Making Creativity Pay

" I think it's important to be strategic going into the fringe and to have goals and to be very clear with yourself about what those goals are. But I think you need to phrase them in ways that can always come back to something you are in charge of. So your goal can never be, I want to win an award, or I want to get a five star review because somebody else decides that. But you can, you kn...

Social Media is another job, I don’t need another job. Sikisa is at the Edinburgh Fringe this year with her show Serving Justice, we discuss her being called the hardest working comedian on the circuit, her wrestling podcast and combining all this with a job as an immigration lawyer. We also talk about her taking part in Stuart Law’s film The Debuts that followed performers taking their debut show...

 When I first started introducing rap into comedy, I thought people would find it trickier to switch between the two, but they don't. I think people get used to, okay, we've got this rap, and then it stops, and then you move into doing standup, and then you do standup for a while, and then a rap comes in and it's a nice device to have as a comedian in terms of pacing and energy and kee...

It's a welcome return to the podcast for Comedian and Writer Kathleen Hughes, Kathleen previously appeared on the podcast in an episode with Jay Lafferty ahead of last year's fringe.  This episode was recorded earlier this year ahead of Kathleen’s final few performances of her 2024 Fringe show Cryptid, we talk about her experience at last year’s Fringe, the creative and financial reasons f...

This episode is with writer and Comedian Candace Bryan. We talk about her show MILF (Mom I’d Like to Find), moving from a ‘Coward’s Hour’ in 2023 to Debuting with a full show this year, her decisions behind venue choice and ticket price as well as her experiences in Roast Battles and how her Work in Progress shows have helped shape this show. We also talk about her writing career and the balance b...

“ every party we go to, every new person we meet, every workshop we're at, we plug the show which I think is always the way to go. Word of mouth.” This episode is with Sian Kayleigh on Pansy Productions about their upcoming show The Sentimental Value of a Half-Eaten Biscuit and the Psychological Ramifications of a Lost Hair Tie which is on at the Bread and Roses Theatre Clapham from 17th-19th...

“ I've been in sales my whole life and I went for a promotion and my manager told me that I needed more confidence presenting and in true Glaswegian style, I thought, “is that right?” So I signed up to an open mic to prove him wrong and then I get booked back. So I've just kinda been going ever since ”   Out latest guest is Comedian Amanda Hursy.  We talk about her upcoming Debut fringe sh...

“ Just before my first work in progress, I got really sick, had a chest infection so I couldn't go to work for four days because I was on antibiotics, and it was great because I couldn't talk but I could write the show, and so I ended up accidentally having time to write."   - Our latest guest Holly Spillar.  We talk about her experience as a finalist at this years Musical Comedy Awar...

“ I described the show when I was trying to pin down a venue to say, what themes are touched on. I listed all the themes and I was like, I wouldn't come to this. I wouldn't go and see that show if it was written down like that. You've gotta sort of sell it in a different way. But when you're trying to apply to a venue, you need to be like, okay, so it touches on all this. So you re...

“ I encourage people to do standup comedy… 'cause when it goes really well, it is like the everything medicine. You know, I think if you blew off my legs with a cannon after a really good gig, I would be like, well, this is a nuisance. But this is still a good day for me.”  We talk to Comedian Gabriel Featherstone about the preparations for his upcoming Fringe show “Robocop vs The Terminator v...

“ I genuinely thought that Liz Truss was a comedian, and I was jealous of her career because she was doing a better job at comedy than I was.” Actress and Comedian Nerine Skinner. We talk about Nerine’s experiences creating online videos and sketches and the influence Liz Truss has had on her career both in terms of creating videos for YouTube and TikTok as well as being a big part of her 2024 Edi...

“ If Scottish comedians can't afford to go to the Fringe, then that's a crazy problem that we have.” I spoke with Comedy Director and Promoter Katie Palmer of Brass Tacks Comedy, we discuss the skills she brings to a number of performers at the Fringe and her work with Red Bull on creating the Brass Tacks Debut Fund (which since recording has been awarded to Ayo Adenekan ). We talk about h...

