I’ve simply spent per week as a critic on the Edinburgh Fringe, and there’s pleasure within the air that’s obtained nothing to do with stand-up comedy.
Story-telling stand-up is about to be toppled off its stay comedy throne after many years of domination by a style that’s about to blow up: character comedy.
For the needs of this text, by stand-up comedy I imply when an individual tells anecdotes and makes jokes on stage as themselves, if not a barely heightened model of them; assume the likes of Katherine Ryan, Michael McIntyre, Peter Kay, and just about all the most important family names in British comedy.
Character comedy, alternatively, is when a comic performs a personality that’s extra than simply an amplified model of themselves. As an alternative, they’re embodying an alter-ego or somebody utterly completely different.
On TV, character comedians have already boomed, after all, with Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge, Diane Morgan’s Philomena Cunk and all of the sitcom characters in between, like Lolly Adefope’s many faces, to not point out Mr Bean.
However within the stay comedy world, this various scene is fizzing with unexploded expertise.
Final yr, character comic Joe Kent-Walters offered out his Edinburgh Fringe run together with his disturbing however hilarious alter-ego Frankie Monroe and with buckets of five-star evaluations received finest newcomer on the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards.
This yr, character comic Lorna Rose Treen’s 24 Hour Diner Individuals is one in every of this yr’s most-hyped Fringe exhibits.
Only a week in and Lorna’s hour was absolutely offered out, and he or she’s even bagged herself a run at Soho Theatre in September: a spot that’s each Edinburgh Fringe comic’s dream.
Lorna Rose Treen: 24 Hour Diner Individuals evaluation -★★★½
24 Hour Diner individuals is a delightfully daft romp into Lorna’s bonkers creativeness, with a satisfying construction and loads of laughs. It introduces characters in an American diner – a long-armed trucker, a attractive teenager, and a heist plotter – with chaotic momentum and intelligent transitions.
Whereas Lorna’s characters are brilliantly ticklish, some lack specificity and depth that may transition this present from appreciative laughs into belly-cackle territory.
However, I can’t wait to see what Lorna does subsequent. She’s an absolute hoot, and 24 Hour Diner Individuals is an thrilling instance of what can occur when comedians aren’t afraid to experiment and run with their wildest desires.
‘I’ve solely been going for 3 and a half years… I believe a part of my early success was as a result of I used to be doing one thing so completely different,’ Lorna says in a pre-Fringe chat with Metro.
She too is satisfied character comedy is having a second.
‘I’m actually excited to see a lot character comedy coming again and effervescent up,’ Lorna says, pointing to the brand new Soho Theatre Character Comedy Improvement Lab, which has been set as much as hone acts on the circuit.
‘It’s been actually cool to have that place for individuals to start out off. As a result of once I was beginning, I didn’t actually have wherever to go,’ she says.
Lorna reckons outdoors the clowning and drag world – of which there are numerous strange characters to behold – there are simply round 30 character comedians of her era on the UK circuit proper now.
‘It’s more durable to fill a lineup with character comics,’ Archie Henderson-Cleland, who you could know as his alter-ego Jazz Emu, agrees in a chat with us, whereas pondering why character comedians have lagged behind stand-ups in stay areas.
Character comedians have a tough time slicing their enamel
However the business is gagging for character comedy, even when audiences haven’t fairly caught up with it.
‘Characters are nonetheless the choice on the Fringe, however very often they’ve been those which have gone on to make a extremely profitable sitcom,’ Archie says.
Lorna agrees: ‘Within the final three years, the TV business has now stated they solely need laugh-out-loud comedy [as opposed to comedy dramas]. In order that’s nice, as a result of that’s actually turned in my favour.’
Rory Marshall is a relative beginner on the scene, having began posting skits in character on-line throughout lockdown. He didn’t know anybody within the comedy business, however when producers obtained in contact, Rory thought he’d give stay exhibits a whirl at The Moth Membership in Hackney.
