Jack Barry

Jack Barry: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© James Deacon
Who? Jack Barry
What? Alien
Where? PBH’s Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth – Cinema Room (Venue 156)
When? 20:55

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

I’m very excited! In the past I have found it very stressful, but a couple of years ago I finally realised that it’s all meaningless. We’re all going to die, so why worry about the Edinburgh Fringe? I just want make sure that everyone who comes to see my show every day has a lovely time and we all leave good friends.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

This year my show is all about foreigners! I love foreigners, my girlfriend is an immigrant, my grandmother is an immigrant and I was even an immigrant when I was a child (I lived in China). So I wanted to write a show about the funny things that make us all different, and how they should be seen as positives rather than negatives. Also, it’s good to see the funny side of trying to stop your girlfriend from getting deported.

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

The hardest thing has been to finally talk on stage about my deepest, darkest secret. That I was in a low-budget Chinese feature film when I was thirteen. It’s excruciatingly awkward. I play an American character but refused to do an accent. My girlfriend and I have been together for five years and she’s only just found out about it. Usually I’m criticised for being an over-sharer, but this I’ve kept bottled up.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

I suppose so. When I first started going to the Fringe I was a bright-eyed student, who was just excited to be there. I went out every night and got drunk and then I’d be on the Royal Mile at 10am to flyer for six hours. These days I’m a grizzled veteran and all that youthful innocence has gone. I still enjoy it, but it’s in a much more restrained manner.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

Plenty! There are lots of people coming from other countries to do their first Edinburghs, which is very exciting. Especially as my show is about immigrants. Ray Badran, Aaron Chen and Catherine Cohen will all have amazing shows. I’m also looking forward to Helen Bauer’s debut. I think she’s a bit German. I’m also always excited to see all my friends’ shows. My old sketch partner Annie McGrath has a new show. I’m living with Adam Hess, Mat Ewins and Rhys James, so shout out to all of them too!

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

I’ve been saying for the past ten years that I’m going to have a year off from Edinburgh next year, so hopefully I’ll be at home and not worrying about Edinburgh. In all likelihood I’ll be at home filling out a questionnaire for MoodyComedy, trying to get people to come and see my 2020 Edinburgh show.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR JACK BARRY: ‘ALIEN’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

The Edinburgh Interviews: Seven Questions With… Twins

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Twins are Jack Barry and Annie McGrath, a sketch duo known for their silly and childish style of comedy that epitomises the idea of escapism within entertainment. These two make a marvellous pair, with their contrasting personalities producing an interesting comedic energy within performance, and with elements of surrealism and absurdity giving their material a refreshing twist. Barry and McGrath bring their latest show Two Balls In A Bag to this year’s Edinburgh Festival.
To find out more, I asked Twins these seven questions…

1) What annoys you most about your sketch partner?

AM: He’s lazy, he’s hungover, he’s late, he forgets everything, he can’t read, he can’t write.

JB: Nothing. I like Annie.

[Read more…]

James Acaster: Recognise (2014)

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Jack Barry

Jack Barry

Thursday night saw Artrix Arts in Bromsgrove welcome James Acaster and Jack Barry to the stage. It was a pleasure to see Jack, a comedian I was previously unaware of, supporting James on his tour, with relevant and relatable material that had a subtle hint of madness that could be detected only in his straight-faced delivery of subjects involving suicide and, strangely enough, super powers.

Despite a frosty start for Acaster, as a result of an adamant audience member on the front row refusing to move his drink off the stage (which I’m surprised isn’t picked up on more often by comics due to it’s disregard of any form of ‘fourth wall’ or downright respect for the performance), he comfortably dived straight into the confusing world of loopholes, demonstrating wonderfully complex and creative thinking from the outset.

This peculiar comedian has a remarkable ability to weave together the most absurd stories, such as his adventures as an undercover cop, through his use of well thought-out call backs, but was also able to fall back on instinct as a result of the audience not being very enthusiastic at all, which was certainly observed by James, to say the least. As a result of being a member of a disappointingly unsupportive, bordering on selfish, audience, the show took on a very different feel to what it would normally, with a great deal of tension (that ended up working in Acaster’s favour as he expertly turned the gig around).

James Acaster

James Acaster

Hidden within the whimsical story-telling, James is clearly an excellent observational comic as well, in a way similar to that of Noel Fielding. It has been said, and I too believe to be true, that Fielding would make an outstanding observational comedian due to his compelling way of noticing and conveying minor details within people and situations alike. The cleverest part, regarding both Fielding and Acaster, however, is that they don’t rely on their observational skills alone. These two comics evidently work very hard at developing a multi-layered aspect to their routines, and that is something to be appreciated and congratulated.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing both Jack Barry and James Acaster perform their routines and look forward to seeing them again in the future, maybe with a more encouraging audience that can give this excellent comedy the platform it deserves.