The comic and podcaster is set to cast her acerbic eye over everything from your children to her pretentious new alcohol-free life (the latter may now be a slightly revised lifestyle choice since the show’s first draft).

The show explores whether she may have mellowed a bit and the press release offers a hint that this tour could be your last chance to catch Rachel IRL before she disappears to the countryside with only joss sticks and taxidermy for company.

A staple of the Fringe since 2014, Rachel has performed six critically acclaimed solo shows and is also known for her podcasting prowess. Rachel co-hosts the worldwide smash hit podcast All Killa No Filla alongside Kiri Pritchard-McLean, which has over 250,000 regular listeners. Almost a year ago, she released Ghoul Guide, a podcast that explores truth and fiction in the world of spooky stories. If you missed this the first time, it’s something fully worth resurrecting this Halloween.

I caught up with Rachel right before her tour’s debut gig at Manchester Opera House.

How does it feel knowing your tour is opening at Manchester Opera House?

Very exciting. It’s a brilliant venue and it’s thrilling to be starting off there. I used to work round the corner from there so it’s quite surreal.

How does comedy culture in Manchester fare against its music heritage and what reception are you hoping for your show?

Manchester has an incredible comedy culture and heritage. Les Dawson, Jason Manford, Caroline Aherne, Steve Coogan, Justin Moorhouse to name a few. I’m just hoping people come along and have a really great night and a laugh.

Describe the motivations for creating the Showgirl show?

As much as I enjoy gigging in general at clubs up and down the country, there’s something more challenging about working on a new show. I have done three new hours in the past three years and I enjoy the process.

You’re embarking on a huge amount of tour dates. How are you feeling and have you got a tour routine?

I’m excited about it. I travel so much as a comedian anyway that the amount of dates isn’t daunting, I’d probably be away gigging in clubs anyway. I like to get to the place I’m gigging in early so I can have a mooch round and more importantly, see what charity shops there are.

You’ve recently given up alcohol, how have you approached ‘finding the funny’ in this for the show?

I stopped drinking in January and went alcohol free for six months. I’ve had about two nights out since then and I’m just not that into it anymore. I haven’t really got any material about it in the show, you write the blurb in January and perform it in autumn so things change. It’s been a very positive experience cutting back on booze so I’ve struggled to find anything cuttingly funny about it. I don’t really do positivity.

Why do you think your podcast All Killa No Filla alongside Kiri Pritchard-McLean has been so successful?

I think people are fascinated by the subject matter and we handle it in a respectful way. We try and find as much information on the victims as possible as they can be overlooked in true crime. I think the key to its success though is listening to a genuine female friendship with real interactions and conversations.

Who are your biggest comedy influences/where do you draw inspiration?

I find my non comedy friends funnier than anything and my mum is the funniest person alive. She’s so sarcastic and blunt it makes me howl. I’m a huge fan of Frank Skinner too. He’s been so good for decades now and gets funnier.

Do ghosts exist and can crystals protect us?

I’d like to say yes. I really would.

Catch Rachel at a town or city near you from 9th September 2023. Tickets can be booked at https://www.mcintyre-ents.com/live_shows/rachel-fairburn-showgirl/. Price: £13.50-£15.50. Follow Rachel on social media @rachelfairburn

The post Rachel Fairburn opens Showgirl UK tour at Manchester Opera House appeared first on Entertainment Focus.

Self-described as “a filmmaker, comedian, engineer and former international triathlete”, her debut show BC:AD (Before Children, After Diapers) addresses the intersection between life before and after being a mum and then ‘becoming history’.

Applying the endurance of her athletic successes, she has been honing BC:AD’s material and describes it as “an invitation to anyone that finds themselves slightly overdrawn, mostly obscure and definitely needing the sound of another voice to reason with their own challenges”. 

Comedy and endurance; art and science – there are unlimited possibilities for Anu to explore on stage, promising to take us “from the equatorial latitudes of Madras, India to the glacial confines of Munich, Germany” taking the more scenic non-linear route. I caught up with Anu on how her latest scientific experiment – comedy creation and motherhood – combine, and what audiences can expect.

On the appeal of live comedy, Anu says: “I believe in structure and understanding how much you can push your material. It frees me – I can play and explore how I’m going to say it. Having the experience of the Edinburgh Fringe was a really great way to directly communicate with an audience.”

“As a filmmaker, I’m one step removed from the audience and must convey my ideas through actors. However, since the pandemic I was longing to leave the house. Unwittingly, I found myself at clown school and a month on found a few standup gigs. Comedy gave me a quicker feedback look on new material than films or books ever could. So, I worked on myself as a performer with this hour show that I hope brings people together as it did at the fringe now, I’m going on tour.”

Finding the space to explore comedy content has been accelerated by creating lives. Anu adds: “If I hadn’t had children, I wouldn’t have started writing. Children remind you of what human nature is about. Children don’t care about the things that most adults get caught up in the day-to-day, and it has been my children that have helped me reconnect with my instincts.”

After the Edinburgh Fringe got back on its feet this year, Anu took to the stage for a month in one of the ‘big four’ venues (Underbelly, Bristo Square). She feels, in part, the pursuit of live comedy came after two years of being disconnected from filmmaking, people, places and things, all of which inspire the art of her storytelling.

“During the pandemic, I felt extremely desperate – I did not bake any cookies or anything like that – I was extremely out of sorts because I feel like as a writer my life is very much based on observation of people and places.  Then when you shut off you know a writer’s ability to even walk, I feel like that really hampers our ability to produce anything, so I felt very suffocated. Maybe part of this part of doing Edinburgh or this little tour afterwards is also a way for me to re-engage with the world and see where that takes me.”

