© Steve Ullathorne
Tamar Broadbent is a comedian and musician known for her work developing musicals and producing solo shows that consider the perils of modern day life and how we can learn to embrace the more difficult or ‘ugly’ things that face us each and every day. Tamar’s latest show Get Ugly is a musical exploration of those little niggles in life that we often don’t talk about, shining a beacon of positivity and good humour and tackling problems big and small that inevitably pop up from time to time.
I asked Tamar these seven questions to find out more…
1) What do you want to convey with your latest show Get Ugly?
That there’s so much joy to be found in the ‘ugly’ bits of life – the things we all go through, but that you never see in a perfectly filtered Instagram existence. Running away from trendy hipsters, sweating next to the bone dry Adonis-es at the gym, being caught with too much pubic hair, freaking out about STDs… in my mind there’s no mortifying experience that can’t be made better by turning it into a song.
2) If you had to give up music or comedy, which would you choose?
Impossible. I could never give up either, so here are the things in my life I would trade in order to keep them both: Shower gel. Thursdays. Antihistamines in Spring time. The weather app on my phone. Spoons. Bicycle saddles. Bags with sensible straps that don’t fall off your shoulder every 4 seconds. +0.25 of my eyesight prescription. And pants.
3) What is the last film you watched?
The Amy Winehouse Documentary. What a story, what a talent, what a tragedy. How inspiring, and yet how terrifying. You only get one life.
4) Are you satisfied with your life?
You’ve caught me on a day where I’m in love with the world, because when I woke up my friend Jenny gave me a Kinder bon bon chocolate. Now I feel like nothing can hurt me because of how I have friends and chocolate and how kittens exist. (This contrasts with the days when I wake up and feel instantly sad because tummy pains exists). But today, I get to go and do a show which I love, to awesome people, at the most exciting arts festival in the UK. Life is fab.
5) What would you do with an extra hour in the day?
See friends more, and make new friends. There’s always something extra you could be doing at this festival: emailing people, exit flyering, naked promo on the Mile.. It’s easy to get caught up and forget that relaxing and having fun up here is equally as important. (Is that an okay answer? Should I have said try to cure cancer or something? I would like to do that as well but I’m so busy. And I only did Biology to GCSE).
6) Which Edinburgh shows do you recommend?
If I could, I would watch A Cappella boybands all day. It makes me 4% happier. Out of the Blue is my guilty pleasure of the fringe, so I guess I’d recommend watching them. I go by myself every year and it’s one of the best times of my life and I feel no shame.
7) Are you the change you wish to see in the world?
I would like everyone to be nice. Always. The singular most annoying evil I come across in every day life is people being dicks. I don’t understand why it still happens. So in this sense, I like to be open and welcoming and introduce people to other people if they don’t know them, and I’d like the whole world to be like that as well.
Or maybe the liking A Cappella bands thing. I’d like the world to do that. So I don’t always have to go by myself.
TAMAR BROADBENT BRINGS HER SHOW ‘GET UGLY’ TO THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL