Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens are Eric and Ern with their hit show, hitting the road for a tour in 2026.
The Olivier-nominated duo behind the hugely celebrated, critically acclaimed West End hit ERIC & LITTLE ERN. Eric and Ern is a brilliant homage to the iconic comedy giants Morecambe and Wise featuring many of their best-loved routines, songs, sketches and more!
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| Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel. Photo by Paul Coltas |
The wonderful show promises to evoke memories of times when whole families would huddle around the telly to watch those fantastic Christmas specials.
Ahead of the 2026 dates, Mark sat down for an often hilarious interview with Jonty and Ian.
Ian Ashpitel: I play the role of Ernie Wise. I am originally from Leigh in Lancashire. I joined the Royal Navy at 16 for 9 years. I was in submarines in Plymouth. I went to see a play at The Hoe Theatre and met Sue Pollard and Tim Brooke-Taylor. I left the Navy to become an actor and went to drama school which is where I met Jonty.
Jonty Stephens: I play Eric. As Ian said, we both met at drama school. I was in my final year and Ian was in his first year.
Ian: I was a mature student
Jonty: and I was an immature student (laughter from all 3 of us). Nothing has changed there! I am originally from Warwickshire and got into acting through school plays and ended up at drama school with Ian and we've been acting ever since.
Mark: The show is heading out on tour in 2026. What can audiences expect to see?
Jonty: It's the nearest you'll get to seeing a Morecambe and Wise show live. That was the idea when we put the show together. We originally wrote a play about them called Eric and Little Ern. Through doing that play and working on it, we decided to try doing this, didn't we, Ian?
Ian: It's songs, sketches and routines. All the sketches you know and love with a few surprises. We try to be as true to Eric and Ern as we possibly can be in every single way in script, costume, mannersisms... apart from the money! (more laughter). We don't get the money they earned.
Jonty: We also try and be funny as well.
Ian: Do we?
Jonty: Apparently.
Mark: As you've said, you've had a friendship for over 40 years yourselves. Did that help when bringing the show to life?
Jonty: Definitely. I mean, I couldn't do it with anybody else.
Ian: I could! (we all laugh again). Very easily. We've known each other for almost as long as Eric and Ern, who knew each other for 44 years, and I think we're at 43 years, Jonty and I. The magic they had was the chemistry they had. They were like brothers. What makes it work is they make each other laugh and as you can see thats the basis of our relationship.
Jonty: Is it?
Ian: Yeah.
Jonty: Thanks, I never knew!
Mark: Morecambe and Wise had some truly iconic sketches and routines. How do you approach choosing which ones you want to honour in the show?
Jonty: Ian always says we've mined the nuggets.
Ian: There's a way of putting it together that we've learned through trial and error. When we started, we tried to copy them to the exact movement and to the exact word. We came a cropper because they are them and we are us. Comedy is about t...t...timing. We've got our own timing, which is very similar to theres but it's our timing. Jonty's got great comedy timing, and like Ernie, I tee them up, and he knocks them out of the park.
Jonty: We were trying to be so accurate, but we realised we are playing to a different audience every night so there will be laughs when you're not expecting it and what was usually a belter one night you won't get.
Mark: It must be so special getting to bring the show to a 2026 audience with you guys getting to carry on their legacy?
Jonty: We want to be as true to them as we can and it's a great honour to portray the boys, two icons of British comedy. It's bringing it not only to the die-hard Morecambe and Wise fans but also the young people who came to the show.
Ian: Somebody asked us the other day, because we've been doing it for quite a while, if we still enjoy doing it. We love doing it. It's not just the fact that you're on stage with your best mate doing some fantastic comedy. It's the audience reaction afterwards. For two hours they feel like they've been watching Morecambe and Wise and that takes them to a very special place. For us, it has become a way of life.
Jonty: What we always say is that Morecambe and Wise weren't just liked, they were loved by the British public. In portraying them, we get a little bit of that love.
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| Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel. Photo by Paul Coltas |
Mark: Is there pressure you feel when you are playing the roles?
Jonty: There's a huge pressure. We are trying to be them exactly, but we have to do it in the confines of our live show. We absolutely try as hard as we can to portray Eric and Ernie as honestly and truthfully as we can. I don't think we'd have been doing it for as long if we hadn't done that.
Ian: The word is portray. We are actors. We've studied them, worked at them and know their backstory because we wrote the play. We know them as people as well as performing them as comedians. All that goes into the pot. I don't think either of us has worked as hard at anything as this. We've worked really hard at this. Like they did, we rehearse all the time and we have to because it's just the two of us bouncing off each other.
Mark: What is your own mental and physical preparation for a performance?
Jonty picks up the famous glasses and places them on his head.
Jonty: That's mine. It's done.
Ian: Jonty and I banter all the time, so there is a little bit of banter going on. I pace backstage a little bit. Jonty stands still. We say the same thing before we go on for any performance. We say "take your time, listen, and you never know who is in".