“Comedy is an art and a science and being able to play around with material at the fringe was a great opportunity to hone the show and prepare it for the tour. It’s a truly immersive show to perform and I feel like I’ve got it well-timed as a piece of work to bring the audience along with me. It’s a great excuse to get out of the house and enjoy some live comedy again.”

“BC:AD’s premise has a  universality that I’m very keen to explore. I’m going on tour because I’m very curious about the audience and how the show resonates in this way. Although I did have to take six weeks off after the Edinburgh run. It’s amazing how quickly you can feel incredibly lonely among 4000 performers. It forces you to understand sources of stress and anxiety to reduce the impact on the show, which meant I stopped using social media within a matter of days after joining the festival. I was also naïve to think that there were only four venues!  When it came to the audience I was expecting, I was surprised by those that came to see me.” 

“I thought that the audience for my show was primarily mothers you know or women who have had children and noticed to sort of gravitational shift in their lives but as the month progressed, what surprised me was a cross-section of audiences that I saw, and they were not limited to mothers or South Asians.”

“There was a whole variety of people; there were men that were relating to the show because of the loss of physical faculties as parents; there were women relating to the show who wanted to be mothers or who have been mothers and then have had detours and a lot of people came by all people who had no kids at all. I was just very pleasantly surprised by the number of people and the number of types of people that showed up in that little hour.”

“My kids visited me in the middle week, my husband did too – I feel like that festival atmosphere was not appropriate for them beyond the time that they visited now because it got too hectic. In fact, when I got home, I started to enjoy the everyday tasks, focusing on my internal self and reflection as grounding experiences after the fringe festival madness and ahead of booking the tour dates.”

“I’ve met a lot of women whose careers have taken them away from home, particularly as a filmmaker. Having met several comedians, it’s a common theme for parents to have considerations around children and I’m sure it’s something I’ll find out more about. However, many locations for the tour have a personal connection to an era of my life and hasbeen part of my family units whether that’s with my parents, my husband or our family with our children, so it feels like a natural progression to explore.” 

“I’m only now awakening but the possibilities in an artistic life. I think before I came to Edinburgh I was something of a very bashful filmmaker who knew my range and reach as an engineer or in terms of grasping things.  I’m only at the start of my comedy journey and I know I need to spend many more hours exploring the development of the work and testing the half-truths about the process that I’ve learned so far.”

BC: AD will be touring on the following dates and locations: 5th November – Bangalore, India; 6th November – Chennai, India; 18th Nov – Heidelberg; 23rd Nov – Glasgow; 25th Nov – Canal Cafe and theatre, London; 9th December – Prague/CZ; 14th-15^th; Jan – NYC Festival; 29th Jan – Rotherham, Yorkshire; March – Junction Cambridge. For more information visit https://linktr.ee/comedy.Av

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A seasoned character clown, Sami thrives in creating hilarious and ridiculous characters that engage the audience in the universality of being as silly as possible.

His debut show, ‘Bedu’, which centres around a Palestinian refugee who finds his dead body steals his passport and comes to the UK on a cruise ship offers on empowering route to discussions of his own identity. On ‘why now’, Sami says:

“The reason I’m addressing my own identity now as a character clown is that if I don’t a void is created that could be filled with the wrong assumptions. If I don’t explore this myself, it’s only a matter of sooner rather than later that my exploring my identity will come up, and my comedy must be a vehicle to explore this.”

On developing the show, Sami says:

“Clowning is the only thing I’m good at, it has limitless possibilities to make people laugh.”

“I initially developed a character that was already semi in development as a silent clown. But he then became a character fully fledged speaking character, who is who has my name, who is a Palestinian refugee who has come to the UK. It was a funny journey developing that character as your average theatre go-ers are white middle British people.”

“The biggest challenge was giving them permission, finding ways through the writing to give them permission to laugh. This was one of the goals for my debut show and I’m very, very happy with what I’ve made.”

“I found that by making a clown that was an immigrant cleaner, it was a challenge to give people in this country permission to laugh without having to expand on it. I basically had to give a character that was originally a silent clown a voice.” 

“I started thinking about my identity and my heritage and my father’s identity and how he’s part of a Bedouin tribe in Palestine, which has a very complicated story with statehood and authority in that the states are actively trying to settle Bedouins to create citizens out of them, which in many ways, against their way of life.” 

“I realised that I wanted to explore this – it’s such a rich stream of things to draw from and sort of pertinent issues.” 

Sami presents a lot of different ideas at the same time through his performance, through creating a surreal collection of characters from a sauna attendant to a flamenco guitarist that he hopes will both challenge and give permission to UK audiences to laugh.

“The real engine of the show is character clowning.” 

“With clowning, you aren’t restricted to standing on a stage with a mic. You can walk into the audience and get them to feed you. There are limitless possibilities to make people laugh people laugh. Making people laugh isn’t just sitting down with a pen and paper and writing jokes.” 

“I began creating a new version of the show post pandemic. It’s a silly character show, but it’s being presented by this Palestinian refugee who has my name, and it’s a story about heat how he basically found me dead and stole my passport and came to the UK on a stolen passport.” 

But having said all that, it’s an hour of chaotic character clowning, full of audience engagement – it’s not the type of theatre where there’s the gentle nods of heads. It’s more chuck tomatoes in my mouth and tell me what silly dance you want me to do.”

Confronting the reaction of the comedy industry to the Black Lives Matter movement and demands for racial equity in society since 2020, Sami is passionate about proactively sharing what it feels like, as a person of colour and character comic, to be approached based on your ethnicity and identity to be included in comedy gig line-ups. He says:

“We are in a time now where people need to know who you are to understand where your voice is coming from with judgement as to whether your voice is legitimate. So, I found myself having to suddenly talk about my own identity as a character comic, and the whole nature of character comedy is not being yourself.” 

