How did your Edinburgh Fringe go?
Well! It was a bit of a rollercoaster and there are lots of different ways of measuring how it went. Objectively speaking, we did not sell many tickets (I did have to do the show to 2 people on one night…) and the reviews were pretty mixed (they weren’t – I had essentially * across the board except for one *** review from the Neurodiverse Review but the contents of the * reviews varied really wildly). I did have a little wobble and a cry in week 2.
But subjectively speaking, the fringe went great.
I met a lot of cool people and am really proud of the show and how it developed over the month. I received some really nice messages from audience members and achieved all my fringe goals. I won the first ever Neurodiverse Review award for Actually Autistic Excellence which, subjectively speaking, is the best award at the whole festival.
Was this your first hour show?
No. So, this was my first full solo hour at the Edinburgh Fringe. I have written and performed two other solo shows (which were somewhere in the realm of science-y/history-y stand-up) at other festivals, like the Greenman Festival and Brighton Fringe. I’ve also been to Edinburgh before as part of an improv show, a mixed bill and in 2019 I did a full length run of a split bill show with my friend Rachel Wheely.
How did you find the process of writing differing from your club sets? Did your approach to writing the show change since you were last at the fringe?
Because this show was my debut, I did a lot of things differently (this mostly involved paying more people more money).
I worked with a director (Joz Norris). Rachel and I worked with a director (Elise Bramich) on our split bill, but I had more of a formal working relationship with Joz because we didn’t know each other before we started the project.
Working with Joz meant that my approach was quite different. Maybe one way of articulating it is to say that, on previous shows, I’ve had a bunch of material and I had to work out the right order to put it all in. In this show, I had a bunch of material but we were mostly guided by a goal that we wanted to achieve with the show and so that was the driving force behind it. There were a lot more questions like “what do I want audience members to take away from the show?” and “how is this joke helping to achieve my aims?” etc. etc.
What is your proudest moment in comedy?
I think right in this moment I’m going to say it was a conversation I had with a comedian I really respect, who said that she saw a WIP of my show and it made her try something a bit different with her show.
I love watching comedy and being inspired other artists’ work and that was the first time I realised that I was also contributing something and that other people could have the same reaction to my work that I have to theirs. So that was pretty cool.
If you weren’t doing comedy, what would you be doing?
I’m going back to school this month to get my PGCE and start teaching. I’m still going to do comedy but when I’m not doing comedy I will be teaching.
I do a lot of things that aren’t comedy, like I recently got into lino printing. I write a lot. I still think stand-up is my favourite medium of expression but I’m not sure that will always be true. Even if I wasn’t doing comedy, I’d still be making things.
Has the circuit changed much since you started? Who are some newer acts you’re really excited about at the moment?
Well, I don’t know if I’ve ever really been “on the circuit” so I don’t really know. I can tell you about lots of acts I love/am excited about though. I also don’t really know how to quantify “newer” so I’m going to ignore that and instead say that I think Priya Hall, Elly Shaw and Edy Hurst are all really funny and I am looking forward to what they make next.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in Stand-Up?
If your dream is for this to be your job and you’re gonna work, work, work until you get there then that’s fine. But it’s okay to make the art that you love because you love it, not because it makes you money. (Obviously, I find it very frustrating that it is easier to do comedy if you have money and it can be easier to do comedy if you don’t have to work to support yourself but what I’m trying to say is you don’t have to be an entirely self-sufficient, professional comedian to call yourself a comedian. Make the comedy you want to make because you want to make it and it brings you joy not because it’s going to get you an agent or whatever.)
You can find out more about Cerys by checking out their website.
Cerys is headlining our next live show on Monday 14th November! Book your free ticket here.
This interview, along with other fun and exclusive content, is part of our Winter 2022 zine – order your copy here!
