Jake Mace
Anna Leong Brophy and Emily Lloyd-Saini are doing absolutely fine. No, really, they promise. The duo are due to crack the Fringe this year with their show, which is also named Absolutely Fine, an hour of fresh hijinks, character comedy, German pranksters, and some bold references to watermelons and body parts. We sat down for a pixelated pint with the duo, collectively known as Egg, to see what’s laying behind the shell.
Catch Egg: Absolutely Fine at Pleasance Courtyard – Beside from August 14th to 27th at 16:50. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Jake: Hi guys, you’re back in Edinburgh with your new sketch hour ‘Absolutely Fine’. Both of you have taken new directions in life since we last saw you, with Anna winding up on Netflix and Emily now having a toddler. How does it feel to be bringing a show to Fringe together now?
Anna: I see the show very much like having a baby, to be honest. There’s the thrill of the conception, then several months of wondering if it’s really going to come together, then the cold-sicky feeling of realising you really ARE doing this, then the final agonising push before bringing something beautiful and brand new into the world, a perfect blend of the two of you, and you look down at it screaming in your arms and say “We shall name it Absolutely Fine”. Not to mention the swollen feet! Emily, am I right? Emily?
Emily: I really want *you* to try pushing a watermelon out of your cooch.
Anna: No, it’s been such a journey getting here, our lives have just gotten more and more complicated since we first started putting ideas together for this show, waaaay back in 2020, so to be actually be putting the show on, to have made the time to make something really silly and joyful – it feels a bit miraculous really. Just like childbirth! Right Em?
Jake: The show features a wide range of fresh characters – a well-meaning Aunty challenging political correctness, a pair of German pranksters. Tell us about the process of putting it all together and how much fun you’ve had playing around with these new personas.
Anna: We’ve had so much fun, because we haven’t ever censored ourselves when it came to messing around and trying out silly things – that’s something that has really come with time, with just knowing each other inside and out and feeling completely safe to try and fail.
Emily: As there’s no longer any point us trying to hide the ridiculous way our individual brains work from each other we just launched full pelt into the fun of it all and followed the laughs.
Anna: Sometimes I feel a bit guilty because we laugh SO MUCH in rehearsals it feels like we’re skiving.
Emily: But really, the skiving mainly takes the form of intense snacking.
Jake: The show’s listing hints continually at you both being, as the title says, ‘absolutely fine’, is there something more we should read into that? Or…
Anna: Haha, what do you mean? Of course we’re absolutely fine, it’s WRITTEN ON THE POSTER.
Emily: Shhh, Anna, it’s ok. We actually did a WhatsApp search and the amount of messages between us letting the other know we’re absolutely fine is… telling. We’re both the sort of people who say yes to everything and truly believe we can get it all done so it can get a bit much.
Anna: I think it can often feel like everyone just wants you to be OK, and you can really internalise that, even if you’re not. Other people I mean – I personally am absolutely fine.
Emily: There it is again.
Anna: Dammit!
Jake: Tell us about your relationship with Edinburgh and the Fringe – how are you feeling about it all now it’s right on the doorstep?
Anna: It’s a mixed bag isn’t it – on the one hand, you get to have a month long fresher’s week with your best pals, see three mind-blowing shows every day that you wouldn’t even think of seeing any other time of year, and no one blinks an eye at if you have a burger for breakfast every day.
Emily: On the other hand, imposter syndrome is real, you have steam gently rising from you at all times, you become nocturnal and forget that Scottish money is in fact, not monopoly money.
Anna: Wait, wait wait – what?
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Anna: A spicy lil’ marg – it’ll make you laugh, cry and dance on the tables, but most of all it’ll have you on the phone telling your bezzie mate how much you bloody love ‘em once you’ve had a skinful!
Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Photo Credit: Rachel Sherlock
Eilidh McKenzie