Rory Marshall: Pathetic Little Characters evaluation – ★★★★★
Rory Marshall is making his Edinburgh Fringe debut with the sensible Pathetic Little Characters. The skilled hour sees Rory embody quite a few on a regular basis males – all of which had the group roaring in recognition.
With the stage presence of a seasoned professional, Rory delivers male characters we’ve all met, however have by no means deeply considered till now.
By means of an hour of peculiar comedy – I laughed so loud it was nearly embarrassing – he dissects these Pathetic Little Characters and stitches them again along with genius precision.
Though he maybe didn’t imply them to be, Rory’s characters are additionally a significant and satisfying examine into the male psyche and its flaws – some sympathetic, some not a lot – which he invitations everybody to chortle at with Partridge-esque gusto.
We must always all be retaining a really shut eye on Rory Marshall – as a result of he’s about to explode.
Rory was ‘actually nervous’ about doing his characters on stage for the primary time, however discovered The Moth Membership a welcoming area with a comedy-tuned viewers.
However when he tried a daily stand-up comedy gig, issues didn’t work out fairly so properly.
‘I did this bit in character and there was not one chortle. It was 10 minutes to go, and I used to be pondering, “What on earth am I going to do right here?”‘ Rory remembers.
Archie agrees. He did quite a lot of stand-up comedy gigs as Jazz Emu in character and it was ‘a lot more durable’ than at various nights – which I’m informed ‘come and go’ (they have an inclination to blaze brilliant and die quickly after of economic stress). Now he solely performs on the extra left-field nights.
The world is heavy and character comedy is the reply
‘I like silliness, and I like escapism. I like all these items. And I truly assume it’s very nice for individuals to have some distraction when every thing could be very heavy,’ says Archie, whereas acknowledging it is a privileged place to be in.
Whereas character comedy may be pure daftness, it’s additionally one other manner in to speak about and spotlight vital points, albeit much less clearly so than a comic telling jokes about their trauma on stage.
‘I believe it’s such a depressing time on this planet,’ says Lorna. ‘It’s exhausting to be a girl in comedy. It’s exhausting to be a girl doing something actually, particularly proper now.
‘That’s the place I really feel like my energy is, to be a girl making absurd stuff feels fairly political.’
For Rory, whose characters nail little quirks I didn’t establish in males earlier than I noticed him carry out them, he’s not actively attempting to be political. However exploring masculinity in any type in 2025 form of… is.
‘While you see a person who’s uncomfortable in a scenario, I discover it fascinating to have a look at how he feels, or how he’s perceived, after which how that makes him act,’ he explains.
The Fringe is changing into a tense place – and character comedians are actually enjoying
What makes character comedians so thrilling in 2025 isn’t any political or social development they’re peddling, although. It’s merely that these performers are endlessly inventive and daring sufficient to decide to ‘the bit’ – nonetheless left-field.
‘Character comedians are so inventive in the way in which they’re like, “I’m going to do this, which I wrote yesterday. I’ve little or no religion in it. It’s fairly daring, fairly type of dangerous,”‘ observes Rory.
When it comes to searching for their – deep breath, ‘huge break’ – character comedians are navigating a wilder, less-trodden path than stand-up comedians. And that’s type of liberating.
With the Edinburgh Fringe comes enormous pressures for stand-up comedians, who’re identified to have been made and damaged on its cobbled streets. This lengthy historical past mounts stress onto every joke, second and present. There’s much less room for risk-taking for younger comics.
‘I believe there’s extra belief within the course of and the craziness of it with character comedy,’ Rory says. ‘It’s behind everybody’s thoughts that there could possibly be a casting individual within the viewers or one thing. However I believe the factor I’ve seen is that there’s only a love for the creativity of it.’
Whereas Archie was nervous to grow to be eccentric, annoying Jazz on stage, he needed to do it.
‘There are nonetheless those that discover it annoying and cartoony,’ laughs Jazz. ‘However that is what I might wish to watch, so I assumed I’ll simply do this.’
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