As we look ahead to Leicester Comedy Festival we catch up with the Rob Manuel, the man behind viral Twitter account, Fesshole, ahead of the live show at The Y Theatre.
Fesshole is armed with the best (and worst) confessions known to mankind. Cringe, laugh and sit back in anonymity as he uncovers the depths of human grotesqueness. Expect some live confessions from you – the audience – too! He’s also going to dig into the bin of unpublished Leicester confessions, from one-night-stands to the inappropriate usage of a pineapple… This show is not for the faint hearted!
What inspired the beginning of Fesshole?
I’ve been horribly addicted to Twitter for 10 years and I thought I’ve got nothing to show for this – I don’t have a popular account, I’m just another idiot wasting his life providing content for the great content maw run by a huge corporation.
I figured it was time I had a popular account so I got to work just bashing out ideas that amused me to see if any of them would take off. I made a Yoko Ono tweets bot, a parody headline bot, a swearing clock but it was sharing funny confessions which the public went “yes, please, we want that”.
But in a wider sense I just like funny stories and I like running internet projects.
What confession has shocked you the most?
I’m not sure the internet ones shock me much as they’re just words on a screen, it’s the live confessions that shock me, when audience members happily share with a room stories which are frankly quite alarming.
At the last show we had a woman talking about how she tried to kill a relative by giving them COVID, by licking stamps and sending them letters, all so she could inherit a house. This shocked me a little personally although the room cheered and forgave her. So I can be shocked by the audience too.
How would you describe Fesshole to someone who isn’t on Twitter?
I think the magic of @fesshole is partly that it doesn’t really need to be described, people get it from reading a single confession and seeing the name.
It’s a list of public confessions people send in, it tends towards the humorous as I’m not going send a tweet to 860,000 people talking about how they want to kill themselves as that feels like bad vibes.
Here’s some examples:
My former neighbours came straight from hell. Partying 3/4 times a week, with a lot of booze and drugs. Their oldest son was dealing drugs as well. We couldn’t take it anymore, and put the house up for sale. There where multiple people interested, we chose the policeman.
I’ve had diarrhea for 3 years and never saw a doctor. My dog had diarrhea for 7 days, and I took him to the vet. He has a wheat allergy. I decided to see a doctor and I also have a wheat allergy. We both poo normally now.
I’m a single woman, and any time I’m looking for a tradesman, I go on Tinder. Strike up a convo, few dates, job I couldn’t get anyone for is done. Plumber, electrician, handyman, works a treat.
What can people expect from the live show?
The show is two halves. First half is a best of Fesshole where I go through the funniest confessions and what I’ve learnt from sitting on the Internet’s biggest pile of alarming filth.
Second half is audience confessions and this bit can be electric, I particularly enjoyed a recent show where one mad confessed to killing a swan and another had killed a tree and we got the audience to judge who should be forgiven.
Where do the confessions come from?
Each day we get about 200 confessions submitted to a Google form by members of the public, and I pick and choose what goes live by the power of my brain and my fingers. Generally I’m looking for funny or interesting.
What’s YOUR worst confession?
Now you’re not going to trick me into confessing anything too bad, but I did eat my son’s easter egg. I am a fat wanker and he was very angry with me. Sorry Stanley.
You can also pick out a few of your favourites here – https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Afesshole%20min_faves%3A10000&src=typed_query&f=live
Fesshole Live will be at The Y Theatre on Saturday 11 February. Limited remaining tickets are available from The Y Theatre website.