“So, it was quite difficult, and a lot of international comics have this issue. I think what compounds the issue for me is I speak with a broad sort of southern English accent, which really doesn’t align with who I am. I didn’t grow up in this country.” 

“I was born in Kuwait, I have lived around the world, mostly in the UAE where we lost all our assets in the Gulf War and were basically made refugees, but even though I was born in Kuwait, I was very lucky to be born with British citizenship had I not been wandering decisions ever would have been a very different, different situation.” 

“My background is a very complicated and my show deals with that, as well as the fact that you can learn how to change how you present.” 

A personal journey, Sami’s debut hour has allowed him to explore the context of his work, who he performs to, and the response he gets. He says:

“A lot of the show and the way it was written, is a conversation between me my identity and the place I’m in and the identity of your majority ‘comedy going’ audiences.” 

“If I had written this show in another country, let’s say in an Arab country, it would look very different in that. There would be things that I wouldn’t need to do. So, the structure and the rest of the show itself is a reflection of the country we’re in. And this isn’t anything negative. I’m just acknowledging the origin of it and where it stands in the context of this country’s audiences. A lot of a lot of comics not being brought up in the UK are in a tricky position.”

Sami says this exploration of his mixed heritage has led to an empowering realisation: that it is OK to embrace both of his identities.

“Doing this show has given me an opportunity to talk about it. It’s been equal measures of scary and empowering. Genuinely, the process of making this show and dealing with issues around my own identity has been a very personal journey for me.”

“It has been about finding out how to give people that permission to laugh and really, really being honest with myself about who I am.” 

“I’ve never used comedy like this, for me. Comedy has always been an expression of silliness.” 

“My gold standard in my work is how can I create something that is purely in the moment that will never happen again, that has people doubled over with laughter while simultaneously saying ‘I can’t believe this person is doing this’.”

Sami Abu-Wardeh’s show ‘Bedu’ will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe at the Underbelly, Cowgate until 28th August (8:10pm – 60 mins). Tickets are £8 and available here https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/sami-abu-wardeh-bedu. Catch Sami at the Soho Theatre in London 28th November – 3rd December at 9pm. Book tickets here https://sohotheatre.com/shows/sami-abu-wardeh-bedu-2/

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In the last four years, they have performed internationally and across the UK in festivals and on the live circuit. They have sold out three consecutive Edinburgh Fringe runs as well as a sold out extended run at Soho Theatre in 2019.

Marina Bye studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama whilst Maddy Bye studied at the same time at the Parisian Clown School Ecole Philippe Gaulier. Together, they make something ridiculous and are carving their name onto the comedy firmament. I caught up with them about the inspiration behind this year’s show.

How was lockdown for Siblings?

It was all a bit of a blur. There were moments of humour and horror all mixed into every minute of it, which we imagine would have been similar to most peoples experiences. Some interesting things happened, Maddy was dumped and our cat died  so that was a barrel of laughs to be stuck together indoors for! (they eye roll whilst Maddy goes a bit red)

Covid also cancelled live comedy which makes sense for the time but it meant the adrenaline and the pressure died a little bit which is what we kind of thrive off. The government did tell us to ‘retrain’ so we did spit fire some ideas…. Maddy considered working at a zoo and Marina thought it best to stare at a wall for 2 years. 

Looking back, there were some real comedy moments in there though. The rise and fall of zoom gigs will always remain a funny memory, one time a thousand hackers broke into a very innocent, calm comedy gig we were in. We both collapsed to the floor in hysterics and struggled to keep it together while carnage unfolded on the screen. 

Some real gems came out of the internet at that time. House Party….remember that? Luckily all the comedians we know were such a brilliant support network, everyone had a bit of a strange time not knowing what was going to happen to live comedy. It’s very surreal that we are now all one week away from performing again at the Edinburgh Fringe! 

Tell me about the inspiration behind the show?

We started writing our new show back in 2019 which is when we thought we would be heading to the Fringe. It changed a lot over the last 2 years and we have really been able to hone in on what ‘Siblings’ really is and what we want from our shows. We have ended up making the new show a bit different to our usual style this year which we are VERY excited to present to everyone.

We realized that a lot of the characters we were creating could all be set inside a magical, weird, timeless, horrifying school. Once the world was established, the characters just started building more and more. Lots of them are inspired by our childhoods and what we experienced when we were younger. 

We also took inspiration from people we thought everyone could relate to or remember in some way. Then they started extending to characters you see in iconic films, like the American coach who always does inspirational speeches, or big breasted headmistresses who scare the living daylights out of you, the list goes on. It’s the first time we’ve made something set inside a sort of fake / sort of real world which we hope everyone will be able to recognise and laugh at. 

We’ve still kept the madness of our usual style with clowning, songs, semi organized choreography and some mid to high range level acting. That’s all there, don’t worry…just in case you were…

Do you think being siblings with a lower case c have a competitive comedy advantage?

We definitely think being Siblings helps with our comedy in some way. It’s how it all began really. When we were children we used to play characters together constantly to pass the time, in the back seat of cars, underneath tables at restaurants. Nobody was safe.. 

We can bounce off each other so easily and yes we can get competitive & fall out but we always end up wanting each other to win on stage. Nothing is funnier to me (Maddy) than when Marina is absolutely nailing it. Also when we fail or flop. it’s just as funny, if not even more funny. Performing with your sister is really unlike anything else because winning AND losing is funny to us. It’s wild how in sync we can get too, how we can give the time to the other one on stage.

