American stand-up and writer Jamie Loftus is preparing to bring her debut show Boss, Whom Is Girl, to the Edinburgh Fringe.
The star of Comedy Central series Irrational Fears, staff writer on Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken and co-host of hit HowStuffWorks podcast The Bechdel Cast promises a bizarre, avant-garde character comedy experience like no other.
Jamie’s unique, satirical take on surveillance capitalism and the peppy, problematic Silicon Valley executives that invent and exploit it is set to turn heads and get the Edinburgh audiences talking.
Here, she answers our Fringe Q&A…
How are you feeling ahead of your debut at the Edinburgh Fringe?
I feel viscerally terrified and about to break out in hives at any moment.
How did the show at the Fringe come about – is it somewhere you’ve always wanted to perform?
It is, yes! I’ve been very lucky to workshop shows at the Lyric Hyperion in LA, where the community is incredible and there are performers like Natalie Palamides, Courtney Pauroso, Gemma Soldati and Amrita Dhaliwal making beautiful things all the time.
Seeing Natalie’s work evolve was a huge motivator, and the support the theatre and my producer Isaac Taylor gives made it feel possible.
What is your show all about?
My show is about the drawbacks of corporate feminism, which sounds incredibly boring but I promise is funny.
It pulls a lot from stories like Sheryl Sandberg (of Facebook, Lean In and enabling a genocide in Myanmar with Mark Zuckerberg) and Elizabeth Holmes (of Theranos fame) – people who have built their reputation on being feminists but whose careers have demonstrated how insincere that stance was.
My character is that turned up to an 11, using any excuse she can to justify being a shameless capitalist just like most of the men she works with.
How important do you feel comedy is in discussing issues like those you’re exploring in the show?
I think it’s very useful! Talking about these issues can get so mired and complicated when you’re having them, and it is really fun and liberating to be able to channel that manic energy through a character instead of myself.
It’s a touchy subject, and one that I think benefits from being shown instead of told.
You’re known for a more surreal style of comedy, was that something you’d always aimed for or arrived at naturally?
I don’t really know, I’ve always loved surreal comedy and grew up with it. I do think that making things surreal does make them more accessible in a way, you end up getting people interested that don’t even really know what you’re trying to say and once they do, it’s too late. I think I just described gaslighting.
You do a lot of work offstage as well, would you say stand-up and performing yourself is your first love?
Yes! It’s where I’m happiest, but I feel lucky to have a few different options (writing, animation etc) to find the best medium for whatever it is I’m trying to say.
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?
A bunch of freaks in one location enjoying each others’ work just sounds like the perfect antidote to the world being an active hell.
What is your favourite one-liner?
When I was little my dad and I used to go on walks and sometimes if it got quiet he would say “Stupid Jamie” under his breath, and I would say that’s mean to say and he would say that he hadn’t said anything, and that what I heard was the wind.
“Stupid Jamie” is a great one-liner I think, or at least one that’s permanently affected my psyche.
Jamie Loftus: Boss, Whom Is Girl, July 31 – August 26 (not 12), Baby Grand at Pleasance Courtyard, https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jamie-loftus-boss-whom-is-girl
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