Fresh from a triumphant Edinburgh run, comedy duo Grubby Little Mitts are back with their brilliantly surreal and delightfully silly sketch show Eyes Closed, Mouths Open at Soho Theatre, running Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 May 2025. Known for their playful energy and inventive storytelling, the pair bring their most finely honed hour yet to the London stage. Expect fake bars, owl obsessions, and co-dependent chaos — all with a wink to the audience. Click here to book tickets.
We interviewed them ahead of the run.
If you had to describe Eyes Closed, Mouths Open in just three words, what would they be? Co-dependancy Library (Silly)
Which sketch in the show takes things to the most ridiculous or surreal place? A woman arrives at a bar, only to become deeply offended when the barman gets the order wrong, she monologues about not having her needs met, he turns out to be her boyfriend, he’s not even a barman and it’s a fake bar in the garden. It’s relatable stuff!
You tackle everything from owls to office jobs — how do you decide what makes it into the show? We stress and strain over the perfect material, perform the show in Edinburgh for a month, then get programmed at Soho Theatre and rewrite half of it just in time. Works every time.
How has your style or approach changed since your Bristol Old Vic days? We still spend a lot of time on tech time and rehearsals, but during the show we engage with the audience a lot more than we used to – that was a fun learning curve! I certainly used to get quite stressed about “getting it right” which comes from being an actor-for-hire, learning someone else’s script etc, but doing this has made me feel confident getting up there even if we have just written it in the foyer a la Sketch Book, because I know I will be able to handle whatever comes. Weirdly it’s kind of hard being a straight actor now…apparently they don’t want you to look down the lens and wiggle your eyebrows when you’re doing a Jaguar ad?
Do No Rolls Barred fans ever turn up expecting something totally different? We should do a sketch about board games to reward them for their loyalty.
What first inspired you to create the live-sketched comedy night Sketch Book? Apart from being booked as the only alt act on a stand up bill (often with an audience of people who have never seen sketch comedy before) really the only way to try out new sketch material is to put on an hour long show, which is inevitably performed in front of friends and family who are not the most reliable litmus test for your jokes. Putting on a show is a creative and financial risk as well! We wanted to make a night for sketch and alt comics to get up with their new material in front of the right sort of audience, script in their hand if they want to, and in doing so they create a 10 minute set they can reliably do in the clubs. Stand ups have plenty of places to do this and sketch/alt comics need more spots to hone their style in the same way. We’ve been going 18 months now and it’s been absolutely wonderful, reliably selling out to a returning audience – it’s great for sketch people to meet each other too. Next show June 12th at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, with eight acts for just £8. Bargain!
What’s one sketch comedy rule you’re happiest to ignore? “This character needs a wig.”
Is there a moment in this show that always gets an unexpected reaction? We have rewritten The Muffin Saga and are performing it at Soho for the first time – so I can point to that with absolutely certainty for this question.
Do you have any pre-show rituals or superstitions? I like to run the most complicated bit of the show so we don’t do it for the first time that day in front of an audience. Sullivan has to have a bottle of fizzy water with him, presumably so the theatre doesn’t fall down or something?
For someone who’s never seen Grubby Little Mitts, why should they start with this show? Try anything once…