We can even talk at the same time and if you don’t believe this please do approach us and ask. It’s true, see it to believe it.

Do you think sketch comedy is having a renaissance?

It’s always a tricky one with sketch because it goes up then down then up then down. To us, sketch, especially character sketch, can be such a powerful form of comedy. Nothing makes us laugh more and recently there have been some brilliant sketch shows and character shows making a resurgence on screen. Hope that is also the case on stage fingers crossed!

It’s also just such a fun way to escape into different worlds, which is what we are really hoping for in our show this year. To give people an escape from the outside world and just laugh for an hour without having to think about the last couple of years. 

We also are weird because we don’t think we necessarily fall into the straight up ‘sketch’ group. We are a sketch show but it’s mainly character work with a mix of both of our training. Marina went to Drama School for 3 years at the same time Maddy went to clown school in Paris for 2 years so there’s a pretty wild combination of those styles going on. We also have delved this year into a bit more of the musical comedy zone. There’s not really a word for this show’s genre. Maybe CLETCHSONGSICALOWN comedy? Does that work? 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given about the new show or what advice are you following?

“Don’t ever say that on stage again” from our director. Just kidding! No he actually did say that once. 

One of the best bits of advice we got was actually from someone who worked with us a while ago who made us realize that we didn’t need to underline that we are Siblings in our shows because it’s already obvious from how we interact. This is something we can’t ever see ourselves, so we just have to trust it. Once we started focusing less on the story that we are sisters and more on our characters and sketches, the show became so much more than it was before. 

We like to be quite free in our comedy and very much mix what we both separately learnt on our own paths. Even though there is a script and the show is written (we swear it is), it’s ok to go with your impulse and take risks. We always have each other to fall back on and we really like when one of us just goes for it or follows something that’s happening in the room. It’s live comedy so anything can happen at any time. Something we have learnt as live performers is to not ignore those things but to use them. 

Also, the Fringe is hard. It’s important to not become all encompassed in your show. It will always change, audiences will always surprise you and some things may land one night and flop the other so we suggest that if you go to the Fringe, take it with a pinch of salt. Anything can happen, we’ve learnt this from previous years. it’s so easy to let things affect you but the advice we give to ourselves is to just keep going and to keep believing in what you’ve created,

Are you used to living together and what’s your flow/rhythm for the month of Fringe madness?

We actually live together in real life as well so we are definitely used to it at the Fringe. Of course, we will also have 7 other performers living with us in our tight tight student accommodation as well, so it’s good for us Siblings not to be stuck alone together all the time. 

We so desperately want to say we have a flow and a rhythm in the month of the fringe. It’s definitely something you dream about before going… Routine, morning walks in the Scottish hills, watch 10 shows by midday, sailll like soft buttery butter through your show ending with a standing ovation and then off to bed by 9:30pm. Very quickly that wonderful idea can fly out the window. But that’s ok.

I guess it is just taking every day as it comes in the Fringe and no matter what’s thrown at you to just try and go with it and see it all as a bit of fun. We like to watch a lot of shows as well as doing our own and support each other as performers. It’s good to avoid getting mad at yourself for decisions you make. A great way to combat this is seeing friends who are in the same boat as you and eating lots of food. You will 100% find us at the mac n cheese van a lot, that’s our main rhythm…. Mac n cheese. 

What do you hope audiences will take away from the show?

We really wanted to create something this year that will be a silly escape from the last quite horrific few years. We want to hopefully give a show where everyone can laugh for an hour and leave feeling pumped and ready to party into the night. 

Our new show is set at a school for talented Siblings. It is completely ridiculous. We hope people will see different characters that they will recognise from their own lives and will hopefully bring them back into their childhood as grown ups. 

It is quite rude as well…it’s rude as hell. 

What’s the best thing about live comedy?

There really isn’t anything in the world like performing live comedy. It is honestly incredibly nerve wracking, even after 5 years of doing it, Maddy still slowly and silently flops to the floor and sits cross legged (usually somewhere really obscure) before every show and Marina runs to wee whilst the audience are entering the venue. RELIGIOUSLY. 

It’s that moment before the show when you think “WHYYY HAVE I CHOSEN TO DO THIS WITH MY LIIFFEEE” but as soon as you get out there you realize why. It’s a rush like no other and when you do a good show, you know there’s no way in hell you can stop. Connecting with a room full of strangers and laughing with them as well… its sick.. It’s ill. 

Going to watch live comedy as well doesn’t compare to anything else, watching someone tell the story they have chosen to tell whilst making you laugh and or cry and or wheeze is just the best thing in the universe.

Show: Siblings – Siblage Venue: Pleasance Courtyard, The Attic Ticket price: £10 Dates: until 29th August Time: 20:30 (60 mins) Ticket link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/siblings-siblage

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She has been featured on HBO’s Search Party, Prime’s Yearly Departed and the CW’s Would I Lie To You. She has also racked up 3.6 million likes on TikTok for her character driven comedy.

‘A Woman On The Verge’ is her solo debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Billed as a physical an interactive character comedy show that uses clowning and storytelling to explore ego, financial instability, inner chaos on our attempts to appear palatable, Hannah has created an hour of absurdity. 

While covering the pitfalls of having a meltdown, she is keen to redefine the fine line between having a breakdown and a breakthrough, a fascinating place to kick of live comedy after a two-year hiatus. She says:

“I wanted to create characters that bring joy that you gravitate towards too. Woman On The Verge is about teetering on the edge. It’s the space we all occupy and I’m exploring when this can be a good thing. For example, having a breakthrough. The show is about perpetual chaos.”

