Rob Manuel interview

How do you describe to people what you do?

I hate this question and it’s been causing me trouble for nearly 25 years of my life as I can’t describe what I do. Yonks ago I used to be able to wave my hands and go “internet stuff” and that would make people sufficiently bored that we could talk about something else, but since the internet has eaten the entire world it’s like saying “I work in an office” – yes but doing what?

These days I tend to say “I run comedy social media projects” and which then provokes the question “which ones?” and this seems less embarrassing than saying “I run fesshole and b3ta” and getting looks of blank incomprehension.

What has been your most successful project?

Is this where someone who isn’t a twat says “their children”? 

Fesshole has the biggest name within normal people. Old school internet people are more impressed by B3ta – I think it’s had a deeper impact with a smaller number of people.

What has been your least successful project?

Virtually impossible to answer – I’ve started countless things and given up on them due to either my own apathy or public apathy. Often a combination of both.

I suppose UsVsTh3m can be called unsuccessful in the sense that it spent a large amount of money for a newspaper and they didn’t see it turn into anything resembling money and an awful lot of useless clicks. But at the same time when it was good, it was an extraordinary thing to be part of, and when it was bad, and falling apart, it was something that left lasting psychological damage in me. Probably others too.

Obviously my most unsuccessful project is spending much of my life making and thinking about music and doing almost nothing to get it off my hard disks and into the real world where it can be ignored and judged as shit.

What was/is the most enjoyable?

Nothing has ever been more enjoyable than the band me and a few friends had aged 17 at school where we wrote piss take songs about the teachers and other kids. The two others in it still occasionally will message me going “it was the best wasn’t it? *NOTHING* was funnier”

The worst thing about how the current internet has impacted creativity is that to make the money work, for most people, you have to be a team of one, but the actual stuff that creates joy in your soul on a daily basis is working with other people, face to face, making each other laugh.

What was the most lucrative?

Discussing money in public seems like a shortcut to making people hate you. Either you’re a loser coz it’s not enough, or you’re a sell out fraud coz it’s too much.

But to try and give you an answer that’s not just attacking the question – what I’ve tried to do is just get by and make my projects make some money so that the whole thing is not a vanity project where I’m earning money elsewhere, and pouring it into doomed personal projects. That’s not to say, that hasn’t been part of my life.

My recent thing of doing Fesshole live shows is yes, I fancy doing it, getting on stage and pretending to be a comedian is fun and everyone should have a go, but at the same time it’s just one small thing to try and make sure money is going in the right direction. And also, it’s PEOPLE, I get to talk with people, I get to hang out with Giles who helps me with the show.

Which creative people do you most admire?

It’s always Paul McCartney isn’t it? He’s spent his life making music, he’s over 80 and still touring because he loves it. His family love him and he’s put only good into the world. This is the best, staying creative, loving your family, he is the absolute model for how to do it right.

Where can people find out what you are up to?

Everyone is on Bluesky now, I’m probably there too, but who knows, person reading this in future years, I’m sure that’ll turn to shit and we’ll all be somewhere else. Search for me, and I’m the Rob Manuel who isn’t the chief of police in Haiti who got condemned for human rights abuses, nor am I the games journalist, and I’m definitely not the guy who produced the novelty single Disco Duck, but he sounds cool, I’d like to be him.