Fringe Q&As: Abi Roberts on Susan Boyle, blethering and the high pressure of performing at the Fringe

The show is called ANGLICHANKA (which means Englishwoman in Russian) and it’s at 4.15pm at the Voodoo Rooms on West Register Street every day.  I’m back there with PBH Free Fringe as I love the venue and we sold out every day there last year with my show DOWNTOWN ABI. We were turning 100 away every day, which is amazing considering we did no advertising for it and I’m not backed by a big agent or tour company!

It’s a brand new stand-up comedy show about my time living in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s when I studied opera at the Moscow Conservatoire and learned Russian. My father was a trade diplomat and I used to go to Moscow on trips from an early age and my parents both spoke Russian, so I grew up hearing it. No surprise that I ended up studying it and going out there to learn opera (I also sing) and to sharpen my language skills. ANGLICHANKA starts when I went back to Moscow in February this year after nearly 20 years to become the first pro UK comic to perform stand-up in Russia in Russian and I’m very pleased to say I beat Eddie Izzard on that one! Stand-up is very new in Russia and there is no real “circuit” to speak of, but they love English stand-up comics and I did three nights to packed rooms in Moscow’s only comedy club. 

The show is about how things were then – the food queues, the state surveillance (I regularly found monitoring devices in things like chandeliers and light fittings), the poverty experienced by ordinary Russian people..and how they are now..the food queues, the surveillance and the poverty experienced by ordinary Russians. Many things have changed and many things have stayed the same. One of the weirdest things was seeing a Bentley dealership in Red Square. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t there in the 90s.  There’s a little bit about how I narrowly escaped with my life – twice...once when the flat below me was brewing illicit vodka in a still which blew up and the second time when I had to get a very quick flight out during the coup against Gorbachev.  I was due to sing at an operatic gala for Gorbachev and Raisa but the Coup put paid to that.  

It’s also about Russians and their drinking and the role of matches in outdoor loos in minus 20 temperatures!    

It’s also about being amazed by the generosity of Russians. It’s a tough place to live in so many ways – its very cold in the winter, usually –20 in the city and lower in the countryside. Their history is one of suffering. I mean, it’s very difficult to get your head around the fact that 26 million Russians died fighting in the Second World War..26 million. Many through starvation and disease. It’s not surprising the Russians have a culture of sharing. The average Russian would give you their last piece of bread...literally.   I think people will be surprised how the Russian see us and they will be amazed how much the Russians revere British culture and society and the way do things. For a commucnit country, they do capitalism very well and surprisingly, they love the Queen. 

ANGLICHANKA is first and foremost a comedy show, with a surprise ending but hopefully the audience gets to know a little about modern Russia, Putin and the country described once as ““a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.

2 Best thing about the Fringe?

The amazing amounts of different types of comedy, music and theatre you can see at any time of the day or night.  Its a veritable paradise for anyone who likes comedy and you never know what you will get. Sometimes, you can stumble over a fantastically good show which you recommend to everyone and then other times, you sit getting a sore arse watching some dreadful student production of Hamlet played for comedy, in the style of a Quentin Tarantino movie on acid.  I have actually seen tourists congregating around a dead seagull with a plastic bag stuck to it on the George IV Bridge who were saying “Is that an art installation? It’s very reminiscent of early Hirst. Four stars Broadway Baby”...

It’s always good seeing old mates in Edinburgh you haven’t seen in ages.  Comedy is a weird beast. I’m on the road almost 360 days a year and you rarely see friends. If you do, its for ten minutes before they do their thing at a comedy club. Edinburgh gives you a chance to catch up and have a few JDs and cokes with old friends. My audiences tend to come back year after year, so its always good seeing people who came to see the show last year again and meeting new audience goers. 

3 Worst thing about the Fringe?

As a performer the Fringe is a high-pressure, gruelling experience with many ups and downs.  Being part of a supportive community of other stand-ups in the Free Fringe helps when you get the odd problem or issue.  It is a slog though....25 shows back to back, never seeing hide nor hair of a vegetable or salad for three weeks. Veg is hard to find/consume during the Fringe and you become a fast food addict. Also, it’s never just 25 shows – you have to do promo slots at compilation shows to plug your show, so you end up gigging three or four times a day. Last year I did a grand total of about 147 gigs in the three weeks of the fringe.  But the Fringe definitely makes you a better performer overall and the sense of relief after the last show is amazing.  One of my personal bugbears is reviews that award stars. Stars are meaningless. They make no difference to whether you will get people to see your show and one good thing about that is that people are starting to rely on word-of-mouth again as audiences realise personal recommendation is so much better than seeing five stars on a big poster advert. 

