Julia Chamberlain’s head is full of balloons. Well, not literally. The producer of the So you think you’re funny? stand-up competition is in Edinburgh pulling the remaining threads together before the Fringe Festival officially kicks off on Sunday. And right now, the most pressing problem is getting the balloons delivered for today’s press launch.
‘It’s all surprisingly calm, before the storm,’ Chamberlain says, surveying the pre-festival atmosphere in the Scottish capital.
It’s Chamberlain’s first year running the 16-year-old competition, which has helped launch the careers of comics including Peter Kay (Phoenix Nights), Dylan Moran (Black Books, How Do You Want Me?), Lee Mack (The Sketch Show) and Tommy Tiernan (Father Ted, Small Potatoes).
Since March, Chamberlain has been engrossed in publicising the competition, organising over 300 applicants into showcases around the country, and trimming the list of hopefuls down to just 57 for the finals at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
It’s the perfect gig for Chamberlain, who previously worked as a booking agent for comedy club chain Jongleurs. ‘I was always on the hunt for new comedians and new acts – that would be where my passion lies,’ she says.
After watching more than 300 acts in the past few months from Ireland and the UK, Chamberlain has been struck by the quality of new comic talent. Very new talent that is, considering the conditions of entry to SYTYF? is that applicants may only enter once, and must only have begun performing on the comedy circuit for the past 12 months.
One entrant made it through the semi-finals this year having only ever performed two gigs, Chamberlain notes, while another impressed with the level of his confidence and stage presence, at just 16-years of age.
‘Nobody gets to the semis unless they’ve got something to offer,’ says Chamberlain. The competition is a ‘terrific leg up’, she adds, as the finals offer the best possible exposure to agents, bookers and the range of television executives, comedians and comedy journalists sitting on the judging panel.
Finalists, if they haven’t already, can secure an agent. ‘They’ll find it much easier to fill up their diary because they’ve been a finalist,’ Chamberlain notes.
But while she is full of admiration for the finalists, Chamberlain also observed how polarised the best and the worst acts were in the overall competition this year. ‘We’ve had some extremely good people who have taken the trouble to write material and they’ve been ruthless with themselves,’ she says. ‘At the very opposite end of the scale there’s people who think they can bluster their way through, without ever having written anything – and they’re quite cruelly exposed.’
A quick glance over the 57 finalists also confirms that stand-up comedy is attracting people from all walks of life. The creative industries are well-represented, with TV presenters, journalists, artists and actors included in the line-up. At the other end of the spectrum, computer programmers, accountants and health care workers are also finding things to laugh about. Students, lawyers, mothers, unemployed, IT workers, marketing officers – just about every sector rates a mention.
From her experience as a booking agent and now as SYTYF? producer, Chamberlain notes that one of the issues facing up-and-coming comedians today is that most have to sustain a day job to get by – and pour a lot of money into trying to get their stand-up careers off the ground.
‘You find a lot of new acts are actually forking out an enormous amount of money to travel 200 miles to do an open spot for no money, and have to get back to their day job. They have to make a real investment of time, but [also] a fair amount of money, to get where they want to be,’ she observes.
On the other hand, she observes, the stand-up circuit also has a way of supporting each other. ‘They get together, they form their own club, and they look after each other to give each other stage time, and not a 1000 miles from home, usually.’
There also seems to be fewer opportunities in television for comedians now, Chamberlain believes, with established comics more likely to maintain TV gigs, and therefore way-ins for up-and-comings are few and far between.
But if she could change anything about the stand-up scene in the UK through the competition, it would be the cultural diversity of the comedians.
‘I’d just like to broaden the remit and get some more ethnic minorities involved, because they do have their own comedy circuit, but at the moment [the mainstream] is very white, very European, and I have to say, very male.’
The ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ heats run August 3-5 and 10-13 at The Metro Gilded Balloon Teviot Nightclub, Bristo Square, 10pm. The final will be held at the Metro Gilded Balloon II, Debating Hall, Teviot, Bristo Square, 8.45pm. Bookings: 0131 226 2151.
