‘Wrestling and comedy are excellent bedfellows’: Edinburgh Fringe Q&A – Tegan Verheul

With cardboard cut-outs of The Undertaker and Bret Hart for tag-team partners on stage, Tegan Verheul brought professional wrestling to last year’s Edinburgh Fringe with Chokeslam.

The Canadian is back for a rematch this year with an even more heavyweight version of her show which details her love of the art of sports entertainment and some of its history.

Here, she lays the smackdown on our festival Q&A…

How are you feeling ahead of this year’s Fringe?

I’m feeling good! I’m feeling excited! I’m feeling slightly terrified, but I think that’s to be expected. I think overall, though, I’m really looking forward to being back in Edinburgh, surrounded by all the beautiful creative people that fill up the town every August, getting to do what I love most every day. The second the sound of bagpipes hits my ears, my heart explodes. The Edinburgh Fringe is pure magic.

What’s your show all about?

‘Chokeslam’ is about my love of pro wrestling. I would say it’s part oral history of the Attitude Era, part Wrestling 101 for people who have never seen a single match, part me divulging my deepest darkest secrets. It’s more storytelling than stand-up or theatre, but you will definitely laugh. And potentially cry. And hopefully leave a wrestling fan.

How pleased were you with the reaction to Chokeslam last year?

I was honestly so touched. Last year’s show came together fairly last minute and I was worried people would hate it (and me) but I had audience members coming up to me afterwards and hugging me and telling me how much the show moved them. The volunteers at my venue last year (Paradise in Augustines) became Chokeslam evangelists and they all came in on their day off to watch it, which was so heart-warming. I had some people come multiple times, which made flyering in the rain with a giant cardboard cut-out of The Undertaker all worth it. It’ll be a different show this year—bigger and better, and now at Assembly—so I’m curious what the reaction will be this time!

How good are wrestling and comedy as bedfellows? Which wrestler would make the best comedian, and vice versa?

Wrestling and comedy are excellent bedfellows! I think wrestling is very close to pantomime (which makes sense given their shared working class origins) where it’s about spectacle and encouraging participation through cheering and booing and laughing. It’s larger than life, so it’s easy to push it over the top for a laugh when you want to. New Day are a great example of this—they’re tremendous wrestlers and have impeccable comic timing, and really know how to push the limit and milk a ‘bit’. Remember their entrance at Wrestlemania 32 where they emerged from a giant box of Booty-Os dressed as Dragonball-Z characters? All three of those guys would kill a stadium tour as stand-up comics. In terms of comedians I’d like to see wrestle, does Dolly Parton count? I’d love to see Dolly Parton spear someone.

If you were in charge of the Fringe, what changes would you make?

If I were in charge of the Fringe, I would make it completely free for artists. It’s an open access festival, but there are very real financial barriers that prevent working class artists from participating, and it gets worse every year. If you really care about uplifting marginalised voices and showcasing stories that haven’t been told, you need to provide funding, and opportunities, and a safety net that will allow underrepresented artists to take part. This is an industry-wide issue, of course, and not just particular to the Fringe, but this festival was started to allow the people in the margins to showcase their art, and it’s become cost prohibitive to those artists now.

© Andy Hollingworth

What’s your favourite spot to visit in Edinburgh?

I love Arthur’s Seat! I actually lived in Edinburgh for a brief spell, years and years ago after I came up as a backpacker and fell in love with the place. I had a bunk bed in a ‘long term’ dorm at Castle Rock Hostel and used to walk up Arthur’s Seat every day to take in the views. I only made it back there once last year, and am determined to visit it more regularly this time around!

How have your previous experiences of the festival been – either as a visitor or performer?

My previous experiences of the festival have all been magical. I came as a visitor with some actor friends after we did a summer Shakespeare intensive in London years ago and was so dazzled by the energy and chaos of it all. It was a bucket list item to come perform at the Fringe (I’m from Canada originally), so I jumped at the opportunity last year after I graduated from drama school here and now I feel silly for thinking one time would be enough. I learned so much last year, and I’m eager to put those lessons to use now that I’m officially a repeat Fringe-er.

What essential item are you packing to survive a month at the Fringe?

I’ll be packing a giant tub of pre-workout. I’ll be dry-scooping it the second I open my eyes in the morning, dry-scooping it fifteen minutes before my show, and dry-scooping it as needed throughout the day. It’s just not feasible to consume the amount of caffeine I require to get through the Fringe via coffee alone, so I’ll be supplementing it with the powdered kind. Maybe I can arrange some sort of sponsorship before I go?

Who’d be your dream: podcast guest / co-host, wrestling tag team partner, comedian to split a bill with.

That’s such a good question. If dream me could wrestle, I’d love to team up with Piper Niven. She’s a great wrestler and has such presence—I’d just coast off her doing all the hard work, smashing people and looking like a total badass. Then I’d tag in and deliver, like… one kick tops, then tag back out and let her finish the job while I cheer her on, screaming “THAT’S MY BEST FRIEND PIPER NIVEN!”. Her ring gear is sick too, so I’d get a matching set.

Who else are you looking forward to seeing at the festival?

I’m most looking forward to seeing my friend and creative partner (and fellow co-founder of WWWC, my non-hierarchical creative collective) Diana Feng perform her solo show ‘Don’t Call Me China Doll’ at Underbelly this year. I’m also stoked to see my friend Sikisa (who’s also a huge wrestling fan, hosts WrestleClub Podcast, and choreographed the opening of my show) perform her WIP ‘Sikisa… Needs You’ at Monkey Barrel. My pals Rosie Nicholls and Sullivan Brown are bringing two shows to Assembly as the sketch duo Grubby Little Mitts. And my dear friend (and Edinburgh local!) Mara Joy will be performing with ‘Spontaneous Potter: The Unofficial Improvised Parody’ at Assembly as well. It’s going to be a busy Fringe!

Chokeslam by Tegan Verheul is on at 5.50pm at Assembly George Square from the 31st July – 25th August