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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Comedian Alex Kealy on taking on Big Tech in latest festival show

© Edward MooreAlex Kealy
Alex Kealy

Described as “comedy’s most conflict-averse satirist” Alex Kealy returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with Big Tech in his sights.

In latest show Winner Takes All, he explores Silicon Valley tech monopolies, advertising and addiction.

Here, he answers our questions ahead of the festival kicking off next month…

How are you feeling ahead of the Fringe?

70% excited, 30% nervous – July is always quite stressful finalising the show but I’m looking forward to performing it with gusto in August.

What is your show all about, and what inspired it?

It’s partly a show about Silicon Valley Big Tech companies, partly observations and jokes about the past 3 years (both political and personal). I read a lot of books (Shoshana Zuboff’s “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism”, Julia Bell’s “Radical Attention”, Richard Seymour’s “The Twittering Machine”) in the lockdowns about these tech companies and wanted to do a show about them as a result.

What put you on the path to a career in comedy?

I started at university after being a longtime comedy nerd. I was exposed to Stewart Lee at too young an age and thought I could do meta comedy before I could do comedy. I think there’s certain acts who are so good in a particular style that young stand-ups should be banned from encountering their work until they’re ready (you’ve got to understand conventions before you’re capable of subverting them).

How did you delve into the world of satire and taking on the big issues?

I largely studied American history at university and have always been interested in US politics, so it flows from that really. Although American politics is particularly unwieldy and so prone to be even more about personality than ‘the big issues’.

If you had to pick one item that’s essential for surviving a month at the Fringe, what would that be?

Comfortable shoes for Running Up Those Hills / Making Deals With God.

The Edinburgh Fringe can throw up some surprises – what is the strangest moment you can remember from the festival?

Doing Grainne Maguire’s political comedy panel show with Labour frontbencher / sassy meme sensation Emily Thornberry in the audience in Edinburgh 2018.

What do you think it is about the Edinburgh Fringe that attracts people from all around the world to come to watch and also to perform?

World’s biggest arts festival, there’s just really nothing like it. The ability to just guzzle comedy (other art forms are also available) all day and night for a month feels pretty unique to me, and worth crossing an ocean for.

What is your favourite one-liner?

Liam Williams starting one of his earlier Edinburgh shows with “We begin in Leeds in 1974 and immediately fast-forward 14 years to 1988, the year of my birth.”


Alex Kealy: Winner Takes All, The Big Room at The Hive (Monkey Barrel), 4.15pm, August 2 – 28 (not 16)