The show contains an hilarious collection of characters that guide us along the shaky precipice of the verge, where we intermittently see Hannah trying to prepare for her show.

“The overarching premise is me trying to start my show however I’ve, over committed and there is a delay to getting the show started.”

“Sometimes we’re afraid of what we’ll experience when we are on the verge and I’ve tried to create a safe environment to occupy a manic space.”

“The show is immersive, requires audience engagement and its success depends as much on you as on me.”

“How do we look at this space and make it silly? What does it mean to be on the edge? We know the corporate world is full of buzz words like mindfulness and synergy. It’s my reality of being an endless people pleaser.”

“Even during the pandemic I’d over-committed myself to friends on Zoom and felt like I was disappointing people I couldn’t dial into the video calls I had accepted.” 

“It comes back to an inability to check in with yourself. I really want the show to be a seamless experience where I take on different roles and the audience Get a fully immersive experience.” 

“Audiences may even connect with their inner child as there is a theme of make believe and we build something together in real time.”

“No two shows at the same. – it isn’t preaching, and it doesn’t try to alienate people. In fact quite the opposite,  it seeks it seeks to the positive and a sense of optimism.”

One of the flagship motifs of the show is Hannah, crying after a catastrophic end to an intermediate hip-hop dance class, which includes shaky hands. Hannah tells more about how this came about IRL:

“I was crying at home and I caught myself in the mirror and my hands were shaking near my face. I realised then how silly and funny you can look when you are extremely stressed. I began to explore this more and I’ve had feedback from other comedians including Natalie Palamides who told me to ‘go for it’ and to see how far I could take it.”

On returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a fully-fledged solo show and producer, Hannah is looking forward to the return of live comedy. She says:

“There is nothing like the visceral experience of performing to a live audience of going through the show together. I also love watching live comedy as you get to see how thousands of people’s brains ticket festival like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Maybe I’ll see lots of perspectives on climate change – I may think that some resonate, and some don’t -It’s the ultimate art form and a really effective way to share art and ideas.”

“Alternative comedy nights like Stamptown were really formative in helping me to develop my work, allowing me to explore the space between character comedy and stand up”.

Show: Hannah Pilkes: Woman On The Verge Venue: Underbelly Bristo Square (Dexter) Time: 7:15pm (60 mins) Date: Until 29 August (except 15th) Ticket price: £7-£10 Ticket link: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/events/event/hannah-pilkes

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We meet a series of characters who are familiar from film and TV across every era in the UK, the USA and around the world and back again. However the only thing predictable about Siblings’ characters is the sheer chaos that ensues. 

It is so ridiculous that it becomes a cathartic experience where the audience are bound together in the psychedelic assembly hall as the class of 2022.

At its core, sisters Maddy and Marina Bye offer up the troubled and complex lives of teachers that we always imagined went on behind the staff room door. 

They release a ‘warts and all’ take down of teacher-led hypocrisy, the type that stifles childhood creativity, a hypocrisy of leadership that is digested and gloriously regenerated into a bursting confetti cannon of comedy with the help of fellow Siblage students.

It has been a joy to see the evolution and refinement of ideas and we are treated to some musical comedy for the first time with a theatrical rendition of “Father’s lost his mind” – a song worthy of any West End stage. 

We are reminded of every schoolteacher’s obsession with ‘peer pressure’ as we are lectured by two big-busted northern women who ask us to ‘settle down’ while informing us they’ve had to ‘leave year five in the Louvre in France’ and they were also supposed to be at ‘drinks at the cock and bollocks’ with Mr Henley.

We also see a drama teacher commandeering the assembly to perform his play about an American coach estranged from his son – he has heard ‘industry is in’ and wants to show his skills – a line that subverts the Edinburgh Fringe Festival itself.

The push and pull between each half of Siblings adds a dimension of unlimited creative potential onstage. The trust between the pair allows for greater risks guaranteeing each show will take on a unique identity backed by the seamless quality of the writing.

The tech elements of the show create an immersive experience. A special mention goes to Ellie, the tech engineer and DJ who supports the show with the unfaltering energy of an adopted sibling or first cousin.

Having watched this show I have reprogrammed my brain to believe that school was retrospectively enjoyable or at least it would have been if I was at school with Siblings. 

As we navigate the ups and downs of a post-pandemic world and return to work, this show reminds us to embrace fun and silliness as a weapon against the mediocre and mundane aspects of life that sometimes feel out of our control (a feeling I also felt at school).

This is not so much a performance as an exclusive invitation into the world of Siblings for a moment in time.

Show: Siblings – Siblage Venue: Pleasance Courtyard, The Attic Ticket price: £10 Dates: until 29th August Time: 20:30 (60 mins) Ticket link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/siblings-siblage

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We are transported from an Edinburgh nightclub room to a surrealist state-of-mind with the sense the ancient art form of clowning has provided answers to questions we didn’t know we needed to ask like ‘Why is this so funny’. Luke is skilful at gathering modern day anxiety into a room, making it silly and funny with the help of some excellent audience interaction, finding a way through together.

There are hundreds of props, and every single one was curated to seamlessly configure a show that maintains its pace, relentlessly finding humour in all things physical, object and form. A special mention must go to Mikey Bligh-Smith from The Lovely Boys, who plays a sofa and whose rendition of a song called ‘bum imprints’ unexpectedly and unexplainably brought me to tears. Yep.

Luke physically embodies comedy at cellular level, and as the non-sensical story permeates our hearts and minds, we experience a cathartic comedy experience that reminds us of the joy of visual arts.

