The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is by far one of the most popular and excitable events to happen in the the comedy, theatre and arts annual calendar. Not only does it host established acts but it offers a unique opportunity for uprising talent to showcase their material and garner a wider audience whilst developing their underlying talent. Alice Fraser is no stranger to the festival having now embarked on her fourth outing, the Australian comes armed with her new material. Here she shares her thoughts on her attachment to comedy, the scene down under and her experiences both at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and elsewhere:- ETHOS: Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Humans have always been fascinated by non-human minds. From the Golem, to Frankenstein's monster, to artificial intelligence – computers who could think, and threaten civilisation. Imagine an AI: a brilliant but naive mind, newly created. Now imagine that mind learning about our world by watching a comedy show. Alice Fraser (The Bugle and BBC Radio 4) explains our society of contradictions to a new robot mind. A silly, funny, smart show that explores what it is to be human. 'A life-changer' ***** (EdinburghGuide.com). 'Inescapably funny.' ***** (Herald Sun). 'A sexy cerebral twist to comedy' *****(OUTinPerth). So Alice how and when did you get into comedy when growing up? "I didn't really have an interest in comedy, I used to listen to 'The Goon Show' on the way back from rowing on the weekend, I then moved onto 'Monty Python' and I would read a lot of funny books... I would have never thought about being a comedian, until I was one (laughs)" Most comedians admire other comedians past and present, are there any comedians you aspire to? "There is very few good comedians that I think I don't get inspired by, obviously you have people like Sara Millican but normally it's just good comedy that inspires me" Comedians either have a previous job or walk straight into comedy, could you tell us how you got into comedy professionally? "I was an unassuming lawyer by day... I went to the law firm everyday (and comedy of a night) and I thought if I keep on doing this, I'm going to die. So it was more of a self privilege that moved me into comedy. I did do a couple of corporate gigs, I would never do jokes during office hours, although there were a sort of few talent shows that I would go to with corporates permission. My senior partner was constantly saying things like 'tell us a joke' or 'that's not very comedian-like of you', I never felt very funny at the law firm" What is the Australian comedy scene like? "It's like a miniature version of the UK scene, there's much more openness to alternative styles of comedy, the ABC is doing good work there. But the mainstream comedy is more mainstream than the mainstream is here (UK) mainly because of what is on the main television networks. They're more restricted (Australia) in what their idea of comedy is I would say. In the UK people would go 'what shall we do Friday night?' and the options are lets go to the movies, the pub or a comedy show. That's not what most Australians will do, it's not one of the options available to most Australians. There's more people in the UK so therefore there are more comedy shows, I think in Australia if you want to see comedy you really have to make the effort." What was it like performing in the UK for the first time? What was your emotions like regarding performing in a new country for the first time? "It was lovely, was really lovely. I was so happy and excited. In Australia you wonder whether the comedy you think is funny will work over in the UK, when it did I was so very happy. I was interested to see how the audience would react, I was worried that it wouldn't go well, but it did and I've already done stand-up in New York... I did sketch comedy at university, then in New York I started doing stand-up. So I already had experience of doing stand-up in a different country and I figured that I had the skills to try something, but if what I was doing wasn't working, then I could at very least if I bombed it the first time, figure out what I could change and come back to give it another shot in another way" All comedians have their own style of comedy, what would you define yours as? "I would say I like to deal with difficult ideas, for me maybe comedy is about passing as many interesting ideas into jokes, trying to stop it in becoming a kind of pep talk" Being a veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, what is about the festival that makes it special? What can attendees expect from your set? "I think that it is an agreement between a bunch of people that this fantasy city exists so much, there is no reason for it to be there it's just that everyone agrees that it will be and there's thousands of people show up. It's like a secret society or that it's some sort of magic spell where everyone decides its going to happen, so it happens. The great thing is you can see a lot of comedy, theatre, music, all going on at the same time, it's phenomenal. That they will get to see me on stages, I don't want to make too many promises in case I disappoint people. It's a double act with a robot talking about what it feels like to be human and I think it will be a lot of fun." Have you released any of your material on DVD? Are there future plans for any? Are you nervous about doing live recordings? "I have a DVD of a show I did a few years ago and I've also got my last show which is a trilogy coming as the last three shows, coming out on ABC as a podcast. I'm hoping to film more stuff in the future. Yeah I think I prefer to have it perfect, but it's important to give the audience a good show and I don't mind having some rough edges on a DVD because it makes it look more authentic." Alongside appraisal for your shows, what effects have they had on members of the audience? "I like it when people say I've changed their lives (laughs), that's always a good one. I had somebody tell me that watching my show has made them decide to quit their job and go into a career that she's always wanted. When people come back after many years and speak about the shows they've seen" Comedians tend to have some of their favourite jokes, what are yours? "Oh man! There's a joke that I did that regards a story about the time I did a TED talk, it's about three minutes without a laugh and is probably the most dangerous joke I do... there's no swearing in it at all, but because there's so much tension before the release valve comes off... I always like it when that joke works. I've got a joke that I do about my grandmother that I think makes a very good point about how the culture of hypocrisy I think, and then the rest of the jokes are just my one-liners - which I love to do." https://en-gb.facebook.com/AliceComedyFraser www.alicecomedyfraser.com
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