Edy Hurst returns to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. I have caught up with Hurst ahead of the chaos of the Fringe starting.

When were you last performing at the Edinburgh Fringe?

I was performing at the Fringe last year, with a preview version of Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself. And now I return, a year older, a year wiser? Certainly with a show that boasts a robustly organised Qlab, and that’s half the battle really isn’t it?

What was the name of your previous show?

My previous show was called Edy Hurst’s Comedy Version of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of H.G. Wells’ Literary Version (Via Orson Welles’ Radio Version and Stephen Spielberg’s Film Version) of the War of the Worlds. It was a show that haunted festival programmers across the nation, and aimed to create a comprehensive version of 125 years of re-telling the sci-fi classic the War of the Worlds. Having unanimously succeeded, with the confidence boost of fixing that I feel pretty confident in combined the Lancashire Witch Trials, the Vengaboys secret concept album and “Nothing at all”. Also I was diagnosed with AuDHD over the course of the last show, which frankly you probably could have told from the title of it alone.

How long has your current show been running for?

This current show premiered last October, on All Hallow’s Eve (halloween) and since then has been on a short Winter Spring tour in the run up to the fringe.

Do you have any “good luck” rituals you undertake before performing?

I’m not sure if they’re for good luck, but recently I’ve realised that as a comedian who does very elaborate, tech and prop-heavy musical, multi-media shows, I think part of that choice is the ritual of setting lots of things up. By putting my concern into making sure the loop station talks with the speakers and the smoke machine is in the giant cauldron properly, it means I don’t have to overthink the performance as much. Which I guess in a way is good luck. Or bad luck, depending on how successful the setting up of all that equipment is. Ai ai ai.

How have you found booking accommodation this year?

Originally, a bit of a nightmare. I was struggling to find anywhere that was either close enough to lug my silly amounts of props across the city, or that was anywhere near a price range that was in my budget.

In the end, I was lucky this year to have a friend who’d bitten the bullet and booked a place in a good location, and (watch out, this might get boring) I’m going to bring my bike up to try and make travelling a bit easier. This was still more expensive than what I had planned for, and I’ve been running a crowdfunder to try and cover some of these costs.

(you don’t have to share this but it’s here anyway as the world of crowdfunding is a constantly uncomfortable hustle)

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/edy-hurstswitches-edfringe-uk-tour#start

What three pieces of advice would you give to first-timers going to the Fringe?

There’s so much advice for things to do or not to do at the Fringe, and I think if you’re visiting as a performer or a punter it’s a wildly different experience. The best advice I got for anything was from Simon Munnery years ago, where he said “Give up. And Carry on” but trying my best to be less existential:

1. Remember it takes time to travel from one place to another when you book shows (which I agree, is bullshit and rude of the world)
2. Everyone is doing better than you are, and everyone is struggling more than you are
3. Don’t take a flyer you don’t want to take, and don’t give a flyer they don’t want to be given

What are your plans after the Edinburgh Fringe is over?

When the Fringe is over, I am going to return with open arms to my family, and lie profusely as I tell them everything went perfectly and your dad is now a massive, successful star, burning away in the sky. 

Then I’m taking Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself on tour across the UK for the spookiest season of all, Autumn to early Winter, which you can find more info about here:

https://linktr.ee/edyhurst

Edfringe tickets:

https://assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/955-edy-hursts-wonderfull-discoverie-of-witches-in-the-countie-of-himself

My podcast where I use ye olde magick to solve peoples v nu prblms:

Assembly Roxy (Downstairs) at 2:20pm, 30th July – 24th August (except 5th, 6th & 7th August) https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/edy-hurst-s-wonderfull-discoverie-of-witches-in-the-countie-of-himself