British Comedy

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Cally Beaton

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© Rebecca Need-Menear

Cally Beaton’s new show Super Cally Fragile Lipstick is an introspective look at her own current life situation, embracing the notion of fragility and showing how being fragile doesn’t detract from being great. Cally will be performing at Just the Tonic at the Caves throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

Getting away from kids/cats/neighbours/London/grown-up responsibilities for a whole month. And seeing how many days (hours) I can go before starting to consider prescription medication.

2) What was your first Edinburgh show about?

Cat Call last year, written/performed with fellow comic Catherine Bohart, was about womanhood either side of the age of 40. I was 47, Catherine was 27. And I’m really happy for her. It’s great to be young, talented, beautiful and going places. Yup… really, really happy for her.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

It’s pretty broad. I do often get women, and men, in a similar life phase who say it resonates with them but I’ve had lovely (and on occasion not so lovely) feedback from pretty much all ages. Well, to be clear, I’d say it’s more suitable if you’re 16+. Someone brought their 11 year old son along, despite my warnings about some of the content, and I could see the years of therapy lining up ahead of him… At least he knows where the clitoris is now. Never too early for a guy to be told about that.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

A friend came to stay with me for a couple of nights – to sleep on the sofa in a very small one bed flat. He had just omitted to mention he’d be bringing his wife, 2 year old and baby along too…

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

A conversation I had with an autistic teenage fan, the same age as my autistic son, who after coming to the show every day for a week and finally came up to tell me that, after years of feeling like a loser at school, the show had made him feel like a rock star. That was some good sh*t, right there. He told me he hated it if I changed anything though – it needed to be the exact same show every day. That, and doing QI!

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

James Acaster’s trilogy. The grand master of the Edinburgh show format.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

I have a story that I want to tell – and I want to tell it this year while it means something to me. After only a couple of years doing stand-up it’s courageous (some might say idiotic) to be doing my debut hour but hey – getting my story out, crafted as best as I know how, with a few people coming to see it and liking what they see, will send me back home with a mission accomplished. That, and drawing attention to the plight of the ginger menopausal trying to break into comedy, arguably a little belatedly in life. Or maybe everyone else just gets into it early.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

Womanhood either side of the age of 90. Obvs.

BOOK TICKETS FOR SUPER CALLY FRAGILE LIPSTICK AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Geoff Norcott

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Geoff Norcott is well known for being one of the only openly right-wing stand up comedians performing at the Edinburgh Festival. His latest show, Right-Leaning But Well-Meaning, is another politically charged show that is sure to spark some heated discussion, and that can only be a good thing. Geoff is performing at the Underbelly, George Square throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

As a fresh faced forty-year-old man, I could go there a boy and come back a star.

2) What was your first Edinburgh show about?

About teenagers. Though that was pre-Yewtree and way less weird sounding then than now.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

People who agree with me and people who don’t. I think I prefer those that don’t. A reluctant laugh is a great noise. I also admire them for coming to see something outside of their echo chamber. Though there is often a lot of tutting.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

I always live in the same flat in Leith. All these ‘socialist’ comics, they live in the fancy Meadows. They love the working classes but god forbid they should ever bump into one. Me? Every time I go down Leith walk I bump into working class people. Then they bump into other people. Because they are drunk.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

Standing onstage at Camp Bastion in front of three thousand troops, knowing that my knob gags were helping win the war on terror.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

‘Marcus Nickelthorpe’ – He’s 82 and does observational stuff about being old. It’s really depressing apparently but when you come out you also feel really buzzed up about the fact you’re not 82.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Modest gains really: regular panel show guest, medium sized national tour, sit-com, validation, the nightmares stopping…

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

I already know this. It will be called ‘I was so shit at comedy I had to go back to teaching’.