“ I think there's generally like one or two people who win the Fringe every year and everyone else just has a time ranging from OK to heart breaking, our Fringe experiences as Hot Death Theatre have sort of sat more in the heart breaking camp.  Whereas our experiences with almost every other Fringe we've done have been quite uplifting” I spoke with Freya and Lawrence of Hot Death Theatre a...

“ It certainly feels like the entire structure of the music industry has been created and maintained to separate the artist from their money.” This episode is with Musician Josienne Clarke and Filmmaker Alec Bowman Clarke, we talk about the music industry, Josienne’s crowdfunder for her new album and the accompanying making-of documentary Alec is filming as part of the process. We also discuss Jos...

I spoke with Laura Horton about how a meeting with Viv Albertine of The Slits was a catalyst for the play that became Lynn Faces, a “punk meets Partridge” show that combines getting over a toxic relationship, punk music and Alan Partridge’s PA Lynn. We talk about getting caught up with the difficulties her Edinburgh Fringe venue Summerhall had and how it seemed that she may never get paid her box...

"It's sort of about famous women who have died tragically throughout history and how many of them have ended up in rivers" - Laura Thurlow In our second episode at the Fringe we hear from another three performers who are taking part in the Fringe. Links River Time! Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/river-time Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurelbrae/ TikTok: https...

With the Edinburgh Fringe up and running (for many it's been going since January or earlier with Work In Progress shows), I heard from a number of performers about their preparations and also tips for making the most of the Fringe experience. If you're performing at the Fringe and you'd be interested in being on the podcast during August get in touch. Links Girlhood Tickets: https://ti...

"You can't interview a ghost on this show. But you can have a woman who has swallowed her whole forearm" I spoke to Lorna Rose Treen and Jonathan Oldfield about a range of subjects including their Radio 4 show Time of The Week which you can currently catch up with on BBC Sounds. We also chat about their experiences with character comedy, drama and improvisation as well as discussing...

Rosie is a musician who's played Glastonbury, a Comedian who has taken multiple shows to the Edinburgh Fringe, as well as a British Podcast Award nominated podcaster for her Podcast 'The Breakup Monologues' as well as the author of 'Is Monogamy Dead?' and 'The Breakup Monologues'. We discuss her experiences in these areas, the high and low points of each (both financial...

This episode is with Ian Adkins and Laura Rouxel of 800lb Gorilla a comedy media company who produce, distribute, and market stand-up comedy video specials and audio albums around the world. We talk in particular about the work of 800lb Gorilla in the UK, filming and promoting specials for comedians such as Stuart Goldsmith, Fern Brady, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, Ivo Graham and many more. We talk...

It’s impossible to move at the moment for think pieces about the future of AI and for better or worse you’re getting another one here. In this episode I’ll talk a bit about examples from art, music, writing and coding and how what could be an incredible advance for some will bring consequences for others. I show how with text to speech advances it's hard to tell real and AI adverts apart, how...

“It feels like people do have to almost have a second career to support themselves. And it's not clear where the kind of goals or the safe spot is anymore where you can just fully concentrate on that thing” Rachael Healy is an award winning journalist and the current British Journalism Awards Journalist of the year for Arts and Entertainment. Rachael is a freelance journalist working predomina...

“...people who go into medicine, often it's not so much just pure science people, it's people who've got maybe a bit more of a broader interest range than your standard person who just wants to be a scientist or a mathematician or something like that. So I think often you find people going into it who've got a bit of a second interest, even at the point of sort of choosing what car...

Ahead of the Glasgow comedy festival which runs from the 13th to the 31st March I spoke to comedians Jay Lafferty and Kathleen Hughes two Scottish comedians who are performing at the festival.  We talk about Kathleen’s experiences as a relatively newer comedian who after a two week run last year is currently preparing for her first full Edinburgh Fringe run in 2024. We also discuss Jay’s experienc...

“Finding out information about comedy, if you don't already know what you're looking for can be ridiculously overwhelming” This episode I spoke to Zoë Paskett founder of LMAOnaise a website, newsletter and soon to be newspaper that covers some of the less mainstream areas of comedy. The ethos of this podcast has always been that even if your art may not be driven by money, without the mone...