Jake Mace
Sam Nicoresti’s has given their upcoming Edinburgh Festival Fringe comedy hour Baby Doomer the subtitle of Gender: Part II. Exploring a stressful house move in which sam felt themselves ‘leave their body’, the show will play across the month at Pleasance Courtyard. We caught up with Sam for a pixelated pint to explore its’ intriguing title, trans rebirth, intergenerational tension and more.
Catch Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer from 30th July to August 24th (not the 11th) from 17:40 at Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Sam! Your upcoming hour is all about losing your mind, finding it again and the hunt for the perfect skirt suit. Tell us what inspired the show and how you found the comedy in it.
Sam: Hi Jake, how’re you? Nothing inspired me to write the show per se, it just sort of came together. There are lots of individual moments based in real life, many of which I would class as inspiring in a sort of creative genesis kind of way, but realistically I was inspired to do another show because I need to keep moving or I die, like a shark. My life is a continuous mess and writing jokes helps eek out streaks of clarity. I live for it. I am inspired by my need to survive and eat plankton. The show’s subtitle is Gender: Part II, and everything that happens in it is to an extent verbatim.
Jake: Tell us about the show’s title Baby Doomer and what it means.
Sam: I’m still figuring it out! Coming up with a title can be a bit like automatic writing, I spew out a hundred and I see what sticks. I’m a huge believer in following the symbolism of your deeper mind and trying to stay alive and sensitive to what it might be saying. Sometimes all it’s saying is “I’m hungry” or “I hate you” but sometimes it shows an interest in what you’re working on and tries to make some helpful suggestions. I think ‘Baby Doomer’ is about intergenerational tension, it’s about the trans experience of rebirth, it’s about children and it’s about dread. Those are some of the things I’ve noticed cropping up.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Sam: Some merch, which I am currently (mid-June) in the process of making. Other than that, I’d of course love the audience to leave feeling elated, eager to discuss the show and all its themes and cadences and hidden motifs, but I’ve been to see some truly mind-blowing stuff as an audience member in my own private life, and I rarely have much to say after it other than “yeah it was good” before standing in silence for five seconds and reiterating “yeah, really good”. I keep my thoughts to myself and I expect my audiences to do the same.
Jake: Tell us about what you’re most excited about ahead of EdFringe.
Sam: I’ve been coming to Edinburgh for many a year now, and it’s all about the food. It’s about those specific tastes and concoctions you only get to try once a year. It’s about BaGet Stuffed on Nicholson, and the African wrap place by Counting House (the one on the left), and Macau Kitchen and a bunch of other places I’m not even gonna name in this interview because they are too precious (I’m talking about Snax). I love coming out of Waverley Station and realising I am here and it’s like I never left. I love Edinburgh. Thank you Edinburgh.
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?
Sam: My show would be a long slow sip of a smoky old fashioned in a dark little cocktail bar that’s buzzing without being noisy. It’s bitter and sweet and there’s a zesty kick to the whole thing that wakes up your senses to the delicate palette of the bourbon. There’s a man in full dinner attire softly massaging the piano in a corner, meanwhile at the bar a couple are sharing the open secrets of love’s first outing. Someone touches your shoulder. You look round, a man is standing over you. You do not recognise the man. He slips you a piece of paper and melts back into the jazz age decor. The note sits in your hands and you passively observe that your hands are shaking. You are sweating.
Something is deeply wrong in the pit of your stomach. You open your mouth to scream but nothing comes out, you are dry. You go to grab the glass but your fingers slip. There is a woman, she is staring at you from across the bar. Her face is a death mask. It is a horrible, pale, ashen thing. You know this is a dream; must be a dream. But then why do you remember all 39 years of it? Why has the dream lasted so long? You start to perceive that waking up would be dreadful. At least here you know who you are. The woman is gliding across the floor towards you at speed. Her feet don’t touch the linoleum. It is better, you tell yourself. It is better than being something you’ve never known.
A reminder, you can catch Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer from 30th July to August 24th (not the 11th) from 17:40 at Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Rebecca Need-Menear