BOOK TICKETS FOR GEOFF NORCOTT: RIGHT LEANING BUT WELL MEANING, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Harriet Braine

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© Claudia Marinaro

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

I’m most excited about seeing loads of shows. I want to see some completely new faces, even though I know I’ll probably end up going to see friends’ shows mostly. I’m also most excited about seeing my Edinburgh people, from when I used to live there. Also the art galleries are amazing, I have a few favourite restaurants I’m excited to go to… basically everything apart from doing my show.

2) What is your first Edinburgh show about?

It’s about visual art, and the artists behind it, like Picasso, Monet etc. It’s a very silly musical show where I make fun of artists but kind of worship them at the same time. It’s also a little bit about me, but in previews so far I haven’t really ‘opened up’ yet. I prefer playing characters, doing semi-offensive accents and my mouth trumpet. Seriously, if I could do just an hour of trumpet impressions I would.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

It tends to attract a slightly older audience (which is ideal, no mucking about, good bucket etiquette), usually fairly cosmopolitan, lots of different Euro nationalities, usually quite a few LGBT. Everyone has some connection to art, even if they hate it, so I find I attract a very varied audience.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

I’ve had no bad experiences because I’ve always stayed with my friends who already live there and have their lives sorted out! My worst hypothetical nightmare would be having to sleep on a floor with other people in the room. I like my own room to cry in.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

Winning the Funny Women Stage award last September was an incredible night. It goes hand in hand with doing a comedy gig with Nish Kumar and John Lloyd at the Victoria & Albert Museum. John called me a genius. That is a treasured memory in the cheesiest sense.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

There are so many… But Jan Ravens: Difficult Woman is a must see for me. She was doing impressions for us backstage at the Funny Women Awards, I was completely in awe of her and still am.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Some cool fans. I love talking to my audiences about art, and everything really, geeking out with like-minded arty folk. I’m not that fussed about reviews, but I know the machine needs feeding… so I hope to gain a couple of stars.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone’s last show ever… they always come crawling back. Also in the future there will be holographic comedians doing shows, so I plan to create a few holographs of myself and keep going forever. My holographic shows will be deeply philosophical and partly in French. I will have found a way to make that funny by then.

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Urzila Carlson

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Urzila Carlson is a New Zealand-based comic who is incredibly easy to warm to. Although she is making her Edinburgh debut this year, Carlson has already won Best International Show at the Sydney Comedy Festival, to name just one. She will be performing her latest show, First Edition, at the Assembly George Square Studios throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

I’m looking forward to hanging out with all the other comics, I’ve already had a look at who will be there and I’m already fan-girling just thinking of who I will get to hang out with and potentially work with.

2) What is your first Edinburgh show about?

It’s about the shit we put up with that we don’t have to! It’s about long distance travel, other people’s bad habits and the pressure we feel to say that craft beer is great and indie rock bands are awesome.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

No not really, it’s a pretty mix bag coming through the doors usually.

4) What would be your worst Edinburgh accommodation nightmare?

My worst nightmare in any situation would be filth. I can’t deal with filth, I’m a compulsive cleaner* and filth would just not be ok with me, that’s why I’m bringing my family and we’re sharing accommodation rather than share with other comics.

*Not diagnosed.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

It would have to be performing at the Sydney Opera House. There have been so many though!

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

My brother from another mother Nazeem Hussain’s show.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

A lot of experience, stage time, endurance, how to deal with disappointments and processing alcohol in huge amounts.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

I’ll probably be talking about how my hover car blew the roof off my neighbours floatation dome and the grandkids playing with my Oscar that I got playing Melissa McCarthy’s long lost twin that grew up in Africa and goes on a journey to discover her true self and her family that she never knew she had… it will be an award winning show… I’ll talk about my dead dad too.

BOOK TICKETS FOR URZILA CARLSON: FIRST EDITION, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Aatif Nawaz

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Aatif Nawaz is a comedian who isn’t afraid to challenge mindsets by delving straight into taboo issues and offering his own side of the story. He is bringing his latest show The Last Laugh (following his previous two shows, Muslims do it 5 Times a Day and AATIFicial Intelligence) to the Edinburgh Festival. Aatif will be performing this free show at the Newsroom throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

I could tell you it’s the world’s biggest arts festival. I could tell you it’s about the opportunity to test my new show in front of the strongest, most comedy-savvy audiences. I could tell you it’s an inspiring environment. But you want the truth don’t you?

