Everyday life inspires couple's viral sketches

A husband-and-wife comedy duo whose sketches have been viewed millions of times say some of their biggest ideas come from everyday life in Kent.

Bec and Sam Bartley, who perform as BAM! Comedy, have built a huge online following with videos inspired by family life, social interactions and everyday observations.

The pair, from Folkestone, said they were constantly collecting ideas from day-to-day life. "We cannot switch off at all," Sam said. "We're constantly writing notes in our phones."

The couple said they had been creating comedy full-time for five years, despite initially being unsure whether it could become a career.

"It can literally just come from a social interaction," Bec said. "It can come from a weird thing, a weird realisation.

"We didn't know that it could be a job before we actually made it our job.

"We do pinch ourselves every day that we get to make comedy, write comedy, film comedy and just be silly."

Their sketches, including Living With My Parents, have had more than 35 million views online, with individual posts gaining 15 million hits on Instagram.

Their interview with BBC Radio Kent provided fuel for their latest short film, which can be seen online.

Despite their global audience, the pair said Folkestone provided inspiration all the time.

"Annoyingly so," Sam joked.

The duo said hearing from viewers who had been cheered up by their videos remained one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

"It's lovely when we get messages from people saying 'we just found your channel, that's just really brightened my day'," she said.

"That's such a lovely message to receive because that's basically what we want to do."

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