Kathy Maniura: ‘I’ve played a paper straw, a nervous smoke alarm and now a middle-aged cycling man’

The sketch comedian, who merges gentle absurdity with drag, on performing in the rain to an audience of two and how the comedy world needs to changeWhy did you get into comedy?I’ve always loved making people laugh. I was raised on a diet of sketch shows (French and Saunders, Mitchell and Webb, Monty Python) and took any opportunity I could to be silly for an audience. I have a vivid memory of a very elaborate performance of We Three Kings for the Year 5 talent show (“sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, DYING!”) – I won. I’m drawn to big, playful characters – wigs, costumes, silly voices. At uni I started doing sketch comedy and never really stopped.How would you describe what you do?Gentle absurdity. It’s a silly good-natured sending up of recognisable things. In my last show, I brought to life a series of inanimate objects – including an annoying Californian paper straw, a pathetic electric scooter desperate to be unlocked, and an incredibly anxious, sensitive smoke alarm. My new hour merges this kind of absurd character comedy with drag. I’m pretending to be a middle-aged cycling man, complete with Lycra bulges, devastating divorce, outrageous income and zero emotional intelligence.Kathy Maniura: The Cycling Man is at Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 30 July-24 August Continue reading...

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