Jonty: That is a mantra, and we can't not do that. The world would fall apart if we didn't say that!
Mark: You've had lovely feedback from the families of Morecambe and Wise. That must feel really gratifying?
Ian: The first time Gary (Morecambe - Eric's son) saw us, we were doing Edinburgh and we got a message saying that Gary was in the audience, and of course, we were dying to meet him. We'd never met him before and suddenly, he was in the audience there to watch us perform as Eric and Ern, so there was quite a bit of pressure on that performance. After the show, as the audience filed out, we came from backstage and Gary was standing there. There were two girls, about 25 or 26, who came up to us to say it was absolutely fantastic, the best show they'd ever seen and as they walked away, Gary just stepped in and said, "did you pay them to say that?" and we did, didn't we, Jonty?
Jonty: It was worth it! Gary did say at one point that at one point, watching us live, he was back as a 12-year-old boy in his tweed jacket, watching his Dad and Uncle Ernie. That is pretty extraordinary to get that from Eric's son. Fingers crossed we do them justice, which is the main thing.
Mark: You add newer elements to the show. Does that help it feel fresh and alive?
Jonty: There is one routine in the show that goes down so well and people say I remember that and actually, they didn't because it's an original one that we've done in the style of Eric and Ern. That's the greatest compliment because it doesn't jar. When we're putting it together, you've got to do the greatest hits. I always say if you went to see a band like The Rolling Stones and they open up saying we're going to do it all off the new album, the audience will go 'really?!'
Mark: This is a bit of a cheesy question but for you both, what brings you sunshine?
Ian: Playing Golf (they both break into raucous laughter). Hang on. It says here 'being with our wives and children'.
Jonty: Oh, yes, I forgot that. Wives and children. Yes.
Ian: But basically, playing golf.
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| Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens. Photo by Paul Coltas. |
Mark: A fun fact for Jonty. You were in the Globe production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, which began my own personal love for Shakespeare. (Jonty played The Host in the 2010 production. The production can be watched on Globe Player).
Ian: So it's his fault?
Jonty: Christopher Benjamin (who played Falstaff) was outstanding in that.
Mark: What are the theatre shows that have had a big impact on your lives?
Ian: We used to go with the church back in Lancashire. We went to Manchester to see Peter Pan and I was about 10 years old and it was just the magic of everything. From that moment on, I wanted to be an actor on the stage. At drama school, I saw a few productions, I saw Kenneth Branagh do Henry V and I saw Master Builder in Coventry and an Athol Fugard's Hello Goodbye with Antony Sher. There are pieces of theatre which have stuck with me over the years.
Jonty: Being a Warwickshire boy and I was at college in Stratford-Upon-Avon, so I was lucky enough doing my A-Levels there, where we had a great relationship with the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company). I remember going to see Michael Pennington in Hamlet. It was the first time I'd ever seen Hamlet. That blew me away really and got my acting juices going and to want to make a profession of it. How foolish?!
Ian: I played Faustus at drama school and Jonty played Pericles.
Jonty: We both played the titular roles. Can I say titular!
Mark: If we could turn the tables and you could both ask Eric and Ern a question about their lives, what would you ask them?
Jonty: I would ask Eric why he chose Luton Town over Morecambe Football Club. He was born in Morecambe but chose Luton. That's a really trite question, but I would really like to know the answer.
Ian: I'd ask Ernie, is it really a wig? (more fits of laughter ensue). Very funny story, we did something for Sky TV called A Christmas Carole and we went into make-up and Jonty had a hairpiece because he was playing slightly younger so they'd made him a hairpiece and then they said to me here's Ernie's wig and I went what? I said, "he didn't wear a wig" and they said, "yes he did, Eric mentioned it all the time". It was a gag and she'd spent about £400 on a wig which was never used!
Mark: To wrap up this wonderful conversation. What would you hope someone takes away from seeing Eric and Ern?
Jonty: Sunshine and laughter. If you come and see it, you are guaranteed to have a laugh. We hope there will be different generations coming and that you all laugh at the same jokes.
Ian: To come into the theatre, have a shared experience and leave happier than when you arrived.
Mark: Ian and Jonty, this has been a pleasure, what a treat. This has cheered me right up. Thank you.
Ian and Jonty: That's lovely. We'll see you in Leicester!
Eric and Ern will run at:
Curve in Leicester from Tuesday 8 - Saturday 17 January 2026 https://www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/shows/eric-and-ern
The Lowry in Salford from Tuesday 24 - Saturday 28 March 2026 https://thelowry.com/whats-on/eric-and-ern-xwc6
The Garrick Theatre in London on Sunday 29 March 2026 https://nimaxtheatres.com/shows/an-evening-of-eric-and-ern
Morecambe Winter Gardens on Saturday 16 May 2026 - ON SALE SOON
An accompanying event can be booked separately which is an afternoon talk with Gary and Gail Morecambe, chaired by Martin Clarkson
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| Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel. Photo by Paul Coltas. |
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