Honestly? There’s a halal kebab shop in Leith that’s open 24 hours and they always throw in a deep fried mars bar. All for a fiver! A FIVER!!!

2) What was your first Edinburgh show about?

In 2015, I took my first solo show to the Fringe: It  was called ‘Muslims Do It 5 Times A Day’ (I know. That’s really clever innit?). The show was about my life as a muslim man in what was becoming a more islamaphobic atmosphere around the world.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

Guardian readers and Daily Mail readers. But not Times readers. That’s a nut I’ve yet to crack…

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

It’s one I bring on myself every year. I’m a creature of habit. So I stay in the same place in Leith every year. And it’s a really nice place with really nice flatmates. Everyone is considerate and tidy. It sounds pretty great right? Well here comes the caveat: It’s on the 5th floor and there’s no lift. And on any given day at the Fringe, I’ve probably walked anywhere from 5-10 kilometres. So a steep five-story staircase isn’t something I have wet dreams about. Particularly when I have to lug 5000 flyers up them on day one.

On the plus side, my calves are always in great shape…

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the stage with many of my comedy idols. That moment where your heroes become your peers feels like a massive accomplishment. Also, walking off stage at the Watford Palace Theatre to a standing ovation after my first major TV set. I still think about that from time to time. It makes me smile…

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

Aside from my own fantastic show you mean? Well there are so many acts I love – last year, in addition to performing my own 60 minute show 24 times and doing another 48 sets, I managed to see another 38 shows. And I loved almost all of them. I fear if I began listing them for you now, you’d run out of bandwidth and storage space for your website and would have to upgrade your plan to one that allows more storage. And I’m a considerate guy. So I won’t put you through that..

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

I’m hoping someone will come along to my show and think  ‘Damn – he’s so good, why don’t I cast him in a British remake of Better Call Saul I was planning…’ or something along those lines.

I think of the Fringe as comedy bootcamp. I develop a new show, perform is 20-odd times to varying audiences and then that’s my set, my show, my material for the next 12 months.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

It might be this one. Maybe. It’s called The Last Laugh and it’s about how I took a non-traditional route as a stand-up comedian. They told me it wouldn’t work. They told me I wouldn’t be successful. They told me I wouldn’t last. Well, here I am. Back again. For a third year in a row. And a third show. And it’s on at 11:15pm. So, in a literal sense, I may well be having the last laugh…

BOOK TICKETS FOR AATIF NAWAZ: THE LAST LAUGH, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Stuart Goldsmith

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Stand up and Comedian’s Comedian podcaster Stuart Goldsmith‘s show craftsmanship just keeps getting better and better. Like I Mean It won Best New Show at the Leicester Comedy Festival earlier this year, despite still being unfinished, so it looks as though Goldsmith is set for another brilliant year in Edinburgh. Stuart is performing his free show at the Liquid Room Annexe throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

The chance to feel like a normal human being for an entire month, as everyone around me lives my life: thinking, talking, eating and breathing comedy! And the “macaroni pie”, which is unavailable in the real world.

© Matt Crockett

2) What was your first Edinburgh show about?

It was called “The Reasonable Man” in 2010, and it was about realising I’d spent my whole life trying ever so hard to be alternative, but despite my best endeavours I was actually (depressingly) normal.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

Nice people! I’m incredibly lucky – I almost never get heckled, and anything people do shout out tends to be encouragement. At a recent new material night a heckler shouted “yeah – seems like a ‘bit’!”

