Cecily Hitchcock is a stand-up comedian bringing her highly anticipated debut hour, Family Recipe, to the Pleasance this Fringe. She has over 30 million views online, and has shared bills with Hugh Dennis, Rob Delaney, and Ed Gamble and her commercial work includes a global Maltesers campaign and a ROMY music video.
How did you get into comedy?
I was always funny, or at least, for as long as I can remember, people have told me I was. I’d always imagined doing something creative like comedy, although I’d never even considered stand-up, and I had no experience, training or connections to the performing world. I spent a few years trying to make a corporate career work, but eventually it wasn’t for me. So I took out two credit cards, moved to London to be closer to the comedy scene, and gave stand-up a go. Thankfully, the risk paid off – credit cards included.
Tell us about your comedy style.
My comedy is high energy, offbeat and warm. I tell surreal stories that start in the ordinary and twist into the completely unexpected. My style is relatedly unrelatable: deeply personal, undeniably weird, but rooted in emotions and experiences that audiences recognise in themselves.
What is your show about?
Family Recipe follows my formative years growing up in a strange new-build millennium village during the colourful optimism of the early 2000s. As the promise that things could only get better begins to unravel, I try to make sense of a changing Britain through the logic of a child’s mind. Along the way, I also uncover my family’s truly revolting, yet strangely comforting, recipes, so you can see exactly what was fuelling me. I’m still waiting to find out what medical condition comes from being raised on Meat Igloo.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
The communication dynamics of my own family have been a huge source. There is a tradition of storytelling in my family that I didn’t appreciate as native to us until I was trying to be funny on purpose; so I owe a lot of my quirks to my parents. Beyond that, I grew up watching Dame Edna and the Austin Powers films (thought I was Fat Bastard when I was 5-10), loved the back-to-back melodrama of Hollyoaks… All sorts.
Who are the funny women you would recommend seeing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year?
There are a really special group of lovely ladies doing comedy this year at the Fringe and I am so excited to see their shows. Harriet Richardson is doing a show about obsession called Creep which is phenomenal, Marty Gleeson’s Dog Ear is fantastic, Amy Webber’s Joy Ride, Katie Norris Mother Succubus, Elf Lyons The Woman On The Edge, Temi Wilkey Lover Girl, Frankie Thompson Horrible Things and soooooooooo many more. It’s a great year for the girls.
Keep up to date with and follow Cecily on Instagram.
Tickets and information for Family Recipe can be found here!
