Vicars, laydeez and Kimye Part of Glasgow's Chunks Collective and a graduate of the Edinburgh Revue, to call Gemma Flynn a local hero would be an understatement. We find out what she has planned for her second solo show
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our last show, Trap Queen, was about feminism, neo-liberalism and also Will Smith. Is there still a need to inform audiences of these things? What's different about Around the Way Girl? “I've been working on Around the Way Girl since my preview at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. I didn't want to talk about the same things, but then I went to a wedding and the vicar made a joke about my tits, so I thought, ‘OK, there's clearly need for more discussion in this realm.’ “I'm doing a lot with pop culture and the internet to try and discuss feminist issues, like how we objectify women like Kim Kardashian. I'm starting with my real lived experiences like this fucking goddamn vicar as a prompt to understand what is happening with the way women are treated, how they see themselves and trying to understand what we can take as positives from pop culture icons. “Essentially, it's a lotta LOLs, and making fun of Kanye is just so easy and fun.” Some of hip-hop's greatest thinkers have actually got in touch with questions for you. This one's from Rick Ross: ‘Am I really just a narcissist, just cos I wake up to a bowl of Lobster Bisque?’ “No, he's just a legend. I can only but dream of waking up to a steaming bowl of bisque. It's classy AF.”
Gemma Flynn
This one goes out to DMX – he says, ‘Where my dogs at?’ “[Barks] I'm here. I'm here for you, X.”
If he doesn't know where his dogs are at, should he get them microchipped? “Yeah. Get some posters up, get a picture of them, put them up around the city, call the RSPCA. I think he means his friends though, not dogs.” Maybe he should get them microchipped too? “I would take a chip for you.”
“ Essentially, it's a lotta LOLs, and making fun of Kanye is just so easy and fun” Gemma Flynn
Now, this is the first of three from someone who calls themselves K. West: ‘Have you ever had shoes without shoe strings?’ “I did have Velcro trainers when I was young but apparently Kanye's bringing out trainers that are just stretchy and you can step right into them.” Is that not just like Vans? “That is like Vans. That's the thing with Kanye – he believes himself to be a revolutionary. He recently declared that he invented leather jogging pants as well. He's a pioneer. He reminds
Interview: Polly Glynn
me of a keen first year, like, ‘some of what you just said is wrong, but your spirit is strong.’” Back to K. West: ‘Have you ever popped champagne on a plane while getting some brain?’ “I've popped champagne on a train! It was Virgin First Class and it was like getting brain. We were given complementary sandwiches and that was great. Although, if I was offered brain on a plane, I don't know if I'd really be in the mood to take it.” And his third question: ‘Have you ever had sex with a pharoah?’ “Not that I know of. If he was a pharoah, he kept that well under his wraps. I'd love to have sex with a pharoah though.” Would his mask-thing not get in the way? “I think it would just be so exciting and a real nod to history. My bed is just so sandy. Crumbs everywhere. It looks like I've already had sex with a pharaoh in my bed. One of my friends sat in it and he said it was like sitting on a Ryvita.” And finally, from A Tribe Called Quest – ‘Can I kick it?’ “Can you kick it? I feel like you can kick it. Kick it with me, anytime. You can kick it absolutely.” Gemma Flynn – Around the Way Girl, Sportsters, 6-28 Aug (not 15), PBH Free Fringe. @gemmaflynn
Little Raskal After scooping a best newcomer nomination in 2014, Steen Raskopoulos returns with a new selection of characters including a rather unorthodox drill sergeant Interview: Emma O'Brien
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hat filmic depiction of war comes closest to the Edinburgh Fringe experience: a) Full Metal Jacket, b) Saving Private Ryan or c) Threads? “d) All of the above. You need the strength of a Full Metal Jacket to have the courage to do the Fringe while Saving Private Ryan reminds me of performing your own show and looking out for your friends at the same time. Threads are the only thing you have left when it's all over.” Sticking with the film theme, the making of Apocalypse Now was so intensely fucked up that a lot of the chaos is real – Martin Sheen almost died. What comedy festival experience took you into your own heart of darkness, and did you end up in a river? “At the Melbourne Comedy Festival last year there were many days on which I did double performances of my solo show followed by an hour-long improvised Bear Pack show [Raskopoulos’ improv duo with Carlo Ritchie], plus a few late night spots here and there. It was intense and took me to a pretty dark place (also known as ‘the flu’). Also, one time I ended up in a river but that was because I drank too much Schnapps and love a dare.”
People often consider National Service to be a character-building experience that enriches a young person's understanding of the world and their place in it. Can the same be said for comedy? “Yes, definitely. Comedy is a constant character-building experience. If you have physical and mental strength, the support of your fellow soldiers and the right tools you can travel the world and learn a great deal about yourself. I suppose the only major difference is being in the army puts you at risk of death and injury, whereas comedy puts you at risk of on-stage death and reputational scarring.” There's a famous episode of Blackadder where the soldiers pretend to be insane to avoid frontline combat and certain death. They do this by putting pencils up their noses and underpants on their head. It doesn't work, of course. How would you convince your own drill sergeant you're too crazy to be shot at? “Wow, you're really going for it with this military theme. Excellent commitment. Well, I would tell him that mental illness is a serious
matter that shouldn't be joked about. Then rip my shirt off and moonwalk away.” What's the most creative ‘punishment’ he'd inflict on someone who burst into tears mid-show? “The drill sergeant in my show is not what you might expect. If someone was crying tears of joy he'd probably make them drop and give him 20 hugs. If they were tears of sadness, he'd probably encourage them to talk about their feelings. He'd then hit them with an air strike of support and a barrage of reassurance.” Incongruously, the theme from M*A*S*H was released by the Manic Street Preachers as a charity record for Scope in 1992. If your drill sergeant were doing a charity record, what would be his bizarre cover and what's his good cause? “He would probably cover That's What Friends Are For to raise money for friendship. He says it's the most important ship in the fleet.” Steen Raskopoulos – You Know the Drill, Underbelly, Cowgate (Belly Laugh), 4-28 Aug (not 15), 7:40pm, £7-12.50. The Bear Pack, Underbelly, Cowgate (Belly Laugh), 16-28 Aug (not 22), 10:20pm, £7-12. Steen Raskopoulos
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