‘As an artist, I like to put medicine in candy. It’s gonna seem like I’m talking about one thing, but then you’ll realise I’m talking about something else.’ Zainab Johnson is chatting over Zoom from her Los Angeles home. It’s breakfast time in California and she stops occasionally to pop organic cherries into her mouth. Johnson appeared in her own comedy special in 2023 on Prime, Hijabs Off, where she described herself as ‘the diversity trifecta; black, Muslim and a woman.’ She discussed being one of 13 siblings, raised in Harlem, with smart, savvy material on the world of dating, the prison industrial complex, and that time her family went to a bar to cheer on her stripper sister. Now she’s about to perform in her first Edinburgh Fringe with Toxically Optimistic.

‘The beautiful thing about stand-up is it has always been the genre to say “fuck it”. The comedian’s role is to say what people are thinking. The questioning, the Not Safe For Work stuff. I lean into two things. One: being authentically myself. Two: in the midst of so much fear, chaos, negativity, I’m trying to propose a lighter option. Making the choice to look down the road of optimism. I think that’s really important. Especially as any DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] initiatives are being rolled back politically in the US right now and mediocre straight white guys are running everything.’

Besides being a stand-up, Johnson is an actor (you can find her in TV sci-fi comedy Upload, also on Prime) and hosting her podcast HonesTEA With Z. But stand-up is where she lets audiences in on her world. Before Edinburgh, she’s gigging in America, then London, but doesn’t feel her set will need too much tweaking. ‘Social media and the internet has been a great equaliser. I feel like I know the big things that are happening globally, and the US is a big conversation right now. Every place is getting American culture. I don’t like to pander to people. When I get onstage, I want everyone to leave saying “oh, I was at her house for an hour.”’

Johnson has a maths degree and worked briefly as a science teacher before going full-time with comedy. Since her first open mic in 2010, she has a healthy attitude to critics and audiences; in a nutshell, she tries not to stress too much about either. ‘If the audience doesn’t get me, or just takes it on surface level, I’m ok with that. It’s not my job to decide how the audience will receive it. It’s my job to decide what I want to talk about and make it as funny as possible. I’m showing up as my best comedic self and being the thing that I did not see growing up.’

She remembers loving Eddie Murphy’s Raw and looking up to Whoopi Goldberg, a huge star she saw in films. But it wasn’t until college that she discovered underground comedy clubs and began really appreciating the artform of stand-up. ‘That’s when I saw the Bill Burrs, the Patrice O’Neals, Wanda Skyes, Marina Franklin; all getting these ideas in their heads across to 100 strangers.’  

Johnson doesn’t drink for religious reasons and looks forward to discovering ‘her thing’ in Edinburgh, besides pub culture. ‘I love running Hyde Park. Or in Montreal, for Just For Laughs, I rode bikes around town. I socialise in a different way. And yeah, doing my morning prayers, going to the masjid [mosque]. Being Muslim centres me, makes me confident. It’s a big part of what helps me not feel too beat-up-on by the world. I know it’s gonna be great in Edinburgh. Not the beginning or the end-all, just a cool, small part of my overall journey.’

Zainab Johnson: Toxically Optimistic, Pleasance Courtyard, Wednesday 30 July–Sunday 24 August, 6.40pm.

Others To See: Debutantes

What does it mean to be a slob? In the pertinently titled Slob, Molly McGuinness (Monkey Barrel Cabaret Voltaire, until Sunday 24 August, 2.55pm) examines her own life and considers when it's good to slob out as opposed to when it's imposed upon you. Steffan Alun (Hoots Apex, Thursday 31 July–Monday 25 August, 9.30pm) certainly has the perfect title for his debut show with Stand Up. Might have been done before, but no harm in that. This opening hour covers sexuality, ADHD, culture and Wales (he’s Welsh, by the way).

Alex Berr (Just The Tonic Mash House, Thursday 31 July–Sunday 24 August, 12.35pm) is not just a comedian, she’s also a scientist. Her inaugural affair looks at the research she conduced into a rare form of cancer which rather tragically came very close to home. Japanese-Jewish comedian Dylan Adler (Pleasance Courtyard, Wednesday 30 July–Sunday 24 August, 7.30pm) offers up an hour of high-energy musical comedy featuring material about growing up as an identical twin and how he was bullied in two languages as a kid. Also on the high energy end of things is rap comic Amelia Hamilton (Pleasance Courtyard, Wednesday 30 July–Sunday 24 August, 9.45pm) who has music-based battles with her own thoughts and is on a mission to be remembered.