Perfectly pitched for every audience member, be it the uninitiated or seasoned alternative comedy viewer, he creates a space electrically charged to delight, bring back live comedy with a lightning strike.

This show is ideal for anyone looking for a show to remind themselves of the silliness of shared humanity. It was also heartening to hear the bellyfuls of laughter from fellow audience members, glad to experience this luminous live comedy show after the curtain came down in March 2020. 

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Show: Luke Rollason: Bowerbird Venue: Monkey Barrel (The Hive)  Time: 12:30pm (60 mins) Date: Until 28 August (except 17th) Ticket price: £5 Ticket link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/luke-rollason-bowerbird

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We meet a series of characters as Hannah tries relentlessly to get her show on the road with the help of some audience support. Over-committed and over-exposed to life, she draws our focus to characters that are trying their best to muddle through their own mess. As well as performing a show, Hannah has a wedding to plan and tries to keep up with friends. We also get to see some characters who are also on the fringes of the verge, who are all profound, weird, hilarious and endearing. We’ve all been there – weighing ourselves down with plans and expectations to seemingly ‘bounce back’ from a world we hadn’t quite understood before the pandemic ground us all to a halt.

Hannah is superb at audience interaction and energetically pivots from stage to audience to puppetry during her debut hour with ease. We are watching a masterclass in modern day comedy that transcends any social media channel or room with four walls thanks to Hannah’s unique energy, presence and authenticity. 

Each of her characters have limitless potential to be funny, due to their core humanity. The show’s storytelling creates space for every aspect of life to receive attention as we zoom in on this angsty world. 

Through scenarios plucked from the chaos we begin to become aware of just how silly things can get when you are hitting rock bottom. 

This show creates absurd relatability from chaos, a paradigm that celebrates living in the mess. When planning a fairy-tale wedding planning on a $100 budget, we see Hannah breaking out of norms, backing herself to create new traditions despite what the world economic recession throws at her.

Hannah shows us through a complex mix of clowning hilarity and everywoman grit to try and sometimes fail to get through life’s day-to-day trials, while finding a way to pause, slow down, embrace and acknowledge who we are and build ourselves back with joy.

Show: Hannah Pilkes: Woman On The Verge Venue: Underbelly Bristo Square (Dexter) Time: 7:15pm (60 mins) Date: Until 29 August (except 15th) Ticket price: £7-£10 Ticket link: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/events/event/hannah-pilkes

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In his critically acclaimed 2019 show, Pindos, Milo explored how he became the first British stand-up comedian to become a Russian TV star and he learned that fame, although it may be a fickle friend, can come in handy when you get arrested in Siberia.

Now, it’s 2022, and Milo has become acutely aware that he’s located somewhere in the annoying transitional phase between childhood and death, and he’s keen to figure out what the point of him is.

I caught up with Milo for a quick chat about what Voicemail has in store.

What’s it like being back at the Fringe with live comedy being back on its feet?

It’s hard to say really, ask me on the 28th of August when I’m really on my last legs and I’ll give you an honest answer.

How did the pandemic affect your creativity flow in developing a show – good or bad?

This particular show has now been three years in the making and it’s changed almost beyond recognition for a whole host of reasons, partly because the life events I wanted to talk about have shifted as I was writing it. The pandemic itself though I thought was a great time to focus on other things and different creative outlets. A friend and I got quite into making ironic synthpop.

Tell me a bit about your approach to writing Voicemail and what inspired it?

In the past three years I’ve had a lot of cause to think about mortality and time, and I wanted to write a show about my life, set in the wider context of my parents’ lives. At heart it’s a show trying to examine what a good life is.

What one thing do you want audiences to take away from the show?

A coherent socio-economic understanding of MILFs as a demographic and phenomenon.

Do you think there is pressure on comedians to have a perfect show or do you aim to perfect the show during the run?

The show always changes during the run and that’s a great organic process but I don’t really think there’s any such thing as a perfect show. That said you want to reach the point where the show feels finished – before the reviewers come in ideally!

Who are your biggest stand-up comedy influences?

Boringly, probably Stewart Lee. Everyone says that but it’s true. He’s very good. Beyond that it’s probably mostly my friends and colleagues in comedy and podcasting, the things they say to me often percolate into my own ideas.

Why do you think live comedy is so important?

Well for a kick off, without it I wouldn’t get to feel anywhere near as important.

Where can people see you outside of Edinburgh, where are your favourite comedy nights?

I play all over, usually just booking my own solo shows, but in London I’m a fan of Vauxhall Comedy Club – it’s a solid and unpretentious venue which books some good acts. You can’t always believe the hype when it comes to some of the most well known comedy clubs…

Summarise your show in three words?

Life. Death. MILFs.

Any recommendations for other Fringe shows (that you’re not involved in) for comedy fans to check out?

In no particular order here are some shows I will be going to see – 

Aidan Jones – Taco

Tom Walker – Javelin 

Dan Muggleton – Oh, More Mr White Guy?

Olga Koch – Just Friends

Pierre Novellie – Why Can’t I just Enjoy Things?

Alexandra Haddow – Woman in Progress

Mark Watson – This Can’t Be It

Show: Milo Edwards: Voicemail Venue: Just The Tonic at the Mash House Time: 16:35 (60 mins) Dates: Aug 8-14, 16-28 Ticket price: £5 Ticket link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/milo-edwards-voicemail

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“If I have an absolutely dreadful run, no-one likes the show and it’s awful, at the age of almost 40, after everything that’s happened to me in life, I’ll get over it, it’s not the worst thing that’s happened, it’ll be fine, I’ll do another show tomorrow, I’ll be alright and with age comes wisdom” says Sian.

