Julia VanderVeen is heading to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her new comedy show, My Grandmother’s Eyepatch, in tribute to her late Grandmother.
How did you get into comedy?
What a great question! I remember the first time a room full of people laughed at something I said. I was in fourth grade and I was just with the girls in my class and we were talking about periods with the female teachers, I made a joke about my male fourth grade teacher and the whole room laughed in one big impulse. It felt like pure magic, having people laugh like that, it felt like a secret weapon. If I could make people laugh, that was the best and most powerful feeling in the world – I’ve been chasing that sensation ever since.
Tell us about your comedy style?
I have never been a big joke person, my mind doesn’t really work like that. I am an incredible observer and I get a lot of joy in the oddness of being human and how we all deal with it in our own ways. That is one thing I love about my show. There is a lot of audience interaction and it’s so fun for me because every audience is different, and they all react to me and my show differently. It gives me a lot to play with.
What’s your show about and where can we see it?
My show is called My Grandmother’s Eyepatch and is a memorial service for my long dead grandmother, but really it’s an excuse for me to remind my nearest and dearest (who are the funeral attendees), and any industry people who are there, what an incredible actor I am. I am hoping to get a recording contract with Miley Cyrus out of playing the Fringe. There is a nice ode to her in the show.
Eyepatch plays at ZOO Playground at 12:45 all month long.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get a lot of inspiration from talking to people, and from very physical, magical storytelling. Slava’s Snowshow is a big inspiration for me. It’s a show that seems to be set on a different planet, with these weird, Dr. Seuss-like creatures who dance and squabble and get into a lot of trouble. They are very magical, but with the same problems normal humans have, because they are so beautiful and magical, their imperfections are even more funny.
How does it feel to be doing this show?
Very fulfilling. When my grandmother died in 2006, I had a brief thought that maybe I would try to get some of her poetry published. I never did that, but there is a time in the show where people are chanting her name and it gives me goosebumps. She is living on because we talk and laugh about her in the show. She loved life, and I think she would be tickled by this adventure inspired by her.
What do you think makes great comedy?
Gosh, so many things. The pleasure to be onstage and to play for the audience, a keen intellect to know whether what you are doing is working and the optimism to change if it isn’t. In short, commitment, complete presence and lightness. It’s such a humbling tightrope of ‘this is a matter of life and death,’ and ‘this doesn’t matter that much.’ You’re constantly killing your ego.
What else have you been working on?
I am working on two all female bouffon shows! The first is about the insurrection on January 6th at The Capitol Building in Washington, directed by Aitor Basauri of Spymonkey. The second is about the Supreme Court and the overturn of Roe v. Wade. It’s nice to work on some ensemble stuff because I have been playing solo now for a while. Ensemble work brings new and different challenges.
Who are your favourite funny women?
Amy Schumer. I love how brave she is to let us in for her full journey as a person. I also love Bridget Everett, I love how bawdy, big, unapologetic and joyful she is. There is a stand-up I love, Robby Hoffman, she’s very dry and unimpressed.
What do you love about comedy?
I worked on a cruise ship in 2018 as a character actor in a show. It was an intense environment for me because all these women on the ship were by society’s standards “perfect looking” and a size 0. I realised the thing that I brought, that I was excellent at, was my comedy, which came from my intellect and my observations. I realised how effing powerful that is. Some men don’t want women to be funny because when you’re laughing at someone on stage, you’re really seeing them. They are not just a pretty face. You are seeing their humanity. You are seeing them.
Any advice for those starting out?
Keep getting up. Set a goal to get up once a week, more if you can, and schedule it in your calendar. Flopping is part of it, but don’t sit too long in the flop, get up again. Tape yourself so you can see where you got laughs and compare it to the experience of performing it. For example, did you know they were laughing there? Find friends who believe in you but also can be honest with you. Trust yourself. Try, fail, try again, and take care of yourself. It should be fun, not masochistic. Try to love yourself no matter what.
Julia VanderVeen: My Grandmother’s Eyepatch, 2-11, 13-18 and 20-25 August at 12.45pm, at Zoo Playground (Playground 1). Book tickets here.
Photo credit: Hans Meyer
