EdFringe Talk: Guy Branum: Be Fruitful

Posted in *EdFestivals 2026, *Written Interviews by

“I’m still trying to get the American TV industry I love back on its feet.”

WHO: Guy Branum

WHAT: “Emmy and Golden-Globe winning comedian Guy Branum goes on a joke-dense slide show journey through religion and science arguing that he, as a clinically obese gay man, does not serve any practical purpose. Guy recruits his audience to look at the origins of homophobia and anti-fat bias and asks how correct they might be. He uses this journey to explore how we tell stories about people traditionally ignored, why he’s bad at telling stories, the 1984 Tony Awards, the first and only time he’s been in love, and, of course, the biology and evolution of fruit.”

WHERE: Billiard Room at Gilded Balloon Teviot (Venue 14) 

WHEN: 20:30 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I’ve never been to the Edinburgh Fringe, but I’ve watched as my friends took smart, well-crafted shows to the Fringe, it found an audience, and the shows turned into HBO and Netflix specials. I’ve also seen the way people who’ve gone as performers and audience speak with rapturous intoxication about the feeling of being surrounded by that much art and energy. I want a hit of whatever is intoxicating them.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2025 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

In Los Angeles there can be a very limited idea of what success looks like in entertainment, but as the industry is changing, that success is getting rarer. The last year has been about the industry making clear that it’s ready to fall apart, and me trying to get up the gumption to throw myself out of the collapsing building to create work I like. I haven’t fully picked up the message, I’m still trying to get the American TV industry I love back on its feet, but for now, finding satisfaction through live performance and Instagram videos has to be the fuel that keeps me going.

Tell us about your show.

I wrote my show, and I’m my company, so the company came together when my parents decided to have sex many decades ago. My show is about the limited, heteronormative idea of value and purpose we have as a society, and what it means to be a very fat gay man in a world that doesn’t see a lot of value or use in someone like me. It is also about fruit. I’ve worked the show out in Los Angeles for a while, and taken it on the road a bit, but Edinburgh is really its coming out party. The show has evolved a great deal over a year, and now I believe it’s reached its final, Charizard form. After the run in Edinburgh I will be setting the show and myself on fire to accept that no future version could ever be as perfect.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

I REALLY love the LA-based Heated Rivalry Parody musical at the Gilded Balloon (I believe there are roughly 70 Heated Rivalry Parody Musicals coming to the fest, I plan to have sex with all of the Ilyas and most of the Shanes). And I’m mostly excited to see a bunch of comedians from the UK I love, Rose Matafeo, Nish Kumar, Connor Burns, and my friend Sophie Hagen. And then there are a bunch of my friends from America who are coming: Sam Morrison, Brendan Scannell, Ify Nwadiwe, Shane Torres, and everyone involved in Stamptown. And people should get their Stamptown tickets soon, because over the course of the run, most of the good cast members will probably be mangled in some sort of t-shirt cannon to the groin incident. Zach Zucker is a public menace and must be stopped.

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