On the inconvenient timing of a pandemic that saw live comedy cancelled overnight, Sian acknowledges it’s had its impact. “I found out that I’d won the award during lockdown and was presented it on Zoom. That’s the annoying thing about it really, I had a lot of momentum behind me and everything got cancelled. I hope that the little break we’ve all had to have hasn’t taken that momentum away from me. Three years’ worth of people are debuting all at once, it’s going to be absolutely saturated for reviews, nominations, and awards with a lot of talent.”

Sian has always been a hard worker, having started work from the age of 13. “I’d always wanted to perform but the timing wasn’t right. Everyone that knows me knows that it makes sense for me me to be doing comedy.”

The moment that crystallised taking a leap to go ‘all in’ and pursue her comedy career came in 2016. “In the same year Victoria Wood and Caroline Aherne both died and left behind a huge legacy, I was 34 and I had a huge realisation that ‘I haven’t even started’ and look at everything they’ve achieved. If I’m going to do it, I have to commit to it, and I was prepared to work really hard from the start, from that moment.”

Sian’s first performance in 2016 was at a new act competition at Laughter House, a venue for Liverpool Echo New Comedian of the Year. When it came to developing a show, she credits the support of a mentoring scheme and the influence of theatre makers in finding different ways to approach storytelling through comedy, including how it is staged.

“I’ve always had the idea of the narrative of this show, of wanting to tell this story. In 2019 I applied for a scheme with Greater Manchester Fringe and they gave me mentorship to write this show. If I hadn’t had that, an audience, industry mentor and space and time to write it, I don’t think I’d have written it. I wouldn’t have known how to write the show as I don’t have a background in performing other than GCSE drama. In fact having a theatre influence really helped in terms of how to present my ideas. I’m just really grateful to them for seeing the potential in the paragraph that I wrote about what I wanted my show to be about.”

“The year in which the show is based on, 2010, was a pivotal year in my life and so much happened that I needed to tell that story. One of my friends saw the show, who’s only known me a couple of years but she knows much more about me now and everything has clicked into place. It’s a year I found my place in the world. I was in Vietnam when the Tories got in while travelling. I didn’t realise the impact this would have on my life, with their attitudes to austerity. There are shades of political stuff in the show but it’s not heavy material. But I do talk about the way we treat people in society and capitalism and austerity. “

Sian has worked to fund her gap year and comedy career in jobs spanning retail and youth work, and now works part time for local council housing Ukrainian refugees.

“I know a lot of other people are debuting this year and in another world I could be their mum, I’m 40 this year, but I’ve lived a life already. I also think that if I’d have come into comedy aged 18 or 19, I was an absolute dickhead and would have burnt every bridge I made, going out drinking, causing more problems for myself. Now, I’m much more professional, and I say things like ‘I have to go home to sort out the dog'”.

When it comes to a visual identity for the show, Sian’s poster looks powerful and belonging to that of a seasoned comedian beyond their Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut year.

“I think the show poster for me embodies the feeling that this might be a debut show and I might be a debut act but it’s fully formed and I’m fully formed. I know what I’m talking about, here it is. I’m coming at it from another angle and perspective, which I think really comes across in the show’s poster. Andy Hollingworth took the photo and Haiminh Le did the poster design. It highlights why I love working with artists – you have an idea that you find very hard to articulate, and they ask a few questions and go on to create something absolutely fantastic.”

The show’s storytelling is targeted at everyone, with a motivation running through to connect people through similarities, differences and common ground. “That’s the craft” says Sian, “When I had to pick a genre for the show, I sort of ‘umm’d and ahh’d’ about whether I should include it in the LGBTQ+ shows section. It’s written by a queer women but it doesn’t matter that I’m queer. There isn’t much queer content in it. It’s for everyone so I purposefully didn’t tag it as LGBTQ+ because of that. Stories based on personal experiences are for everyone. Find common ground, similarities and differences that’s what it’s about, making an audience identify with you if your backgrounds are miles apart, if you can find that point through an overarching story, then you’ve achieved what the goal should be.”

Comparisons to household names have already started, which Sian thinks can play a role in bringing in new audiences, though does have its draw-backs. “It’s useful in some respects, the London centric comedy press has described me as ‘a cross between Zoe Lyons and Peter Kay’ which is essentially a cross between a Northerner and a Lesbian, or ‘What Jason Manford would be like if he was a Liverpudlian Lesbian’. I don’t want to be the next ______, I want to be the first Sian Davies.”

“I’ve not been doing too badly with the time I’ve had so far, winning awards. I’m a lot older than my contemporaries and not London based, and this is my introduction to the comedy industry, the show is about me saying ‘this is who I am and this is what I do'”.

Sian Davies: About Time is at Teviot – Guilded Balloon at 17:40 (1 hour) from 3rd-28th August 2022. Tickets are £12 (£11 concessions) with 2-4-1 tickets available on 8th and 9th August. Book here https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/sian-davies-about-time

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‘Absolutely No Worries If Not’, a phrase Ania admits she has used regularly in her early 20s, combines storytelling, snappy observations and silliness and surrealism that hinges around recent life events that include impulsively buying a cat on Gumtree and sleeping with an ex, both within 24 hours of a flatmate leaving for the night when restrictions eased. 

Ania has been grafting away to hone her comedy credentials since she was 15, a commitment that is evident from the outset of our chat. Now 24, she says of those early days: “I guess I enjoyed watching stuff other people were making, both comedians on TV and youtubers who were funny, and got sort of jealous of the laughs they would get. And then I realised that was because it’s what I wanted to do! I also wasn’t particularly popular at school so the idea of being part of an online community and having somewhere else I could make friends was a bit of a draw.” 

