Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?
Hello Reader! I am Barry Ferns. Comedian, Performer of 7 Edinburgh shows, 2 Stand up shows, 5 Sketch shows, Writer for the BBC, Producer of the Bill Murray and Angel Comedy, Trained Massage Therapist, MA in creative writing, Plumber, Sometime Lover, I have long hair and people think I take drugs because of it, but I don't. I'm not against them, but they don't agree with me.
Tell us about your show?
My show is called Barry Loves You. It's about connection, sharing, openness, vulnerability - The things good comedy and good love share. Like love, the show is light in parts, intimate in parts, intense in parts, silly and frivolous in parts, and massively delusional.
Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and is it different from other festivals?
The Edinburgh fringe is phenomenal, just to see the craziness of what all these people are doing with their lives. It’s always so inspiring. It felt like running away to the circus for a week. A human circus. Where the animals treat themselves badly.
It is truly brilliant. When you get off the train at Edinburgh Waverley station the fun and craziness is all around you. You see a contortionist dressed as Braveheart, then you get accosted by a load of students singing 'Copacabana', then you see an opera singer walking a tightrope. And every corner you turn there’s the mythic, timelessly Scottish sound of the bagpipes. Bagpipe players are everywhere.
Every doorway you pass is a performance space. Sit down in a café and the person next you could be a trapeze artist, a ventriloquist, a Russian Poet, or a thief. Just check your bags.
And all this takes place with the backdrop of perpetual rain to the sporadic beat of hearts being clogged by trans-fats.
How can you not love it – it’s like no-where on earth!
What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?
I don’t know why, but ever since I can remember. Literally. When I was about 8 I used go under the covers, with a torch and a joke book and read jokes into a tape recorder and then listen back to the jokes – as if I was a comedian. Crazy. But I guess all kids are crazy, right?
Do you ever feel any pressure to be a social commentator, or constantly update material to respond to events?
I think everyone is a social commentator. You can't help it. We're all part of society and responding to it. Even if you're not outwardly saying "political things and just telling puns about toasters, you're still talking about people's experiences and responding to their lives - if you 're a toaster-based punster your political comment is kind of "Modern life is mundane, but it can be fun, interesting and novel too - even toasters"
Equally, do you feel there has been a shift in public sentiment that has affected your work?
There has definitely been a shift in public sentiment recently - more noticeably than in previous decades because social media is loud and makes it obvious. It must have affected my work. As a straight white guy, I don't think it has made me say different things, but it has certainly made me more cautious about talking about things, which I think is a good thing. People should always be cautious about talking publicly as it affects other people.
Describe the last year in 5 words or less?
Not nearly enough sleep
What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?
Just do it. It's the same advice I give to people whatever they want to do. If you want to do something (legal and safe and respectful) just do it. How will you find out if it's the wrong/ right thing, if you don't do it?
And what advice do you wish you’d been given when entering the industry?
Talk to people. Good work does not and cannot be appreciated in isolation. I think i did shows for about 7 years before I thought to contact producers and other performers and invite them to my show.
When and where can people see your show?
The Tron, 9pm, every day except the 13th August (Day off!)
And where can people find, follow and like you online?
@barryferns
or at Angel Comedy
Thanks for listening!
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