Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?
Hello reader, I am Anna Clifford an Irish comedian, actor, podcast host and chancer! Will do most things if I can get a good laugh, a good meal or a tenner out of it! I’m currently homeless, splitting my time between Dublin, London and soon Edinburgh!
If I had to tell a fun fact about myself at a group interview I probably wouldn’t show up!
How would you describe your show?
My show is about a time when I had an existential crisis. I powered off my phone and dived head first into an Ayahuasca retreat in the Irish wilderness.
Days later I returned a changed woman, but that's not all that changed after my digital detox.
The world had entered a global pandemic, My boyfriend had ghosted me. and my Mam announced she kinda, might die!
It’s a hilarious show about positivity versus real life!
Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
The Edinburgh Fringe is like the Olympics for comedy so why wouldn’t I want to jump through hoops and do a handstand just for a bit of attention!
It’s an incredible month for a performer as you gig multiple times a day, then you turn into a sales rep trying to flyer for your show, you’re meeting people in the industry and getting inspired by other shows.
It’s a real hustle, and if you still want to keep doing it by the end that’s why you go to perform there!
What differentiates it from other festivals?
I think the sheer scale, size and variety of performances from day to night.
It’s truly as magical as the city it is in! I love how every turn you take you’ll see the castle, a street performer or a chipper! My dream!
It’s the world’s largest arts festival and you can feel that while running around the city taking in the energy of everyone. I think it stands out as the best against other festivals as you don’t have to use a portaloo!
What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?
I always loved performing and was a big stand up fan before starting. I saw a stand up course while living in Vancouver and I think the fact that it was 4,500 miles away from anyone I knew really motivated me to give it a try! Fail in-front of your family they’ll never let you forget, fail in-front of Canadians and they’ll be too nice to tell you!
My inspirations growing up were Tommy Tiernan, Andrew Maxwell, Harry Enfield, Kathy Burke and Paul Whitehouse!
How has your background, upbringing and education had an impact on your artistic career?
The nice thing about the amount of time I had to do some therapy during lockdown was I realised we can blame everything on our childhood and take no responsibility ourselves!!
Of course we are influenced by everything that happens to us from a young age. Can I pinpoint whether it was my hippy family, my hatred for school or Pinks 2001 album ‘Missundaztood’ that had the most impact I don’t know yet!
What is your earliest childhood art memory?
I have a vivid memory of the day I discovered that all the paintings I had brought home every day from school for my Dad he wasn’t keeping as if there were the next Mona Lisa.
I found one singular painting in his bedroom drawer and demanded to know where the rest I had gifted him for birthdays, Christmases and Tuesdays were? ‘They were alive in his mind’ he said ‘but also at the bottom of the bin’ I was so shocked and hurt and I have just realised that’s reason why I started comedy!!
If you didn’t have your current job, what would you probably be doing?
Great question, I have no idea! I look to my friends with 9-5’s and long to be content with that consistency and even though I long for routine I don’t think I would be sitting in an office if I wasn’t doing stand up! As manic as my life is, it does feel like I’m where I should be but if I wasn’t doing that I’d probably be traveling and working in a bar! When you are working for tips you do turn into an entertainer!!
Did Covid-19 change the way you create work? Do you approach shows with a different mentality now?
I think it made me more driven. I remember talking to a friend after one of the lockdowns and he was on the comedy circuit with me in London and he told me he wasn’t going back to do comedy and I was almost jealous, like ‘Oh wow that’s so nice you know you do not want to do it anymore’. The lockdowns made me crave it, it could have been an out, but it just confirmed what I really wanted to do. There was also a lot of personal and universal pain felt during Covid 19 and I think it made me more confident to get on stage. We’ve all been through the wringer. Let's have a laugh!
Describe the last year in 5 words or less?
What the feck? Oh ok!
Do you subscribe to the idea that art should be exempt from ‘cancel culture’?
A lot of artists and comedians are posed this question and the whole area is a minefield and I feel like someone is waiting for us to be blown up while answering it. Art, comedy, the whole lot is a great release and a positive element to society, it helps debunk illusions we all live under and show a different perspective on our lives which is a necessary element.
So it’s all about respect, pursue your art and respect others and slagging in Ireland can be a form of respect!
If you could work with anybody, from any point in history, who would you pick and why?
I’d love to work with Amy Poehler or Tina Fey. I have read both their books and took so much from them that I would love to be In a rehearsal or development room with them. They’re two incredibly talented women with multiple strings to their bow. If I could work with them for a day I think I would learn so much and then maybe we’ll get some after work drinks! What I’m saying is I want to be their friend!
What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?
Do it! It is so expensive so save or fundraise and you’ll get there if you really want to. Set the bar really low and you wont need to have your Mum on speed dial for a cry! Chat with other acts going up there. Ask other performers who have gone multiple times as many questions as you need, and then once you have put the hard work in crafting you show together, try and enjoy it.
There is a really great baked potato shop just off the Royal Mile, I highly recommend for something substantial. From my research over the years, you CAN survive pot noodles boiled in vodka but I don’t recommend it!
When and where can people see your show?
9pm every night in the Gilded Balloon Teviot, from 3-28th of August. Bring everyone you know!
And where can people find, follow and like you online?
Follow @annacliffcomedy on all social platforms and I’m the Anna who works in ‘admin’ on all dating apps!
Anna Clifford’s debut stand up show ‘I See Dead(ly) People’ will be at the Gilded Balloon Teviot from 3rd – 28th August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com
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