Rachel Fairburn heads to Cambridge Comedy Garden
Mancunian comic Rachel Fairburn is one of the loveliest people I’ve ever interviewed – I’ve had the pleasure twice now – so it came as a bit of a shock to see her dressed as the devil in her latest promo shots.
The costume ties in with Rachel’s first foray into character comedy with her new show, Side-Eye, which she will be premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe in August, along with a ‘victory lap’ of her acclaimed 40-date Showgirl tour from last year.
Before then, however, the comedian and podcast host (she co-hosts the smash hit podcast All Killa No Filla alongside Kiri Pritchard-McLean) will appear at the inaugural Cambridge Comedy Garden, a new comedy festival set to take place in a Big Top on Parker’s Piece from July 17-21.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” says Rachel of Side-Eye. “Before I did stand-up, I used to write short little funny stories for my mum and my grandma, and invent characters and things like that.
“And I’ve always found people in general funnier than actual stand-up – like little things that they say and things that they do – and I’ve always been interested in character comedy.
“I’ve just always thought I’d like to try it and thought ‘Now is the time to do it’.”
Rachel – hailed as “very much the rock ‘n’ roll star of British comedy” by Rolling Stone UK – will portray seven characters in the show, “very loosely based around the deadly sins”.
Get ready to meet a self-proclaimed grime artist/sex therapist, your slanderous mate, a loose-lipped Dame, a diva with a restraining order, a feckless man, idle parents, and even the devil herself.
“I’m still writing two of them, and they’re all connected in some way – sort of,” explains Rachel, “and I’m enjoying it.”
On the character of the devil, Rachel says: “I love anything spooky and anything creepy… I think it’s quite a bit of a trope actually to be a devil on a poster – I think loads of comedians have done that.
“But the reason I wanted that is because one of my characters is going to be the devil, and she is going to tie in with the other characters in some way.
“But she’s not going to be a horrible devil, she’s going to be quite cheery actually, quite chilled out, a bit laidback.”
Has Rachel been inspired by that master of character comedy Steve Coogan, who also hails from Manchester?
“Yeah, absolutely, I was obsessed with Steve Coogan,” she replies. “I remember watching a video of his show, The Man Who Thinks He’s It, and it was sort of going round the class – everyone at school was borrowing that.
“I love Caroline Aherne, Victoria Wood… yeah, Steve Coogan definitely. I still love him now, absolutely love all his stuff. Basically, if you’re from Manchester, you’ve got three of the best character comedians right there!”
Though shy at school, Rachel recalls that she was “quite outgoing” with her group of friends and remembers that she had a particular talent for imitating her teachers and friends.
“I used to be asked frequently to ring the school reception to pretend to be a parent if somebody wanted to go home early,” she reveals. “So at various times I did that, and it was when the mobile phone had just come out as well.
“So a couple of kids that had mobiles, we used to be in the girls’ toilets and I’d make the call, make sure the credit didn’t go too low, that kind of thing… I quite enjoyed mimicking people.”
Rachel is scheduled to open the proceedings on the Saturday evening (20 July) at Cambridge Comedy Garden. Headlining will be Henning Wehn and also on the bill are Reginald D Hunter, Chantel Nash, and Rhys James.
“I’m the host of the show, which will be really fun,” she says, “I hope the weather’s nice. We’re approaching that time of year where there’s outdoor gigs; I mean this Sunday, I’m doing an outdoor gig in Chester and it’s torrential rain…
“I don’t know why we continue to do this in the UK, but it should be fun. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Does Rachel enjoy compering? “Being honest, no,” she confesses, “and the only reason for that is it’s the only part of stand-up that ever feels like work.
“So obviously you’re the host; at the back of your mind, if you’re doing the job correctly, you should be thinking ‘I just want every act to have a good gig’.
“You’re not thinking about yourself, you’re thinking ‘I want to warm this crowd up and I want to get the best atmosphere so everyone else can have a great show’.
“It often feels a bit like a thankless task, and obviously you’re there all night – and most comedians… when people used to refer to comedy as ‘the new rock ‘n’ roll’, it’s anything but.
“If anyone can just get off stage early and be home by 10 o’clock, they’re so happy.
“So that’s why it feels like work, because you’re there early, you’ve got to be there till the end, you’re making sure everyone’s having a good show, you’re making sure there’s no trouble happening in the audience…
“But every time I compere, I get very nervous before it but I come off stage and go ‘Oh, I really enjoyed that, I should do that more often!’ So I love it and I hate it.
“The idea of it, I’m just like ‘Urgh’ but then the reality you always end up enjoying it.”
Fans can enjoy Side-Eye and Rachel’s previous stand-up hour Showgirl at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Rachel also plans to take Side-Eye on tour around the UK next year, and I imagine that will include a stop in Cambridge.
Before then, catch her live at Cambridge Comedy Garden on Saturday, 20 July, at the evening show, which starts at 7.30pm.
[Read more: Rachel Fairburn: ‘We’re funny when we’re annoyed’, All-star line-up confirmed for inaugural Cambridge Comedy Garden event]
Tickets, priced £25, are available from cambridgecomedygarden.co.uk. For more on Rachel, visit rachelfairburn.com.
