Andy Barr: Tropic of Admin asks and answers the question ‘what if a school administrator were marooned on a deserted tropical island?’ We wanted to know more, so we fired over a Q&A.
Edinburgh means getting to see all the people I know in London testing the limits of their abilities to create, perform, drink, dick around and eat badly.
Hi
Andy, tell me about ‘Tropic of Admin’.
This show is drawn from my experiences working as a school administrator in a
state-maintained secondary school and from my experiences of imagining being
marooned on a tropical island. As I’ve been previewing this show, different
friends have taken very different messages from it but my favourite reading is
that it’s about the effects of neoliberalism on the capacity for imagination. I
challenge anyone to replicate that interpretation at the Fringe.
What
does Edinburgh mean to you?
Edinburgh means getting to see all the people I know in London testing the
limits of their abilities to create, perform, drink, dick around and eat badly.
It’s also a great way to get away from the doldrums of working at school during
the summer – nothing happens and you get cabin fever.
Who
inspires you and why?
I’m going to try and not reel off my influences as they’re probably pretty
similar to other comedians of my background. Instead I’ll pay lip-service to my
pals – I’m really inspired every time I do or see a show with the Weirdos who
are never short on inventive, anarchic ideas and the unrestrained silliness to
see them through to a batshit payoff. The same goes for acts like Sean Morley
and Barnaby Thompson (Barnaby is not at the Fringe this year, Sean Morley is doing
two showings of his Earned Helplessness and also hosting a one-off of the
comedy anti-competition The Glang Show).Find my Facebook profile and cross-check my friends list with the
brochure for a definitive Barr recommendations list for the fringe.
Describe
your best or worst experiences on stage.
Best and worst experiences on stage were probably both during a show I did with
my sketch group Consignia (we call them dreams not sketches as this frees us
from the troublesome requirement to have narrative thrust, characterisation or
a satisfying conclusion) last year. The show was at 1am and the venue had shut
early the night before so we performed the show twice in a row. To our surprise
the entire audience stayed for the second hour so in order to mix things up a
bit show number two was performed nude and at an advanced state of drunkenness.
Go and see Consignia’s Panopticon at some venue miles away from anything at
around 11pm.
Describe
your best or worst review.
‘(Andy Burr)’ – Notts Comedy Review
If
you weren’t a performer, what would you be?
Administrating in a school without any form of escapism.
What
was the last book you read?
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban – a journey through a post-apocalyptic Kent
largely indistinguishable from my own experiences growing up in Folkestone in
the 90s.
Are you entitled to any of the A.G. Barr soft drinks fortune?I’m not sure. My dad implies that we are distantly related but I would welcome the efforts of any budding amateur genealogists who would be interested in verifying my entitlement.
Imagine
that the BBC have asked you to produce a primetime show. What would it be and
who else would be involved?
It would be An Evening with Consignia
Live in which Phil Jarvis, Nathan Willcock and I sit in the middle of a
large, glitzy, entirely empty (aside from three chairs and a phone) taking
calls from planned guests, audience and finally cast and crew telling us that
they have decided to cancel due to serious concerns about the content and
organisation of the show.
Twitter: @eeQuim
© 2017 On the Mic.
