Before bringing a show about gifts called 'My Gift To You' to the Edinburgh Fringe, award winner, host of Comedy Bandits and a Guardian recommended podcast, Alfie Packham talks to Katerina Partolina Schwartz about his upcoming Edinburgh Fringe debut, gifts as a subject matter, and how wrapping paper fits into all of it.
I feel like a bucket list is a lot of pressure, so I’d make sure it was all stuff that I could get done last minute
What’s the elevator pitch for your show?
My show is called My Gift To You, and it’s a show about gifts. It’s about literal gifts being given to me and that I’ve given, and also looking at this idea of life being a gift that everybody says, and the extent of which I have or have not treated it as that. It’s kind of eclectic; stories, silliness, and an introduction to my sensibility, I guess. It is an entertainment show as much as anything else.
Why did you choose to write on the subject of gifts?
It had a bit of a dumb start, really. I initially called the show, My Gift To You because I wasn’t charging tickets. That was basically the whole reason. I was doing work-in-progress shows last year and I called it My Gift To You, and gradually I ended up writing more and more gift-themed material and it turned into the show, so I never bothered changing the title in the end. It was never really the plan to go ahead with that title.
What was your writing process like?
It was quite chaotic. I’ve been doing stand-up in London in a mixture of comedy clubs, random open mics and stuff in 5–20 minute chunks, and a lot of jokes have been developed at sort of drunken comedy nights like that. And now I’m putting them together into more of a story-based show.
Is there any sort of metaphorical or thematic revelation about gifts that you came across in the process of writing the hour?
The way that I got thinking about that was my mum died a couple of years ago and she gave me a number of gifts over the years, and I remember thinking about that and the things that she left behind. So basically, she was given a year to live in 2014 and then actually lived for another 8 years, so it was kind of amazing really, and I just think of that time – as cheesy as it sounds – as quite a gift. And conversely, I would always worry about what to get her as a gift for Christmas or birthdays, cause what do you get someone when they’ve got a year to live? And that kind of struck me as kind of a funny quandary. And I don’t know, this sort of idea of seizing the day and living life to the full came out of that as a theme. It’s not going to be a depressing show. Hopefully not even too dark; my mum was a very funny person, and she never got too down. This show’s not going to dwell on the dark side of things, cause I think most of that time wasn’t that dark really. We learned to focus on the positives. There’s plenty of really good one-man shows about grief, but mine’s not going to be dwelling too much on the sadness of it.
What is something that you have tried or done that you never would’ve before you wrote this show?
I never really wrote about my personal degree that I have in this show. I suppose that’s a kind of barrier that’s broken down. I never wanted to, but then after she died, basically life just seeps into your material inevitably. So, it’s more personal than I expected the show to be, and I guess that’s what I wasn’t expecting.
What is on your bucket list?
Bucket lists do turn up, and I actually share my bucket list in the show. But I would say – the thing is I feel like a bucket list is a lot of pressure, so I’d make sure it was all stuff that I could get done last minute. I’ve got some places that I want to go like New Zealand.
How did you start doing comedy?
I had a university friend called Ali Woods, who’s a stand-up and Instagram comic or Tik Tok comic. He was doing comedy before me and I was writing humorous things, but I wasn't performing, and I remember saying to Ali, “Oh I fancy trying that.” And then I kept saying it over and over again whenever we met up and after a certain point he was like, “You’re not gonna do it,” and he basically bet me that I wouldn’t. And I think that was embarrassing enough for me to finally give it a go. And then I just finally did an open mic, and I just got the bug and I realised, “This is going very badly but I think I can improve.” I got quite addicted to it from then on.
Through this show, what gift do you hope to give your audiences?
Well, since they’ll be paying for tickets, it’ll be more of an exchange of gifts. I hope they leave entertained and not disappointed. I am actually pleased with how the show’s turning out so I hope it will be the case.
What is the intrinsic nature of a gift?
It’s telling someone what you think about them in the form of an object and that’s why I find them so high-pressure to give to someone. They’re almost like a blunt instrument for showing love and I find that daunting. But also wrapping paper is part of it, isn’t it?
