After receiving antisemitic hate online for his Radio 4 shows, Jewish comedian Alex Edelman ended up attending a meeting of white nationalists in New York and a year later, turned that story into the basis of Just For Us, his 2018, Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated stand-up hour. 

Continuing to hone and expand the show with his friend, the respected director Adam Brace, who died just before it transferred to Broadway last year, the show earned Edelman a Tony Award and was subsequently recorded by HBO, also winning the Boston-born comic an Emmy. It is now available to watch on Sky Comedy.

Here, in the first of a new monthly series of major Chortle interviews with comedians, Edelman tells Jay Richardson about starring in the new mockumentary in The Office universe, writing comedy about the Israeli-Palestine situation, the comedians who help form his craft... and maybe returning to the Edinburgh Fringe...

With the presidential election so imminent, are you able to focus on writing comedy?

You know, I'm doing it. But largely out of stress. I'm working on a television show at the moment as a writer and actor. But this weekend, I'm doing political stuff. I've been channelling my energy into knocking on doors, finding a little bit of calm in that as an outlet for my nervousness and anxiety. But, yeah, I'm stressed like everybody else. I don't know if I'll even watch it. 

Do you usually work through your anxiety?

Yeah, doesn't everyone? Work or video games.

That television job, would it be the new iteration of The Office, set in a local newspaper?

Exactly that, with good old Tim Key! Tim's not in the writers’ room but we have a couple of scenes together and he's really, really brilliant. I'm duty-bound not to spill too much. But working with him is a delight. And the same with Gbemisola [Ikumelo], another Brit, and with [Irish actor] Domhnall Gleeson. It's a very international group, which makes it really interesting.

Another British export that you appeared on last week is the American adaptation of Have I Got News For You? Do you think the US might finally be embracing panel shows?

I've always thought America was behind with panel shows. Hopefully it sticks because I loved doing it. There are things about British panel shows that are inimitable but it was a pleasant surprise how fun it was. I haven't been able to watch it yet so I don't know what got cut. But I love making comedy on the spot.

You've called Just For Us 'a well-worked Edinburgh show'. After working on it for more than six years, taking it to Broadway, winning a Tony and Emmy Award, do you still think of it like that?

Of course it's an Edinburgh show, it's just puffed-up staging-wise. With the set of three stools I designed it so that it could be done in pubs, done anywhere. There's a bunch of stuff that's changed and I would be surprised if there's too much left over from 2018. But in essence, it's still a Fringe show.

I was actually surprised at how much of the special did survive from 2018. I believe you had about three hours of material from its various incarnations that you could draw from. How did you choose what went into the recording?

You know, [executive producer] Mike Birbiglia and Adam Brace thought it had to be germane to the story, anything that was tenuous had to go. There was a bit I really wanted to include but both of them went 'either lean in or lose it', tie it to the narrative or lose it entirely. And that particular bit came out because I couldn't do it in a way that felt good.

The show's subtext is about the vicissitudes of identity, which doesn't sound like comedy. But Alex Timbers, who directed the special and was a creative consultant for the Broadway run after Adam passed away, was integral in figuring out what material should go in, what should come out, and what needed more buffering.

You've been upfront about how collaborative you've been in crafting this show and how you've taken notes from big names like Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin and Billy Crystal. Why does that still seem unusual in stand-up?

It's such a horrific cliché that it takes a village. But comedy shows, ultimately, are implicitly socialised with an audience right? Every one is honed by a focus group as it prepares for its taped incarnation or its last show at the end of an Edinburgh Fringe.

And obviously there's been some interest in the big-name American comics who have offered help. But frankly, Josie Long lent a pretty serious ear to it early on, Alfie Brown, Josh Weller, as well as various friends who aren't comedians, just people who know me and have good taste. I don't mind that it's become part of the story of the show.

It's also been honed by questions that audiences would ask, when I stood in the lobby afterwards and answered anything I was asked. It's a show about conversation, shaped by conversation.

Was it surprising that a small minority of audience members came out sympathising with the white nationalists?

Not entirely because not everyone agrees on how an individual relates to their whiteness. To white privilege, to certain issues that those folks were discussing. Yes, 99 per cent of the chats were positive. But even with those there were some disagreements and they were always interesting conversations. I appreciated people being their true selves. I can think of one particular conversation in the UK that was respectful but we were not aligned.

You left a few things ambiguous in the story. Was that deliberate to make audiences engage more?

I like that ambiguity a lot. It's one of my favourite things that my shows have a little bit of ambiguity and mystique. More shows should do that.

Returning to Josie Long, I understand that she encouraged you to try being less hard-edged, less sharp in your joke-writing. Can you tell me about that?

Yeah, back in 2012, she put me on one of her nights. And, without using these terms, encouraged me to become a better comedian. She tried to point me towards being more thoughtful. 

She's a huge influence, I can't say enough good things about her. I owe her a call, it's been a while. In her shows, her films, her short stories, there's real consistency and integrity. We've had good, hard conversations. And my personal development, not just my comedy development, is something I feel I owe Josie quite a bit for. 

Has Just For Us change significantly in the six years since you began performing it? Did it change with Adam Brace's death and in the wake of the events of October 7 last year? 

October 7 recontextualised it personally and politically. I added some lines after that but I decided not to include them in the special. I'm glad they're not there because I firmly believe that shows should be in conversation with the moment they exist in but not be dictated by it. Alex Timbers and I tried our best to strike that balance.

You know, I really miss Adam. It's weird, in that I feel totally bereft talking about him. But also, sometimes when I talk about it, I feel like I'm scratching an itch. Because I think about him all the time. 

From a craft perspective, I got more focused in terms of what the material meant to me. It's a pretty fulsome expression of self and it's rare you get to do that. I became a better performer over the years. And Covid meant that I didn't do the show for almost two years, so I came back to it a different person. I felt really tenderly towards it as it's a reminder of certain connections.

There are no audience shots in the special and quite a few close-ups of your face. Why did you decide to shoot it like that?

I don't love audience reaction because I think it should be a little bit like a movie. Alex is the only guy who could have directed this special in my mind because he's the only guy who does live theatre, narrative stuff for television and film and comedy specials, and this needed to be a blend of all three. Audience reaction shots interrupt the narrative because the audience is a presence right? 

We did one taping with just a couple of people in the audience so they could move the cameras around the seats so it seemed like it was in and amongst them. So they're present but I didn't want any one person's reaction to dictate anything. 

I don't want to tell anyone how to feel about it. I wanted to offer as much tension between focus and ambiguity, when you make someone feel like they're in the crowd, as opposed to watching them. That was a decision that Alex Timbers made. And he doesn't get enough credit because Adam is so big for me personally. Your ego lifts in sharing a spotlight and there's no way I can repay him enough.

Winning a Tony, an Emmy and then having your friend Phoebe Waller-Bridge pen your entry in Time's 100 Most Influential People list, you must feel that you have to kick against the show's hyperbole a bit?

Yeah, I mean, all of it's silly. It's nice and silly. I don't want to seem ungrateful for anything. But it's wrong to take it too seriously, because, frankly, you can make something that is very good but not right for the time. 

The culture shifts around it in a certain way, that means that it doesn't go as well. Or, the world can shift and people are asking questions that your thing kind of relates to. So I'd be wrong if I thought that the success of the show and the bit of profile that comes with it were entirely earned by me. As I say, I've had all this help from collaborators. 

So I do have a desire to undermine it, it would be disingenuous to treat it like it's not crazy. It's insane for me to be invited to the Met Gala.

Yet now there are other actors performing Just For Us. How do you feel about that?

I'm interested. I was knocking for political stuff in Minnesota and I went to go see a performance because I was curious about what it would be like. I'm going to write about it at some point. Because you do a thing that's personal but there's a part of it that has nothing to do with you. Other people see a resonance in it, maybe only a little bit but it's there subconsciously and they decide to interpret it in their own way. I'm fascinated by it and flattered, seeing the guy who's playing the main character make decisions on stage that I never made. 

There was a joke I said every way but quiet and he said it really quietly and got a bigger laugh than I did. I was like 'oh fuck, that's how you get the laugh there!' I really enjoyed the whole experience.

I heard that you're writing a book about places that you don't belong. Is this your metier now?

You won't see me winding up at more meetings of white nationalists. But I've always felt that I don't belong in most places. Me getting to go to a fancy thing doesn't mean I feel I belong there. Because I'm really comfortable in places that are entirely foreign to me. Like, I'm an Orthodox Jew who wound up at the Edinburgh Festival when I was 23 years old. I think people then were like: 'Who is this person and why is here?' 

Now I work in television but it's not a job I go to every day. Every place that's not a Jewish day school, even I guess, the Jewish day school, I've never found an environment that I completely belong in and that I've completely accepted for myself. 

Discomfort has provided good comedy. My first show, Millennial was about that. My second show, Everything Handed To You, was about that. But this is my most explicit exploration of that tension. So it will become my metier. But if I'm honest, it always has been.

And for your next stand-up show, you're reflecting on Israel-Palestine. Why?

You know, that might need a minute because I'm finding it so hard to watch any of it. There's so much pain around it, I'm still absorbing it.

I open the Google doc to tap into it every couple of days but it doesn't bring me understanding. I thought it would bring me a lot more clarity and comfort than it has. But honestly, just watching everything unfold in the region has been horrific. I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

You are though writing and directing a film based on the routine in Just For Us in which your Jewish Orthodox family celebrated Christmas. Will you be playing your father?

No, writing, directing and starring is for more talented people than me, that would be like shaking my fist at God to do all of those difficult things. But I'm really enjoying the process. 

Why did you think it could be turned into a film?

A couple of people suggested it to me and I found I was really liking writing it. Going back to my previous answer, if something brings me comfort and understanding, that's a good sign.

There's a very striking line about your sexuality in Just For Us, which feels like it might be the basis of another show. Why put that in there? And is it something you might revisit?

I might expand upon that in the future. But weirdly, I guess it's one of the few things where I guess I don't want to talk about it just now because I'm still trying to grapple with it. Putting it in the special is exactly how much I feel comfortable talking about it. 

I know the Jerry Seinfeld documentary Comedian was a huge part of why you became a comic. What was it like appearing in Seinfeld's recent film Unfrosted and to be, on some level, his peer?  

It was amazing. He's lovely. He's someone who can write, direct and star. He's been such a big figure in my development so to just witness and listen to him speak about comedy is really special.

Do you think you'll ever return to the Edinburgh Fringe?

Of course! I might try to come back next year if I can find the time. It's a special place to me. I was a child when I first started coming through, essentially an infant. I learned everything from comedians there and their patience and friendship has dictated the comic that I am now.

I'll admit that it was painful to be back there in 2023 without Adam, doing the show as a benefit for [The Adam Brace Award], so soon after he'd passed. But it's my favourite place on the planet and I'll be coming back for sure.

And you're writing a musical? How far along is that?

Yeah. I'm keeping that close to my chest just now. But I've got a few ideas I'm working on. We'll see what happens.

 • Alex Edelman: Just for Us is available to stream on Sky Comedy and Now TV

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