American comedian gives us a status report on her first Fringe

We asked some Edinburgh Fringe debutants about their expectations of the festival before it kicked off. Now we’re in the final week, we wondered how reality had matched up. Here are both sets of answers from visiting American comedian Bonnie He, who is at the festival with her near-wordless clown show A Terrible Show For Terrible People:

What do you hope to get out of the Fringe?

How it started

You mean besides the very realistic goals of incredible fame and fortune? Truthfully, there are things I KNOW I'll get from the Fringe – that I can control – and things I really HOPE to get out of the Fringe – that I can't control.

I'm so excited to meet all the other artists who believe in themselves and their shows, and took up the challenge of bringing their show to the Fringe. I'm anticipating making a lot of new, like-minded friends in an inspiring artistic community and spending a month watching the best shows from around the globe.I went to Edinburgh in 2019 to research the festival before putting up this show, and I can't wait to wake up in such a beautiful city again.

Of course, I can't predict how my show will be received in the UK, but I've had a reasonable amount of success with A Terrible Show for Terrible People in the USm where I developed it, with awards, complete sell-out shows and even repeat audiences! I really hope the UK likes it too.

As for the things I can't control, it would mean so much to be reviewed. It’s difficult to get reviews in Los Angeles, where there are more film critics than theatre critics. I know getting audiences at the Fringe is tough, but I'm hoping for quarter-full audiences in my 60-seater house, which I know is already asking a lot! I hope promoters come and I can get further touring gigs. 

We also have a cinematic taping of the show shot by a top-notch crew in Los Angeles, using many 4K Alexas, that we hope distributors are interested in. Might as well throw in that lucrative movie deal and more awards in that pie-in-the-sky pot. Honestly, once we get there, all we can do is to make sure the show is consistently good and that we give audiences a great time.

How it’s going

We've SOLD OUT EVERY SINGLE SHOW! 17 in a row as I write this. We're total newcomers, so to have this incredible of a reception has been mind-boggling and totally unexpected. On the very first night when the box office told us we only had a few tickets left a couple of hours before showtime, my jaw completely dropped and I couldn't pick it up off the floor.

There are almost 4,000 shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and we have a 60-seater. That so many people chose to see our show every night has been humbling and astounding. We know how hard it is to promote a show and get butts into seats, and we were just aiming to get quarter-full houses. Since we didn't have the luxury of having rich friends, family or funding sources, selling this many tickets makes all the difference in the world.

We credit this to the brilliant poster design and branding by fellow producer James Carroll, and the brilliant placement strategy by director Bruce Allen who knew the lay of the land from being at the Fringe years before directing a TV pitch, so he knew exactly how to spend our budget to have the most impact. Then the fantastic Esmé Thornhill-Davis, our marketing coordinator, assembled and led her own flyering team –mostly recruited from the University of Edinburgh debating team! – and managed our social media. We also had additional flyering coordination from festival veteran Frodo McDaniel and his assistant Alice Turner to seal the deal. Our PR company Gingerbread was fantastic at both getting reviewers in early and getting us pre-Fringe interviews that really helped put us newcomers on the map. Finally, the staff at our venue Underbelly Cowgate also helped us immensely! They were so kind and have been recommending our show to patrons as well.

Also, if you haven't had a moment to talk to the bar staff or security, I highly recommend you make time to find out who they are. The people working for Fringe are such highly educated, interesting people from all walks of life. We've made lifelong connections and friendships already and those are the things that will carry over past this festival. 

What's your biggest fear going into the festival?

How it started

Ooh, I get to extrapolate exactly one prominent fear out of all the general feelings of deep dread, constant worry, disquieting concern and overall existentialism? Sure, don't mind if I do!

My biggest fear going into the festival is not getting any return on investment, and I don't mean money, really. My wonderful, TERRIBLE team, director Bruce Allen and producer James Carroll have worked tirelessly and endlessly to prepare for this behemoth of an event, and they really believe in the show and in me. I hope they will be recognised for the exceptional talent they exhibit and that they also receive more work in their respective creative fields. Both of them have so much to offer the world!