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

Oooh, probably when I stayed in a suspiciously cheap rental place in Haymarket, which turned out to have no lock on the door and effectively a bunkhouse where people wandered in and out all day. I had a watch stolen which had just been given to me by my then girlfriend. Still, I was too cheap to fork out for decent accommodation despite enjoying at the time a street-performer’s pre-boom income, so you buy cheap you buy twice, or whatever people say. “You pay peanuts you get your monkeys stolen”. Something like that.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

Well I’ve been lucky to have a few sparkly show-off gigs, but bringing my baby onstage at the final performance of last year’s Edinburgh show (which had been all about him) was hilarious and heart-warming and better than Wembley.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

Andy Daly. He’s an American improviser who did the world’s best piss-take of standup comedy. Search “Jerry Ahearn Standup” on youtube and cry laughing. He’s at the Gilded Balloon in an improv show and we shall become best friends.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

I’d like to come out of it with some money, a finely-tuned tour show that’s ready to take on the road, and these days due to the sobriety of fatherhood, some actual un-fogged memories for once! I don’t drink at the festival anymore, and i’m staying in a house with dear friends and two other babies, so we’re going to have wholesome super-fun and go swimming and hang out at play-parks and it’s going to be all squeaky cle- AAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHHHH.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

I try to do every show as if it’s my last, yeah? Because I’m an incredibly pretentious wanker.

BOOK TICKETS FOR STUART GOLDSMITH: LIKE I MEAN IT, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

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The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: David Trent

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© Idil Sukan

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

I get excited that I am going to get to eat at all my favourite places especially Palmyra Pizza and Kebabs and Wings. Sometimes you can find a couple of people flyering for Wings. If you do a chicken impression you get a free bowl of Wings. I do five chicken impressions for them. And also I like the Crepe stall.

2) What was your first Edinburgh show about?

It was called Spontaneous Comedian and it was a tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 but because I didn’t call it “A Tribute To Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, the computer goes wrong and the human is helpless without his tool” nobody ever mentioned it, not even when all the lines in it towards the end were directly lifted from the script.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

No. My comedy attracts absolutely no type of audience whatsoever. I would say it would appeal to people who like to go out at 10.35pm and watch a man shouting at a TV.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

I have had a very bad flat at 28 Lutton Place, which should be avoided as it was like a normal flat if it had been meticulously coated in a layer of grease and sadness. It really was a depressing month. My tip is always get a flat with a living room. And also don’t get a room with a door through to another room or your friend’s girlfriend will be coming into your room and whispering “Stop snoring Trent” into your ear in the middle of the night and you will feel very confused and scared.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

Machfest, 2010. Magic.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

I always make sure I see the bagpiper at the top of the Royal Mile. He is really terrific.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

I don’t hope to gain anything except a one million dollar contract to turn my show into a HBO special and a massive crown that I can wear around my dick.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

It will be about a man who went to Edinburgh hoping for nothing, but then when he got there he got given a one million dollar contract to turn his show into a HBO special and a massive crown that he wore around his dick, but then it cut into his dick and the cut went septic and he died and as he died he realised that he thought that getting a one million dollar contract to turn his show into an HBO special would solve all his problems and make everything great, but now he realises that that was true and that he’d had a great time until he died of a septic dick.

BOOK TICKETS FOR DAVID TRENT: HERE’S YOUR FUTURE, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

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The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Julie Shavers (Mary Go Nowhere)

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© Roman Cho

Julie Shavers writes and stars in Mary Go Nowhere, a comedy play set in LA about a mother desperately trying to keep her foul-mouthed toddler in preschool, where everyone in the neighbourhood seems to be watching her every move. The cast will be performing at the Assembly George Square Studios throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

I’m excited to be a part of a vibrant community of entertainers and see what everyone else is making.

2) What is your first Edinburgh show about?

Mary Go Nowhere is about trying so hard to be perfect you don’t notice you’re an asshole. It’s about raising a large angry toddler in a world of strivers with a spouse who just wants to play Candy Crush and take a nap.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

People who love watching masterful actors live in a world that is both bizarre and familiar will like this show.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

Every time I book a private property to stay in I spend my whole trip looking for the spy cameras. I’m convinced we’re being recorded. Or that they’re going to sneak in during the night and murder us all in our sleep.  

