Q&A: Robert Florence on The Independint Charles Show

In a bid to provide more exposure for Xbox Live Indie Games, Inside Xbox UK has begun to broadcast writer and comedian Robert "Rab" Florence's latest off-the-wall video series. We asked Florence, who is best known for the shows Consolevania and videoGaiden, what to expect from the purposely misspelt Independint Charles Show.

"It's a show that looks at a couple of indie games that might be worth checking out, by a guy called Independint Charles," Robert told GameSpot UK. "He's a bit of an oddball, lives at home with his mum and her lover, and has an uncle who is in prison. He can't afford 'the big games,' so he gets by on the indie games he can pay for with the Microsoft points cards his uncle sends to him. His uncle is sent points by a Microsoft exec who has a thing for jailbirds, and he can't use them so he passes them on. I've thought too much about this, haven't I?"

The show is presented as a badly made home video series created by Independint Charles, and it occasionally borders on the surreal due to some strange postproduction effects and off-the-wall segments. "It's an eyesore, with phantoms, and baby dolls, and goats and jazz. That covers it."

Upon noticing a lack of video coverage for Indie Games by the Inside Xbox team, he decided to pitch to them the idea for a new show. "I tweeted [Xbox Live Europe editor] Dan Maher one night saying they should do something about Indie Games. He went, 'You do it.' I went, 'OK then.' He went, 'Go on then.' I went, 'Oh s**t.' And that was it really. I love the Indie Games section of Xbox Live, so it's an honour. I'm hugely grateful to everyone there at Inside Xbox for letting this show join the other lovely stuff up there."

Florence has a genuine appreciation for indie games, and he describes the parodying style of the show as a tribute to their developers. "I'm trying to celebrate what indie developers are doing, that defiant 'I will do my own thing' statement they make. It's a love letter to them, in a way, and I hope they see it like that.”

Currently, there are eight fortnightly episodes of The Independint Charles Show in the works, the first of which is available now on the Inside Xbox tab of the Xbox Live dashboard. The show is currently available only in the UK, although there are plans to upload the show to the Inside Xbox UK YouTube channel.

Watch an exclusive clip from The Independint Charles Show here: