Beth Vyse is a stand up and character comedian who returns to the Edinburgh Festival this year with her 2015 solo hour, As Funny As Cancer; a refreshingly personal show in which the comic details her experience with breast cancer, embellishing with her trademark surreal humour. And Vyse’s absurdist roots are never far from the surface, with her character Olive Hands making an appearance in another show: All Hands To The Pump.
To learn more about Beth and her comedy, I asked her these seven questions…
1) What made you decide to perform two separate shows at this year’s Edinburgh Festival?
Well after last year’s “As Funny As Cancer” going so well and so many people coming up to me afterwards and talking so openly about their experiences with the disease, most of them for the first time, I somehow felt the show wasn’t over. Since last year the show’s been out to New Zealand, I feel it’s much better now, I feel more confident, that’s why I’m bringing it to a larger venue at Gilded Balloon in hope more people can see it.
I’m also bringing my Leopard Print, Disgusting Sassy Surreal Character Comedy back this year in Olive Hands “All Hands To The Pump” (What Depth Will She Sink Too?) I’m doing this show to counter act “As Funny As Cancer” and to prove i’m not a one trick pony! Neigh Neigh! You’ll have to decide.
2) What impresses you?
Being true to yourself! (Easier said than done).
3) What is the strangest thing about your parents?
They are both from Stoke-On-Trent (need I say more?) My Dad wears Crocs outdoors and my Mum is constantly in Leopard Print.
4) What is your favourite style of comedy to perform?
Oooh I don’t know now? I think things with a narrative, that are mental, but the narrative holds it together.
5) Are you an artistic person?
I think so, that or I’m just mad.
6) Do you tend to cause or avoid conflict?
Both. Unintentionally.
7) What do you view as wasteful?
All the flyers in Edinburgh, when there’s only really one, well two, shows they should be coming too. Am I right?
BETH VYSE BRINGS HER SHOW ‘ AS FUNNY AS CANCER’ TO THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL