Showstopper!'s Ruth Bratt welcomes online comics transitioning to live audiences

It’s easy for folk who’ve come up through comedy’s more ‘traditional’ routes to belittle and mock those who have found fame on TikTok and find themselves doing their first show in front of a live audience at the Edinburgh Fringe.

After all, they may have a huge following from doing incredibly short skits or sketches, which won’t necessarily translate into the ability to do a full hour in front of actual people.  We all know that creating an hour of good material takes a long time and a lot of work, and what works on the screen may not work so well live - and how can you find that out without trying it in front of actual humans? 

Perhaps the only real difference is that they’ve got a following before trying stuff out.  

My first ever impro gig - in fact my first ever attempt at improv - was in front of a live audience in Edinburgh.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I didn’t know if I’d be any good. My friend, who was in the show, asked me to go and guest so I thought - yeah, why not.  The ultimate ‘Yes And..’ I suppose. 

 It was in front of a relatively large audience because the show had a following. And I loved it. It was like realising what I had been missing in performance up until that point and it was thrilling and brilliant. 

Was it the best thing anyone had ever done? No. Was it the best thing that audience had ever seen?  No.  Was it something new for me, and did I learn heaps from it? Yes.  Would I be where I am today if I hadn’t done it?  Probably not.  

And surely that is what the Fringe is for – for people to experiment and try new things and find their audience.  You know what works and what doesn’t immediately, because audiences tell you with their laughter or silence (or at worst boos and projectiles). 

They do the same online, often in a much more savage way.  So maybe the TikTok stars have a thicker skin already, which will stand them in good stead.  

And maybe this is how they find their audience, their live audience, having found multitudes online already.  They might be brilliant, they might be awful, but that is true of every act at the festival.  

If anything, the people who are so well-known on social media are going to have a harder time because there are already expectations and hype.  There will be people excepting them to be amazing.  And people expecting them to be terrible.  And the truth will probably lie somewhere in between.  

There is nothing that can hold a candle to the experience of live performance, and there is nowhere that gives you the lessons of live performance as vividly and in as uncensored way as the festival.  

The education that acts transitioning from online to real life have the chance to get at the Fringe is huge and will be completely different from what social media offers them.  

How exciting is that? Here’s to them finding their people!

• Ruth Bratt is a member of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, on at the Pleasance Grand at 5.30pm.

Published: 2 Aug 2024