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

The first full length play I ever wrote was such a thrill. I was so nervous I couldn’t even watch it. Then standing outside the door as it was being performed I heard the audience howling with laughter. I couldn’t believe it. It was delightful.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

I will definitely see Baby Wants Candy and Whose Line is it Anyway because both of those shows feature super talented actors from our cast. 

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Our cast is quite large for a fringe show. Nine actors. All of them hilarious and frenetic performers. I can’t wait to spend an entire month living in this play with them. I hope that we will all grow as performers and the play itself will take on a whole new shape and continue to live on after the Fringe.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

I probably should not admit this, but I have always thought I might be a sort of half-baked prophet. I once wrote a play about a man who lost one arm and one leg and during the run I broke my arm and my leg. I wrote and performed a monologue about a woman with boils and got boils. Mary Go Nowhere goes some strange places so I’m being extra careful lately.

BOOK TICKETS FOR MARY GO NOWHERE AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Kat Bond

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© Rosie Collins

Actress and character comic Kat Bond (one half of That Pair) is embarking on a very artistically interesting project at the Edinburgh Festival this year. She has based her debut solo show around one prop: a loo roll. This combination of character comedy, stand up and clowning is set to be packed with energy and original ideas. Kat is performing at the Pleasance Courtyard throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

The thrill of the chase.

2) What is your first Edinburgh show about?

It’s about one woman and her Loo Roll essentially. Pat my alter ego (that’s right I changed one letter of my own name) is trying to put on a show about Loo Roll (why not) and it ends up descending into madness with her trying to find her long lost family in the audience. I play all the versions of my family. It’s a character comedy show.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

People with a sparkle in their eye like it. A glimmer of madness. They love it them lot! My audience are a creative bunch – they made their own loo roll bonnets at Mach Fest this year.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

Recipe for disaster – mice, one toilet and a man on the edge. Not the title of my next Fringe show but a small insight into my accommodation nightmare.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

Recording a Radio 4 show in a super studio. Hopefully lots more treasure to come. I’m excited.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

I’ll be seeing James Rowland’s show at Summerhall.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Flyers. I just love flyers to be honest. So more paper flyers, just flyers oh and love from lots of audience members please.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

I imagine if I carry down the toilet theme maybe ‘Kat Bond: Bidet’. Lots of audience members please.

BOOK TICKETS FOR KAT BOND: LOO ROLL, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

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The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Nazeem Hussain

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© Tony Briggs

Australian stand up comedian Nazeem Hussain’s latest show, Hussain in the Membrane, explores cultural identity in this day and age. He retells anecdotes from his Sri Lankan immigrant mother as well as finding the funny within issues relating to perceived in-groups and out-groups with regard to race, background and culture. Nazeem will be performing at Assembly George Square Studios throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

Meeting other comedians, and watching lots of shows. Also, there’s something really amazing about a major city being in love, or at least involved, with the arts for a month.

2) What is your first Edinburgh show about?

As with my shows, it’s an hour of jokes and stories from my life over the last 12 months. I talk about harassing the CEO of a major telco in Australia over the course of a few months, to my mum finding a dead man in a toilet, to starting a family with a flag.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

I still can’t figure out my audiences. Some like the political jokes, some just laugh at the silly character stuff. It’s a mix!

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

So far my accom has been mint!

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

Meeting and opening for Dave Chappelle. He’s my comedy idol, and he is the nicest dude.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

I have no idea. I haven’t a clue who will be there, I’ll end up making a huge list when I’m there, and frantically see one tenth of the list in the final week.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Being on stage for a month of shows can only be a good thing for a performer, right?

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

About my struggle with incurable gangrene.

BOOK TICKETS FOR NAZEEM HUSSAIN: HUSSAIN IN THE MEMBRANE, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017