James Macfarlane chats with comedian Robin Tran about her Fringe debut, how she deals with praise from big comedy names and her favourite way to control her audiences.
I see it as kind of like a rollercoaster ride that feels like it may go off the rails, but I’m in control the entire time
Robin Tran! How are you?
I’m doing pretty well! These open-ended questions up top always trip me up the most. One time during a job interview, the first thing they asked was “tell us a little bit about yourself?” and I stammered and said “I’m really neurotic!” I didn’t get the job. But yes I’m good!
So, for those of us who aren’t familiar with you, how would you describe yourself?
I think I’m a pretty silly happy person with occasional bratty mood swings when I’m hungry. I like making absurd jokes all the time. I giggle a lot. I’m very emotional. Conversely, I’m pretty serious inside of my brain a lot of the time because my inner monologue sounds like I’m constantly being interviewed by Oprah about my life story.
You’re making your Edinburgh debut this year with your show “Don’t Look At Me”. What can audiences expect from this show?
They can expect to laugh a lot at pretty terrible dark sad things! I like to have a silly absurd show about dark subject matters. The best compliment I ever received about my standup was, “Your show was so funny and we laughed the whole time, and on the car ride back, we went, hey some of that was kind of sad!” I like giving people laughs that stick with you. If that sounds too serious, there are plenty of inappropriate jokes about the Vietnam War, lesbian pornography, and drag queens that will whet anybody’s appetite who loves dark humor.
Was a run at the Edinburgh Fringe something that was always on your radar?
Honestly, it always seemed like something out of my reach. I never envisioned I would be legitimised by such a huge festival, and up until the past couple of years, the prospect of doing this many shows in a month would’ve scared me more due to the sheer stamina it would take, but I’m really excited now and I feel totally ready. Getting ready for this festival wasn’t just preparing my act. It was getting into mental and physical shape. I’m in the best shape of my life because I want every audience to have the best show they can possibly see and I also wanted to share this fact because I simply wanted to brag.
You’ve had some really fabulous praise from big names in comedy, including from Margaret Cho, who has called you her favourite comic right now. How is it hearing all this praise? Do you feel extra pressure?
It’s pretty surreal hearing that! Margaret Cho was the first person I saw on TV that made me realise that it was possible for an Asian person to be a comedian. She might’ve been the first Asian person I saw on TV, period. When I was a kid, I thought it was, like, illegal for Asians to be on television! But yes, I do feel extra pressure, and I try not to let it get to me too much. The way I’ve tricked my brain into not letting the pressure get to me is by reminding myself that the most important thing is that audiences get the best show possible, and they won’t get a good show if I let the pressures get the best of me. So if I can’t let go of the pressure for myself, I do it for the people who are gracious enough to pay money to see me.
Comedy and tragedy are on opposite ends of the emotional scale, but I feel are quite closely linked. You’ve said of your comedy “I want to make the audience laugh at terrible things. Laughing at darkness is what I had to do to survive”. How did you find balancing light and dark when writing this show?
I feel like a lot of comedians are afraid of silences onstage, but one of the best tools you can utilise is intentional silences, which is what I enjoy doing. Because when you have intentional silences, it adds tension to the room, and the audiences get a little nervous, or curious, or whatever other feeling, and then when they least expect it, that’s when a huge punchline comes, and the laughter comes from a mixture of surprise and relief. It’s one of my favorite things to do. A friend of mine told me once that horror and comedy operate similarly in that the best of both utilise misdirections. So if I’m starting a really sad story, you might not know where it’s gonna go. It might stay sad or it might get sadder or it might end up silly. That’s what’s fun about doing an hour. The most important thing is making people laugh regularly the entire time, but if you can make the audience feel a bunch of different things before/during/after the laughter, it’s laughs that stay with you. I see it as kind of like a rollercoaster ride that feels like it may go off the rails, but I’m in control the entire time.
Thanks so much for speaking to me! Finally, do you have any shows that you’re excited to see when you’re in Edinburgh?
I’m looking forward to Alphabet Soup which is a queer brunch show! I also know that UK Drag Race winner Danny Beard is doing a show and I love being on a show with drag queens because it always makes for hilarious interactions with people who think I’m a drag queen. I don’t know why I find that kind of stuff so hilarious. Thanks for having me!
Robin Tran’s debut stand up show ‘Don’t Look At Me’ is at Assembly George Square: The Box at 6.25pm 2nd – 27thAugust (except 15th) for tickets go to www.edfringe.com
