Jake Mace
Ben Pope’s upcoming EdFringe comedy show The Cut is described as a 55 minute inventory of the masculinity panic Ben experienced after undergoing medical circumcision. We caught up with Ben for a pixelated pint to find out more about the show, and how he found the comedy in that situation.
You can catch Ben Pope: The Cut from July 30th to 24th August (not the 13th) at Assembly George Square – the Box from 17:05 (55mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Jake: Hi Ben! Tell us about your upcoming show The Cut, what inspired the title and what the audience can expect.
Ben: Hello! The title’s meaning is pretty simple – last year, I got circumcised. It was quite a big decision I’d been putting off for years, and the show is all about why that is, and what changed, and why we should all (but particularly men) be thinking about our bodies more. It’s also just rammed full of jokes, stories, confessions and surprises.
Jake: How did you find the comedy in the experience that became the show?
Ben: Some of it was immediately funny. I had one medical consultation particularly, that I literally left, went straight to the pub and wrote about 10 pages of material about. Other parts (the more tender stuff) required way more interrogation – I had to ask myself ‘why?’ a lot. And I ask the audience a lot of difficult questions too – about sex and death and their relationships. They often have answers that I’d never considered – and the valley between my approach and theirs is often where a lot of the comedy lives.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Ben: Belly laughs, a couple of emotions they weren’t expecting from a show about penises, and a really good chat in the pub after.
Jake: Tell us about what you’re most excited about ahead of EdFringe.
Ben: Juggling. I really want to see some juggling. I love watching juggling. I’m jonesing for some juggling. This sounds like a joke but it isn’t. What I really like about the Fringe as a comedian is that you spend the rest of the year just doing gigs in random places – it’s incredibly atomised and the faces revolve, but it’s largely the same thing happening over and over. And then you go to Scotland in August and not only do you get to see all your comedian pals for an extended period of time, rather than for 1 hour every 13 months, you also see the rest of the arts world! Magicians exist! Gymnasts are cool! Clowns! Fire! Juggling! People are incredibly skillful and that’s pretty cool I think.
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?
You: Me and a couple of friends once went to a cocktail bar and decided we would order the most ludicrous thing on the menu. It was called a Home Boy Swizzle. It was huge, pink and ridiculous – but about 45mins into drinking it we felt quite emotional. And when it was over, we missed it.
A reminder – you can catch Ben Pope: The Cut from July 30th to 24th August (not the 13th) at Assembly George Square – the Box from 17:05 (55mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Image Credit: Mark Jones
