“We are all so excited to be returning this year with a show that we feel optimises the experimental spirit of the Fringe.”
WHO: Clare Noy
WHAT: “Clare Noy is an actress known for falling over in The Play That Goes Wrong and in Peter Pan Goes Wrong. She’s also a stand-up comic just trying to get by. Funny Though is another cautionary tale about a bisexual in crisis, the Comedienne makes questionable life choices so that you don’t have to. She’s tired, she’s broke and she’ll do anything for a laugh. Expect 60 minutes of hot mess, no more, no less. (Insert quote from someone famous saying I’m great.) If that doesn’t sell this, we don’t know what will.”
WHERE: Bunker One at Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)
WHEN: 15:30 (60 min)
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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
Myself and the team have all visited the Ed Fringe before but this all of our debuts as creatives. It’s my writing and performing debut, Lauren’s directorial debut and The Project People’s debut too. (The Project People are the multi-award-winning creative producers and consultants Millie Wood-Downie and Molly McGeachin.)
Ed Fringe is such an amazing opportunity to platform new work and find like-minded creatives for future collaborations. We are all so excited to be returning this year with a show that we feel optimises the experimental spirit of the Fringe.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
This show actually only exists because of the things I learnt then. At the end of that year, I had just finished touring with the Play That Goes Wrong, and I had started learning the basics of stand-up comedy on Logan Murray’s stars of tomorrow stand-up course at the Museum of Comedy. Both of those experiences heavily informed the way I view comedy and the way I write. It also inspired me to explore burnout in comedians and think about what the ‘cost of comedy’ is. ‘Funny Though’ is the sum of all of these thoughts and experiences.
Tell us about your show.
‘Am I a muse, or am I just amusing?’
Funny Though is a bold, genre-blurring solo show marketed as a stand-up gig. It merges stand-up comedy with theatre to explore mental health, queerness and the cost of comedy. This tired, broke Comedienne will do anything for a laugh, but what if one day, she takes it too far?
Myself (Clare Noy) and my director (Lauren Lambert Moore) met in 2020 working on a scratch night together. I’d done a short piece of new writing and was paired up with Lauren to stage it at the Vaults.
From there, the rest really is history. I went on to work as a dramaturg with Lauren, and she worked as a director for me on a scratch night I produced. Whenever I had a new idea, Lauren was the first person I would go to with it. Fast forward two years from then, and I experienced my first taste of performance burnout and started working front of house at a comedy club. When I was watching all of the shows that were programmed, it struck me how autobiographical and trauma-related stand-up comedians’ work was becoming, and I thought, hey, I wonder if A. I could do that. And B. Whether that is a sustainable way for creatives to work.
I drafted my first 20-minute version of ‘Funny Though’ with the support of Lauren and Omnibus Theatre’s Engine Room program and then kept on developing it over the course of 2 years. Since that first draft, I have extended it to an hour-long show and developed it with the support of Omnibus Theatre and with the support of Soho Theatre’s labs programs.
Post the Fringe, we are looking to tour the show around intimate venues in the UK and internationally. Lauren and I also intend to continue to work together as a writing and directing duo.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Eat the rich (but not me mates) – Jade Franks show is before mine in the same venue, why would you not double bill two funny women? Don’t even have to move from your seat!
House Party – Need I say more? The motivation is in the title; Chakira is also an excellent, award-winning writer.
Toxic Femininity – Molly McBride is one of the most naturally funny women I have ever met, we worked together on the Soho Theatre Plus lab and I she has got the sharpest tongue on her. She also bullied me to write this, and once said my haircut makes me look like Lord Farquaad from Shrek.
Alana Jackson – Last Orders: If you don’t see someone Scottish when you’re at a Scottish Festival, then you are very rude. Alana is also an award-winning comedian and an all-around good egg.
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