INTERVIEW: Zoe Lyons, Pop Up Comic

Funny woman Zoe Lyons is about to embark on her show Pop Up Comic at Edinburgh Fringe and we sit down to talk about what makes her tick and why she thinks Sir Gerald Howarth is a fool and why she loves Wanda Sykes.

by Jake Hook | 27th June 2013

So what can an audience expect for your Fringe Show?

One hundred exotic dancers and a massive fireworks finale where I reveal the meaning of life through the art of expressive dance. Will that is what I was planning and then I looked at my budget and and have scaled it back to one stand up with roughly 59 minutes of material. There will be tales of misadventure in the land of television and how I ended up being jealous of a dog in a wheel chair. If I win the lottery between now and August I might bring back the fireworks idea. I am in a small room so it would be spectacular.

Do you enjoy doing Fringe

Enjoy.....mmmm? Bits of it I love, I really enjoy doing my show every day, that is my "happy place". It is great to catch up with people and see people's shows and discover new comics. I will always go and search out something a bit different, something I wouldn't ordinarily go to. I always think the Fringe would be much better if it was two weeks long, I have never really enjoyed the last week, I get home sick and miss my dog..... Oh and the wife.

What's the one thing people are surprised to learn about you?

I am a bit socially awkward. I think it is because I have spent so long in my own company over the last few years I have become a bit hermit like. I give very poor small talk, genuinely I bore myself at parties, the life and soul of a party does not in any way emanate from me.

What's the route of all comedy?

There is a high brow and low brow answer to this question and both are equally true in my eyes. Comedy comes in some ways from truth, tragedy and perspective and sometimes it comes from farting accidentally when you cough.

Progressive or Agressive?

Well idiots like Howarth who stand blindly in the way of progress make me feel aggressive so I guess I am both.

What do you think Sir Gerald Howarth meant by that)

I am guessing that in his eyes homosexuals who are standing up for equality are dangerously aggressive! He would prefer it if we shut up and went away. He seems concerned that by allowing same sex marriage the flood gates will be opened for these (imagined) aggressive gays to make even more demands on the government. He has described the legalisation of gay marriage "as a stepping stone to something further". One can only guess as to what he has imagined our " aggressive demands" would be? The right to marry my gay teddy bear? Everyone has to be gay for a day? The man is a fool.

As a lesbian what's the one question that people ask, that annoys

" So, which one of you is the man?" I think it is obvious lack of physiological awareness that really annoys me about this particular enquiry.

Any LGBT Heroes, Icons and Idols ?

I love Wanda Sykes, brilliant comedian, out, proud and very very funny.

What you like to see happen to the LGBT community in 5, 10, 15 years time?

Within 5 years the first same sex marriages will have taken place and in 10 years time people will wonder what all the fuss was about and in 15 years time I want all those who opposed same sex marriage on the grounds that it would undermine marriage, end society and cause global warming to apologies.

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