4 How many years have you been coming to the Fringe?

I was a singer before I started doing stand up in 2011, so my first show was a music show in 2007, followed by a cabaret shows in 2008 and 2009 – you know, shows with about 12 songs in them, some parodies, some straight covers.  I did my first solo stand-up show in 2014 as a work in progress and did a full show DOWNTOWN ABI last year.  

5 Favourite Fringe venue?

The Voodoo Rooms on West Register Street without a doubt. Top quality food, great atmosphere and jam packed with quality shows all day. Its a premier Free Fringe venue and Brendan and his crew are fantastic. Couldn’t ask for more really! 

6 Best Fringe memory?

Ah so many. I’d have to say last year. From day one, we were getting big, up for it crowds and large amounts of money in the bucket. It’s a great feeling to see a line of 100 plus people waiting for your show as you arrive at a venue.   Another great Fringe memory from last year was singing Sweet Home Alabama at Massaoke (used to be called Friday I’m In Love) at the Gilded Balloon with Al Murray on the drums.  It’s such a fab show and I will be doing it again this year...If you are in Edinburgh, you must go and be part of Massaoke..its one of the best shows in Edinburgh!

7 Best heckle?

I was doing a compilation show (four acts on a mixed bill doing 15-20 minutes, usually to promote their own shows or based on a theme) and a punter brought a very old and sweet Labrador dog in. Halfway through my set the dog started barking at me but as it was so it old, it was that kind of “I have to bark, but I can’t really be bothered” sort of bark. The dog then started to retch and brought up a whole load of grass..which was nice.  There’s not much you can do when you are heckled by a sicking Labrador. At another gig I was doing a bit about hating jazz and got heckled by a Swedish lady who clearly loved Jazz who said “ jazz is a very important art form, how dare you criticise it”, She went on and on and on and on about it...which proved the point of the joke really..I hate jazz because it goes on and on and on.... to quote Spinal Tap..”jazz..its just mistakes really”.

8 Craziest on stage experience?

Having the comedian John Bishop turn up to watch my show last year and seeing him in the audience. Freaked me right out.  Last year I had a few latecomers, so I had to do one of the early routines again, but done as a fast forwarded version no less than three times. That got a round of appaluse!

9 What’s on your rider?

Several full fat cokes. That’s it. I don’t eat before or immediately after a gig. Post gig, I usually have a JD and coke.

10 How do you wind down after a show?

See above! Once I’m back at home I watch episodes of Columbo or Made In Chelsea. I’ve already decided that my show next year will be called The Tao Of Columbo and will be all about my favourite TV detective.

11 What do you love about Scotland?

I’m a Celt – born and raised until I was 10 in Wales. My gran was a Scot – A Gordon in fact. My mum lives in Scotland, as does my sister, brother-in-law and nephews so I love all things Scottish and I love the warmth and generosity of the Scots...they are very similar in attitude to the Russians in that regard. Especially the drinking part.    

12 What do you like about Edinburgh?

I love the cobbled streets. I love the buzz of the place. I love the culture and history and most of all, I love the Fringe!

13 What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve done?

I am proud to say that I have deep fried a Bounty bar several times since the last Fringe.  I have also ordered Tunnocks, Irn Bru and those Macaroni Cheese pies online. 

14 What kind of jokes do a Scottish crowd seem to respond to?

Audiences are the same the world over.  Obviously a Scottish crowd like anything which makes the English look stupid, but I’ve done this show in Russia and they responded the same way as they have in Milton Keynes or Portsmouth. Actually there were a couple fo Scots guys in my Russian shows and they loved it especially the drinking bits and the love of toasts. I think funny is funny. They do seem to like my brand of physical comedy and the impressions I do go down very well with Scots audiences, especially when I do Susan Boyle unexpectedly.  

15 Favourite joke?

I wrote a joke which was used on Adam Hills’ “The Last Leg” TV show, “Where I live in London, I saw that someone had sprayed on the phrase “ISIL” on a wall and in chalk, someone had written “VAG” in front of it.”  

16 Favourite Scottish food/drink?

See above! Tunnocks, Macaroni Cheese pies and Irn Bru.

Abi Roberts: ANGLICHANKA is on at the Voodoo Rooms until August 28.