Before she sets the Edinburgh Fringe festival alight with her debut stand-up hour-long show, local comedian Amy Mason will perform a preview of her performance in the south west. We catch up with her ahead of jam-packed summer of laughs…
The off-kilter Funny Women finalist and BBC New Act nominee Amy Mason (who hails from Bristol, pictured below) will perform her new show at Komedia in Bath as part of the venue’s Edinburgh Fringe preview series. Mason will talk about on coming out in her 30s, raising kids, rinsing homophobes, and confronting her wild past. This will be a hotly anticipated debut stand-up hour from a ‘brilliant’ (according to Bridget Christie) rising star. You might be among one of Mason’s 8.5 million views on TikTok, catching her hilarious impressions of various ‘Bristol Mums’. Her work has also been heard on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4…
My show Free Mason is a brand-new hour of stand-up.
It’s my debut comedy hour! I’ve been working on some bits of it over the past year at gigs, but as a whole the show is totally new. I’ll be performing it at Pleasance in Edinburgh during the Fringe festival from 31 July to 26 August (see you there!).
It won’t be my first time on stage in the city.
I was last performing in Edinburgh 10 years ago with a storytelling show The Islanders. This is my first time as a comedian.
If I were to choose my favourite all-time comedian…
I love Tig Notaro’s ability to use serious, personal subjects in her comedy in a totally authentic way. I also love her laid-back, unhurried delivery and ability to think on her feet.
I’d always harboured a secret desire to do stand-up.
But there weren’t so many visible women comedians around when I was young – and I had no idea what the route in was. After I had my first daughter, I bit the bullet and went and did my first open mic.
I’ve always liked to make people laugh.
I can’t help it. I make jokes even when I really shouldn’t. Just ask any teacher I’ve ever had, and now my daughter’s teachers too.
My children only find me funny when I do stupid voices for their toys or silly dances.
They think my jokes are nonsensical and/or rude. I told my eldest one the other day and she said: ‘Why would you tell people THAT?’
Before stand-up comedy, I was into stories.
I left school at 16, worked in bookshops for years and started writing in my late 20s. I made my first storytelling show with Bristol Old Vic, and then wrote a novel The Other Ida.
My favourite comedy nights in Bristol are…
Eva Bindeman’s night called Scrambled in Fishponds is great. Chops Comedy near me in Bedminster is always fantastic, too.
Bristol is brilliant for comedy.
In terms of other BristoIian comedians I’m impressed by, I love June Tuesday, Alasdair Wallace, Eva Bindeman and Millie Malone. There are tons!
If I were to describe my style of comedy in three words, it’d be…
Deadpan, surreal and BRILLIANT. (Did I say that you should come to my show?)
Amy Mason will previewed Free Mason alongside Katie Norris’ Farm Fatale at Komedia in Bath on Sunday 21 July. Mason appeared at the Pleasance, Edinburgh, throughout August during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
