits on there and then I'd just watch this VHS. Um, and a VHS is–
SO: [Laughing] We know!
KS-B: [Laughter]
SS and SO: [Laughing] We know what it is!
KS-B: [Laughs] But yeah. Um, you know, yeah. So it was like all of those sort of, uh, references, uh, I guess influenced me and even wrestling. I mean, wrestling characters, like the idea was that there were– it was meant to be funny, even though, like, some of the scenarios were quite, like, violent. Um, there were– there were jokes in there and there was like- they were all playing characters and they all like stuck to their characters and yeah, they were over the top. But, um, I think that like…
That's another example of like, characters that I watched growing up, even like– things like Gladiators! You sort of, you see these characters forming and, and you get an idea of, um, how they would react in any scenario. And I think that that's like a really good lesson for a writer. Um, and obviously at that– at six years old or however old I was, I didn't know that I wanted to be a writer, but like, I mean, I didn't even know that at 25 , but the… the idea that, you know how your characters react in any scenario, um, has really… has stuck with me. Um, I think, and yeah.
SO: [Pause] That was a really interesting answer. Thank you for that. Um, so with, you know, working on a lot of projects and writing all the time, do you ever find yourself thinking of like what you're gonna do next without enjoying the now? Like right now are you just thinking about–
KS-B: Constantly.
SO: Okay. [Laughs]
KS-B: Always, um, I think it's been a very long time since I've actually just like honed in on one thing and enjoyed what I'm doing rather than thinking about the next thing. And I'm really trying to work on that. And um, I think I'm getting better at it. Um, but maybe I just need a holiday and then I can have a little reset. But, um, yeah, at the moment I'm– I am actively working on being present in the thing. Um, and not thinking about a thousand other things whilst I'm doing that. I mean, I'm not very good at it, but I am thinking about– doing- I'm working on it. Um, so it's, uh, yeah, it's a challenge. It's one of– it's a–it's a, it's a challenge and hopefully I'll get better. Um, maybe I just need like… a Nokia.
SO: Mm-hmm.
KS-B: Um… Or maybe it is a holiday. Or a million pounds. Um, but one of- one of those things will help.
SO: Yeah. [Laughs]
KS-B: [Laughing] Yeah.
SS: And then kind of onto, our kind of like last few questions, um, can you give us three adjectives to describe Red Flag?
KS-B: Oo! Um… um. [Pause] Whenever people ask me about this show, I say it's stupid. I really do think it is stupid. And I like, that's whatI wanted to make, I wanted to make a stupid show. I wanted to make a stupid show with good people that I find funny. And I think that's what I've done. Uh. Stupid, good, funny. No, that's not good enough. Stupid. Um…? [Laughs] Stupid-stupid-stupid?
SO: Yeah!
KS-B: That work?
SO: Yeah.
KS-B: Um, I think it is, I think like when we were talk– when we start- when we started out, um, and we were speaking to, um, the producer and the production company about it, we were saying that we don't want, we don't wanna make a show with like any agenda or any messages or any like, uh, political statements or anything like that. We just wanna make a stupid show. And I think even when we were getting submissions from writers, I thought like at times this was, this… it's got- it’s too… Linked to something else or it's too relatable or it's too– Um… Even I think you mentioned about like, topics that are online, and things like that. And I just like, I wanted to stay away from all of those things and just make something really dumb. Um, and I think that's what we've done. So I might… I might stick with stupid, stupid, stupid.
SS: Yep. It's a good answer!
KS-B: Stupid-cubed.
SS: [Laughs] Um, the next question is: what advice would you give to your younger self?
KS-B: Hm. Um… What advice would I give to my younger self? Hmm. Do you know what? Sometimes, sometimes I think about like regrets and stuff and um… And then other times I'm just like, I think of just like stories and things that have happened. And one of the main things that keeps [laughs] popping back into my head is when I was… maybe 15 , no, maybe four– I 'd have been 15, I think. And I- I had birthday money. And I went to the shop and I bought £20 T-Mobile credit and you know, like– So back in the day they used to, um,
SO: [Laughs]
SS: [Laughing] I still do that for my mobiles– it’s ok, it’s ok!
KS-B: Um, but when- basically they use– they'd print it out on a receipt, um, and then you'd have to call 105. And then, um, put in the number that's on the receipt and then that'll put the credit on your phone. And I remember I put £20 credit on my phone– I bought £20 credit, walked out the shop and put the receipt straight in the bin. Immediately.
SO: [Laughing] Why?
KS-B: I don't know. I think that maybe I thought it was like… I don't know. I don't understand what happened, but you know, like a public bin, so you can't get it back out. So my message to my younger self would be to not do that.
SO: Yep. Okay. [Laughs]
KS-B: I’d save myself 20 quid. Um, I also think that I would tell myself to, um, chill out. I think I used to like try and do too many things at once. I mean, I'm still doing it. So like, yeah maybe if someone told me that earlier then I'd, um, I 'd have stopped by now. Um, and if I get asked this question in 10 years, I'll probably be saying the same thing maybe it's my character. But, um, yeah, it would, I guess it would be to chill out and not try and like… Do everything. And there’s a saying that, um, ‘if you chase two rabbits, you end up with none.’ And I think that I, I constantly need to remind myself of that. Um, and it goes back to the question you asked before about being in the present, at the time. I think I, um, yeah. I think I would've tried to work on that a little earlier, but also I'm having a nice time! So… um, yeah. Who knows? Who knows what– but I think, yeah, I think it– the main thing would've been to chill out and just like, Uh, enjoy things. Maybe enjoy school as well. ‘Cause school is actually quite good when you look back at it, um… got lunch for free!
SS: [Laughing] Oh yeah.
KS-B: Now I've gotta pay for my lunch.
SS: No, for real.
KS-B: Yeah. [Kisses teeth] Yeah. Haven't had lunch today!
KS-B: That's not your problem.
SS: [Laughs]
KS-B: You don't have to worry about that. I'm not expecting lunch from you guys. Um, yeah.
SS: Cool. And then our last question is some in one question– sum up in one sentence not question, sorry.
KS-B: Mm-hmm?
SS: What it means to be Black in Britain.
KS-B: Oo.
KS-B: For me? Or in general?
SS: For you. Yeah.
KS-B: For me. Yeah.
KS-B: Hmm. Um, Um. [Long pause] A gift and a curse.
SO: That is a very good answer. Very good answer.
SS: Yep.
KS-B: It's ‘cause I had 20 minutes to think about it.
SS and SO: [Laughter]
KS-B: Yeah. I think, think that's the best I can do in one sentence without, uh, going into a paragraph.
SO: Mm- hmm. Um, okay, well that is the end of this interview.
KS-B: Oh, thank you! This was fun.
SO: Yeah. [inaudible] Thanks to Kiell for coming on. Um, once again, check out Red Flag on Friday, we're gonna post about it on our socials. Um, but it's really funny and really great, so please watch.
KS-B: Thank you.
SO: Um, Kiell, if there's anything you wanna say, any last words, feel free.
KS-B: Um… have a look at it. If you like it, tell your friends. If you don't like it, shut up.
SS and SO: [Laughter]
SO: But yeah, that was everything. Thank you for coming on!