Nikola McMurtrie is an award-winning Scottish comedian, previous Funny Women Shorts winner, and recent third-place finalist at Sketch Off 2025. She has recently been busy co-creating Mothman: A Romance Musical alongside fellow silly goose, Alex Franklin, and is taking this highly anticipated show to the Edinburgh Fringe for her very first run at the festival. Eek!
How did you get into comedy?
I started making videos online during lockdown and then entered the Funny Women Awards with a short about a woman who makes karaoke music videos. A very niche concept but somehow it won! That prompted me to start performing comedy live, and from there I got to meet like-minded people who eventually agreed to create a comedy musical with me about a woman who falls in love with a giant moth…and the rest is history.
Tell us about your comedy style.
Irreverent, alternative, physical and deeply silly. A reviewer once described my comedy as “maniacally ambitious”, which I enjoy, because I have a genuine passion for taking existing ideas and warping them into something surreal and ridiculous. I’ve also been told I’m “sneak-attack-weird”. Like, on the surface I don’t seem like the type of person who would dress up and perform as Thomas the Tank Engine and read his smutty poetry about his long lost love for James the Red Engine, but I am (no regrets).
What’s your show about and where can we see it?
Mothman: A Romance Musical is a surrealist comedy about three friends searching for the legendary West Virginian cryptid, and one of them falls completely in love with him! It’s a chaotic show with a plethora of twists, songs and surprise characters that’ll leave you saying, “Wow, you can really tell that both the writers have ADHD!” You can catch us at Belly Button at Underbelly Cowgate at 6.50pm this August.
Who are your favourite Funny Women?
Big fan of Lucy Pearman, Isy Suttie, Fern Brady, Natalie Palamides, Amy Poehler, Courtney Pauroso, Tina Fey, Julie Walters, Diane Morgan and my mum.
What do you love about creating comedy?
I love the variety of being able to create in different genres and mediums. Performing musical comedy, then sketch and character comedy and even veering into drag and interpretive dance. I also enjoy making physical things like props and costumes which feature heavily in Mothman (look out for a pair of glowing red eyes which are incredibly difficult to see through).
(Bonus Question): Name 3 special skills you have:
Very bendy thumbs (never been useful), I can do the worm (backwards only) and I know all the words to the Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party, which was an extra on the Shrek DVD back in the early 2000s.
Keep up to date with and follow Nikola McMurtrie on Instagram.
Tickets and more information for Mothman: A Romance Musical can be found here
