Award winning comedy actor Charlie Hides, the man behind Kandi Kane-Baxter and Laquisha Jonz, has recently launched a new YouTube channel, featuring his various comic creations. We sat down with the busy cabaret star for a chin-wag…
When did you start making videos?
As a kid I was always mucking about with a video camera, making movies in the back garden with my brothers and sister. When I started performing in the UK ten years ago, I would do my costume changes behind a screen and show short videos on it to keep the crowd entertained. A lot of the early ones showed the back-story between Kandi and her husband Reginald and short commercials.
Why start a YouTube channel now?
Over the years I’ve put a few of my videos on line but I wasn’t really happy with how grainy they looked. When I heard that YouTube was now in HD, I thought I’d give it another try. At first I just planned on uploading some of my old videos, but when I started playing around with the my new HD camera, my mind began racing and I had so many new ideas for things to do with Kandi and Laquisha, and a whole bunch of new characters started popping into my head as well.
New characters? Tell us more…
Well the two I’m having the most fun with at the moment are Nana and Freddy. Nana is 9 year-old Freddy’s grandmother and she and Laquisha are constantly getting into fights. I’ve filmed scenes with all three interacting, which have been a lot of fun to shoot.
How often do you post your videos?
A new video every Wednesday.
You’re still very busy with Kandi and Laquisha, where do you find the time?
Well, I’m doing something I really enjoy so it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like I’m still a kid playing make believe. I’m able to do things on video that I can’t do in a live show like location shots, and playing male and female characters in the same scene. I’m also able to do much more elaborate make up for a video than I would be able to live. I could never do Cher, Sue Sylvester, Justin Bieber and Laquisha in the same live show because the make-up changes would take too long.
How has the response been?
It’s been really encouraging, last Wednesday I uploaded my new ‘Cher Kills Gaga’ video and within 48 hours it had over 1,500 views. In less than two weeks the channel has had almost 5,000 views. I’ve had loads of messages and comments and people subscribing to the channel from all over the world.
What kind of messages?
“Stop making videos, you’re shit!” [laughing].Actually the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I got a message from a teenage kid in California saying he loves my videos and has shown them to all his friends, he’d never heard of me ‘til I popped up on YouTube. I got another from someone who’s seen me perform many times at the Two Brewers, and it wasn’t ‘til he saw the pictures on my channel that he realized Kandi and Laquisha were played by the same person.
What can we look forward to?
This week’s episode is something I’ve wanted to film for a long time. Laquisha always talks about having her hair done by a world famous “Weavologist”, so this week you get to see the UnbeWeavable Salon. Next week I slap Justin Bieber around.
To watch the videos Google Charlie Hides TV and follow the links.
Kandi Kane Baxter will be at The Cambria (40 Kemerton Rd, Camberwell, London SE5 9AR) on Sunday 3rd April.
Kandi Kane Baxter and Laquisha Jonz perform every Sunday at the Two Brewers (114 Clapham High Street, SW4).
