Having a good old go at the Q&A today is Kylie Brakeman

^{Picture: Greg Feiner}

What’s the best bit of advice you’ve been ever been given from a seasoned comic? 

This mostly came from improv training, but it’s the lesson that you as a performer are a mirror to the audience. You’re telling them exactly how they should feel about you. If you look like you’re having a great time and you find yourself funny, they will too. Energy is contagious, and you get out what you put in. There have been times when an audience wasn’t fully on board with a bit I was doing until I dug my heels in, doubled down on having fun with it, and basically insisted that it was funny. Not literally though, I hate it when a comic yells at the audience for not laughing. It’s yucky and it makes the audience feel yucky too! 

And what has proved to be the least useful? 

One time I was doing background work on a show and another extra who was a Robert De Niro impersonator advised me to print business cards and walk into random studios and just start passing them out. But who knows, maybe he’s right? 

Is there one thing that keeps cropping up when people talk to you about Edinburgh in August? 

I’m just excited for the whole process! When I talk about Fringe it’s usually 50% about the show and 50% about how much I miss sausage rolls. 

What’s your favourite word that begins in ‘e’? 

‘Evil!’ 

Is there one act you absolutely HAVE to see in August? 

I’m a newb to the Festival so I don’t know too much about what to look for, but I’m really excited to see circus and physical theatre acts. 

Picture yourself in early September: what would constitute a successful Fringe for you? 

I’d like to have had a solid, fine-tuned run of shows that I’m proud of and new friends from around the world. I also hope that I walk away having seen a variety of styles of comedy that I don’t typically get to see in Los Angeles. 

It’s yucky and makes the audience feel yucky too

What percentage of your early stand-up performances is likely to appear in your Fringe debut? 

I do mostly sketch characters onstage, so I constantly have to come up with material to keep it fresh. Most of the show is on the newer side, but I’d say 20% of it is from before the pandemic. It’s definitely a ‘Best Of’ of the stuff I’ve done since I started performing at Upright Citizens Brigade in 2019. I’ve combed through a lot of terrible jokes to get to this. 

Which other new comedian do you feel a special kinship with? And do you reckon it’s reciprocated? 

I feel a special and potentially one-sided connection to a lot of other comedians who for the most part gained popularity online during the pandemic and are also just great joke writers. People like Vinny Thomas, Blaire Erskine and Seán Burke to name a few.

Which side of your family do you get your funny bones from? 

Both! My mom’s side is more dry and British and my dad is more goofy.

What will you do to keep fit and healthy (relatively speaking) during August? 

I’ll be honest: nothing. 

Which word of six letters or more will crop up the most in your Edinburgh show?

‘Tinseltown!’

Kylie Brakeman Presents: Linda Hollywood’s Big Hollywood Night, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, 3–28 August, 7pm.