Sid Singh is no stranger to the Edinburgh Fringe and he’s back once again, this time with his politically charged and passionate show American Coloniser. Sid is also a human rights lawyer – and often combines themes from his work in his comedy – and 50% of all donations will go to the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies. We spent some time chatting with Sid about the show, his heroes, and fornicating pigeons.
Tell us about American Coloniser
American Coloniser is basically two shows in one. It’s me trying to discuss and explain to my audience how we defeat American colonialism and imperialism and all of the expansion that America has made culturally over the decades and [in turn] how we finally push back against the right wing. So, it’s half that!
The other half is talking about the fact that as much as I want to talk about the first half, that doesn’t seem to be what the industry wants from me, right?
When you see people of colour who are doing stand up, they’re often being asked to explain y’know where are they really from, who were their ancestors, is there wisdom we can learn from their experiences, and, yeah, that’s not my show.
It feels like a very relevant show, particularly with the political upheaval going on everywhere.
Yeah, some of these things you try and look at it from the bigger picture because so many people, when it comes to the details, have already picked a side and they already have their opinion on it.
So I think when you do a comedy show about them [politics and politicians], you have to be very careful you’re not just saying things people want to hear. It’s not about things not being true, it’s just that I would like people to donate after the show and I’d like them to donate because they heard a bunch of things that are worth money.
Trump is a cunt, but I don’t think me saying that fact is really worth any money.
So, you’re based in the UK now, but is there anything in particular you miss from home?
I really wish there was a bunch of cool answers (but) – I miss crisps! I think American crisps are better, I miss Cheezits.
Our chocolate is better, no?
British chocolate is much better than American chocolate, but it’s not as good as Swiss chocolate.
Over the years you’ve been very popular at the fringe, is there anyone that you’re excited to see?
There are a tonne of newcomers who I think people are going to really love. You have Jack Holmes (Round Man, Square Hole) who’s coming from Vienna. You have Alicia Montoya (The English Teacher) who’s from Venezuela. There’s Katie Green (¡Ay Mija!), a Latina from America with her first hour. It’s an exciting time I think in comedy.
Do you have any good heckle stories?
I have some insane stories! I had two pigeons one time fly into my venue at the Edinburgh Fringe, and immediately start fornicating. The audience cheered when they finished! Now when the pigeons flew out, they tripped a wire and the electricity for the entire venue went out. I had to perform the last fifteen minutes of my show to phone lights.
What do your family think of your career choice?
It was only five years ago that I got my first full-time paying job in comedy. I think that made it slightly easier for them to be like ‘we don’t get it, we wish you wouldn’t do this, but whatever at least you have your law degree to fall back on’.
You have a law degree?
I do! I volunteer as a human rights lawyer and I do comedy and my show is often a combination of the two.
Comedians often cover the darker areas of the world and spotlight various issues we’d otherwise, sadly, turn a blind eye to. Do you think that’s more difficult to do in society today, are some people just going to be offended by everything?
I think the first thing is that you can’t really control how your audience feels about certain subject matter and it’s definitely true that some people will get offended. But I also think that because when they get offended they tend to be loud, we tend to exaggerate how many of those people there actually are. In reality most people are comfortable with you saying anything about anything as long as you do it in an interesting way.
American Coloniser, 1st till 25th Aug (excluding 12th), 5pm at Just the Tonic at Cabaret Voltaire
Photo Credit: Adrian Tauss