How it’s going

I hope it's not too presumptuous to say, but it seems like our tiny little team already managed to make an impact at this Fringe somehow in our first year! As of this writing, we've sold out all the shows we've done so far. We've got really great word of mouth and received three four-star reviews with some tremendous pull quotes. (Or is it four four-star reviews? Since EdFringeReview.com gives two independent reviews, like a Siskel & Ebert situation.) We've made friends with all the staff at Underbelly, connected with so many other wonderful artists, and now that the Hollywood Fringe Festival Co-Executive Directors Ellen Boudreau-Den Herder and Lois Nevillle are here, we're getting support from them, too. And now A Terrible Show for Terrible People is making waves in Edinburgh, so we do feel a bit like their poster children who are making them proud haha.

How are you feeling about the state of your show?

How it started

It's received several awards in the U.S. including Best Comedy at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and Fringiest Show at the Orlando Fringe Winter Mini-Fest, and now I'm excited to get it in front of UK audiences. This will be my international debut and I can't wait to find out how I'll be received here as a clown AND as an Asian American clown, specifically.

How it’s going

Doing the show night after night has been physically taxing, but it has been a wonderful learning experience. In Los Angeles, when people come to your show, they know what they're getting themselves into. Edinburgh audiences have just come in off the street or can be extremely drunk, so it's been a fun, fresh challenge. I've learned how to fine-tune my assessment for the difference between someone who is enthusiastic about your show versus someone who is enthusiastic about your show and wants to be a part of it. (In LA, it's very 1:1.)

I've learned how to put on the best show for the audience when I am completely beat, feel like death and/or have thrown up all morning because of food allergies. People have mostly loved it and occasionally hated it, which I was expecting.

What I wasn't expecting was that so many people want to chat with us about it afterwards and we'd end up talking until 3am at the bar with everyone, from a couple who broke up at a different show the night before and got back together at our show, to polite active British military who were shipping out the following day and chose to spend their last night in the UK watching our show! It's been an incredibly fulfilling and humbling experience.

What do you hope the reviewers say?

How it started

I hope that they say A Terrible Show for Terrible People, a physical comedy show with only 1 performer and 2 words, is one hell of a good time.

It's been a real joy and privilege to be able to delight so many people. Seeing people cry with laughter while I'm on stage has been nothing short of amazing, in addition to just getting to be on stage, performing in front of a live audience. We've had very flattering reviews that compared me to my physical comedy idols and picked up on the story arc and deeper themes. We tried to make something both absurd on the surface and meaningful if you look closer, but you never know you succeeded until you read it in print!

How it’s going

The quality of the written reviews given for shows at the festival has been extraordinary. The reviewers here really take their time to pen marvellous quips and bites you can pull the most delicious quotes from.

The standout review was from the Quinntessential Review after seeing us on opening night, predicting that 'Bonnie He and A Terrible Show for Terrible People will be one of the smash-hit successes of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023.' This has been a delightful self-fulfilling prophecy because we put that quote on our poster and then keep selling out!

And Fest gave us the quote of century halfway through the run, comparing the show to 'Benny Hill meets surprisingly friendly sex dungeon; delightful perverted nonsense.'

Reviewers have different tastes, but every single one of them has lauded me as a performer, which has been the win of my career. They have also called this show 'batshit' in a hilariously positive way as well as 'fringey,' but on the flip side I was dinged for making a clown show without a deeper meaning. To that, I will politely say there is considerable (well-intentioned) pressure on women and minorities to create challenging, non-silly art... but those shows are financially challenging, and therefore many working-class minorities are locked out of the Fringe!

Meanwhile white guys are given a pass to be daft, stupid and commercially successful. For me, an Asian American female clown, making something daft, stupid and commercially successful in and of itself feels like a meaningful political act... I wish it wasn't and that I was among another dozen commercially-successful Asian female clown shows with diverse audiences, but this isn't the reality of the situation.

Ironically Chortle gave this clown show its lowest rating of 2.5 stars and said it lacked a deeper 'subtext'. But you can't win them all, which is part of the charm of being at the largest arts festival in the world. We made our show for a very specific 'terrible' audience, and we've managed to connect with so many of them night after night, which is more than we could ask for.