Ania also has a host of writing credits to her name writing regularly with Amelia Dimoldenberg for her shows Chicken Shop Date and Amelia’s Cooking Show as well as writing for comedians appearing on Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, BBC Radio 4’s Newsjack and more.

Combined, along with many other projects and charity volunteer work with older people, Ania has been on an accelerated journey of self-discovery, with a pandemic providing an extended interval between coming out as bisexual and comedy gigging.

“I think the pandemic crystallised that once comedy got back up and running again I was going to go all in and step it up. It felt very different initially as you can’t see people’s faces with masks, but gradually things feel more normal.”

“It’s my first hour and it’s going to be an introduction to the whole vibe of my comedy – silly, surreal and honest- and the pandemic is definitely a marker in the show’s themes as I explain how it impacted me after coming out as bisexual just before.”

“Refining the show through previews has been a journey in itself, and the realisation that my perspective on events and that my thoughts have a value not just in terms of being funny and making people laugh but in affirming my voice. The show I thought I was writing –coming out- became only part of the story, I think it gets around 20 minutes, there are lots of topics in there that make it a story that I hope encourages people to realise ‘it’s ok to be yourself’. There’s a universal truth in that, and I want people to see the show and feel good about themselves.”

Ania has consulted with comedy friends who’ve offered notes on the show, which has offered a perspective that has been valuable. She says: “There’s a bit in the show about a sex party that I was invited to. I had a friend come and see the show to take notes and he pointed out that I needed to fully commit to retelling it in my voice and I realised that in order to tell this story I needed to be completely honest.”

“I think the temptation in comedy can be to think ‘how can I make this funnier’ or how can I embellish this to make it funny. But I’ve found if I just stick to the truth of what happened and I get a laugh in response, it can be really affirming and cathartic, which helps you develop.”

Uniting audiences of all ages is something that Ania has been pleasantly surprised by as the show has developed, potentially honed by her charity work volunteering at East London Cares, where Ania supports older people by having a chat, group events or going for walks. 

“There’s this myth about generational divides and this is a theme I considered for the show. That’s the beauty of live comedy, you get that immediate feedback of when the show has universal appeal and that’s the space I really want to explore more.”

“I want people to leave the show feeling that it’s OK to be themselves.”

It’s great to know our comedy leaders are stepping up to the plate in these tumultuous times to give a ray of hope this August. We could all do with a daily dose of Ania’s wisdom as the antidote to the last two years. Just make sure you book a ticket (absolutely no worries if not).

Ania Magliano’s debut show Absolutely No Worries If Not runs at Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Three: 3rd – 28th August: 4.35pm. Previews £6 (3^rd-4^th) Concessions £9.50/£11 Book tickets here https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/ania-magliano-absolutely-no-worries-if-not/performances

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Josh Pugh didn’t escape the drama, from having to take his mother-in-law to A&E on the first day of lockdown to be met by ‘people in giant beekeeper suits’ (not sure how the PPE supply chain was doing at this point) to joining the Royal Mail as a key worker and welcoming a new son into the world with his wife following IVF treatment.

His new show, ‘Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh, Chips and Beans’ has ‘no real sense behind it’ – “I’ve already had messages from people asking if they can swap Josh Pugh for another sausage” says Josh “and the show’s name is also causing a few problems when getting printed in programmes as it’s too long.”

On his signature style making its way into a brand new 60 minutes for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Josh says: “This show is my corner of light relief without being topical or political. Comedy shows can get quite heavy, and while I really enjoy watching that type of stuff during the fringe, my style has always been about just having a laugh with family and friends. You can only do what you do naturally. I’ve always been a stand-up first comedian.” 

Like many comedians Josh had a string of bookings cancelled at the onset of March 2020 and with a baby on its way, he applied for a job at a local sorting office with the Royal Mail, where he was tasked to sort hundreds of parcels by post code.

Despite postal bosses thinking Josh was extremely efficient with time, Josh admits varying degrees of delivery success thanks to having only 15% vision in one eye. He is also pretty sure he is responsible for misplacing some of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s centenary birthday gifts. “I managed to keep the job going for six months without anyone noticing which gives you an idea of what it was like to work there. It was strange but also fun at the same time, I just put my headphones in and put a podcast on and got on with it. You could tell by the shape of the parcels that people were buying loads of random stuff during lockdown like tennis rackets and Etsy jewellery.”

On becoming a parent in December 2021 Josh is very clear he is sharing his family’s individual experiences of IVF in the show and that everyone’s experiences are different. “I’m not a spokesperson for it, however parents of all people need a night out and I hope they come to see the show for its quirks which are universal and unique.”

“It’s going to be my fourth time at the fringe and there are always a few difficult months financially afterwards as you don’t make any money doing it, however I love Edinburgh and having the opportunity to test and develop your stand-up is an investment you choose to make.”

Audiences may also differ this year, with rising costs and reduced availability of accommodation shared on social media “Without being across exactly why the costs are rising, there is a worry that the trend means audiences aren’t representative of the population which in turn effects what tastemakers think” said Josh.

Thankfully Josh has emerged to help us all see the funny side through updating us on his life from the last two years, which could help reinvigorate audiences from all walks of life and encourage us to apply the same thinking to our own lives (here’s hoping).  

“I should be ready to reel off what the show is all about, it’s a fun way to look at the last two years of my life and trying to have a baby. It’s really good stand-up – if I’m allowed to say that.” 

Josh Pugh is performing his brand-new show ‘Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh, Chips and Beans’ at Monkey Barrel 4 at 14.10 throughout the festival. Buy tickets here.

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