Even though I’ve been a grownup for more years than I care to think about, the inner child in me still gets the giggles when I hear certain words. Snot. Fart. Bottom….you get the drift. Mark Trenwith has creatively combined all of these hilarious things into one character, Mr Snotbottom, and he will be heading to the 2022 Adelaide Fringe with his children’s show Mr Snotbottom’s Stinky Silly Show!
Standup comedy, improv, TV/film, children’s comedy – to me, Mark’s life sounds like a dream job. But what led him down the performing arts career path?
“Initially I wanted to be an animator, but at the time Toy Story 1 had just come out and there weren’t really any opportunities to take it seriously, particularly in Australia. I was always creative, so a teacher recommended I do screen studies instead, so I studied that at Flinders Uni. It was mainly a theory course at the time, so I was getting distracted by doing other things like drama activities or student radio. My first job out of uni ended up being a kids theatre show. It sort of came out of all of that really, that I’ve ended up where I am today. I guess I realised that perhaps I didn’t want to make cartoons, but rather I wanted to be a cartoon character. I started living that life and here I am.”
When I recently caught up with Mark to talk about his Fringe show, I was very curious as to how the character Mr Snotbottom was born.
“A friend of a friend had a birthday party for their 5 year old and they knew I did standup. They didn’t know I had a background in kids theatre, but they wanted me to do something at their kid’s party. So, I came up with a bunch of stuff. I was doing Captain Starlight at the time, so I had a stack of magic tricks and stuff like that. I created this little 20 minute show ready to go, but then she told me that the 5 year old had told everyone coming that I was going to be doing fart jokes….so I had to rewrite everything with a much stinkier undertone! I came up with the character Mr Snotbottom especially for this party. It went down pretty well and it was good fun, to the point I thought that there could be something more in this. A few months later I registered an experimental version of it at the 2011 Fringe.”
Also being an accomplished standup comedian and performing to adults, what audience medium does Mark prefer? Adults or children?
“It’s different for people’s temperaments, I think. Personally, I get more enjoyment performing for kids. I think I know how their brains work and how they’ll react to certain things. That feels safe to me, and the way they react to things is often tenfold bigger compared to how an adult will react. The way a kid’s laugh fills a room is a massive adrenaline boost for me. With adult standup, it can be like performing to a polite engaged crowd. They weren’t really a space I was comfortable with.”
Not only does Mark have a string of successful shows as Mr Snotbottom, he has also been developing and recording a series of podcasts especially for children.
“It’s about the human body, it teaches kids about the functions of the body. The digestion episode is naturally the most popular episode. It’s released through Kinderling, which is like a digital radio station for kids. Each episode is about a different part of the body, or function. The next season is all about feelings and teaching kids about recognising different feelings. It teaches kids how to name them and the tools to be able to explain it to adults. It’s using storytelling and strange humour to reach the listeners. Giving kids these tools is so important; it helps them understand what is happening to them.”
Mr Snotbottom’s Stinky Silly Show! will be hitting the Adelaide Fringe in the Garden for a limited 2 week run.
“Kids will not only get to laugh at all the farts in the show, but they will learn what a fart actually is. There’s a rap song all about farts called ‘Smart About Farts’, where everyone gets the opportunity to be in the Snotbottom band, and of course there is the usual stinky, disgusting sound effects and general weirdness that is the world of Mr Snotbottom.
“Having an escape is what we all need right now. This show is something that is not going to push anyone’s buttons in one direction or another. It’s just fun.”
Mr Snotbottom’s Stinky Silly Show! will be performed at The Factory at The Garden of Unearthly Delights between March 5 – 6 & 12 – 14 at 3.00pm. Tickets available through FringeTix or at https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/mr-snotbottom-s-stinky-silly-show-af2022
Interview by Ben Stefanoff
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