Plus, I'm still getting to write this piece in my own words and get more publicity from Chortle regardless, so I definitely feel like I'm getting my stars' worth!

What do you think your average audience will be?

How it started

Well, I have a clown show at 11:10pm, so I'm assuming a lot of drunkards. But I've advertised this as a feminist show so I hope we get a lot of LADY drunkards, thank you very much. Male feminist drunkards are allowed, too. Non-binary drunkards, hell, even sober people are welcome. I feel confident in saying that the show has mass appeal because it's laugh out loud funny and has relatable themes about love and lust. AND it's 99.8 per cent wordless! There's only two words in the entire show, so there's no language barrier either.

Our BSL interpreter Shaurna Dickson, who watched a taping of the show to prepare, told us that this show would appeal to Deaf audiences as well. So we're very proud of the accessibility and the relatability of A Terrible Show for Terrible People, and we truly think our average audience is anyone and everyone who wants to come and have a good time, good fun and a good laugh.

How it’s going

We've had FULL audiences and surprisingly less complete drunkards than we feared, haha. The Brits are sometimes more quiet than American crowds we're used to, but that was just a little cultural adjustment we had to make.

My advice to other Americans is to stop yelling at the audience for 'not laughing.' We've had many quiet folks come up to us afterwards and tell us they loved our show. If they really aren't enjoying the show, they will leave, which is honestly quite refreshing.

We've had a few walkouts, of mostly people who are already too pissed drunk at 11:10pm. We've had people come in late and then leave early once they realised they were in the wrong show. We've had people come in late and stay even after realising they were in the wrong show. I had one show where one guy was asleep, and found out from my venue tech that it was the same guy asleep in the previous show.

Every one of these amazingly weird moments on top of numerous times that lovely, receptive audience members have stayed and chatted to us for hours after the show have been a badge of honour to me, as it means I've really cut my teeth at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It's been a rite of passage.

What steps do you aim to take to look after your mental and physical health?

How it started

Thank you for asking this question! Mental health IS physical health, and I'm grateful that we live in a society that's slowly destigmatising conversations about mental health. I feel so privileged to have the support of my small, but mighty team. Our vision and goals for the show are beautifully aligned, and they keep me grounded because they're grounded people. Their hard work inspires me to work harder. 

Part of what gives me good mental health and general well-being is being around people who I trust and who care about me and vice versa, and we'll all be in the trenches together for our first Edinburgh Festival Fringe production.

Additionally, I journal frequently to both help process any tough feelings and record my wins. Even though I don't say many words in my show, I do THINK many words haha. As for physical health, my show is ALL physical comedy, so it's critical that I am in tip-top shape for its physical demands! I am by NO means an athlete, but I try my best to eat healthy, drink plenty of water, do core exercises and get plenty of sleep. Very boring, but very necessary. I've got 23 shows so here's to optimism!

How it’s going

At the time of writing this, at the start of the final week, I think I've finally gotten over that midway hump and feel GREAT. Prior to this point, I've been progressively more and more EXHAUSTED throughout the run. I had prepped myself for all the walking and knew what I was getting into by coming to scope out Edinburgh in 2019, but I still was not prepared for how tired I was constantly.

My show is very physically intensive and after the halfway point, I injured my knee during my first performance after my day off and have been utilising a brace. Then shortly after, I had seafood that didn't agree with my weak constitution, and I spent the following morning throwing up for hours. (It wasn't food poisoning because my husband and I ate the exact same thing, but I just have more food sensitivities.)

Luckily, my team has been taking GREAT care of me. I could not even fathom being here completely on my own. My team has made sure I'm well and gone out to network when I am resting. My mental health has been great because of all of this. Honestly, it was quite taxing, but I'm having a rather good time at Fringe, considering!

I would emphatically recommend an on-the-ground support team for anyone who is planning on coming to this festival. I'm so happy I am getting to share all of my trials and tribulations with my team, and it's been one hell of a journey that I will never forget.

• Bonnie He: A Terrible Show for Terrible People is on at Underbelly Cowgate at 11.10pm until August 27

Published: 25 Aug 2023