Who? Lucy Frederick
What? Famtastic
Where? Underbelly, Bristo Square – Clover (Venue 302)
When? 14:50
What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?
I’m excited – it’s really easy to focus on all the scary things – to obsess everyday over ticket sales and bottom lines, but actually it’s a month where I get to do the thing I love doing every day for an hour. I also get to hang out with my peers and see some great stuff. What’s not to love? Apart from the eternal hills, the rain, hours of thankless flyering, freezing to death and then boiling your eyeballs out, watching other people pile stars onto their posters and… it’s all fine. It’s really all great…
What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?
This year my show is about life as a step parent. Blended families are becoming the new norm now and my life has gone very quickly from gin and tonic to fish fingers and peas. It’s a learning curve. And for some step parents it can be hard to publicly admit that kids are hard work – it’s taboo to say that things aren’t 100% perfect; but for natural parents it’s fine to say your kids are draining sometimes.
What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?
Because the show is about my family, I’ve had to be really careful about what I put in it and how far I go with being rude about them! My partner doesn’t give a monkey if I slag him off in my shows but with the kids it’s a different matter. I’ve tried to be really open about what I’m writing about. I haven’t exactly given them veto rights, but I’ve been honest about the things I’m telling people about them.
Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?
A bit, I guess. It’s just so expensive. I love it (despite all those things I said) because I love writing an hour – I love the chance to create a piece of work with a story arc – with heart and soul. But with the price of everything going up I’m not sure how many more years I will be able to do. Ticket prices are having to reflect the cost of doing the show and so it’s harder and harder to get the good folk of the fringe to part with more and more money to see a comic who hasn’t been on TV.
Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?
Loads! Sooz Kempner (who has written an AMAZING song for my show!), Myra Dubois, Grainne Maguire, Amy Howerska, Robyn Perkins are all fab comedians to see. Also, Peter Henderson’s Who Did I Think She Was? is going to be a great piece of theatre to see.
Where would you like to be in a year’s time?
I’d like to write a book. I feel like this show would make a great book or a fun sitcom. So I’d like to have turned it into one of those.