Q&A: EDINBURGH 2024: Sam See on AND I CAN'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE

BWW caught up with Sam See about bringing And I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore to the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

How did you first get started in the world of comedy?

I started when I was eighteen going on nineteen in Singapore. At the time I really wanted to be a jazz singer/crooner, no one else was really doing it and I thought I could get in that market. Trouble was, I never had really done it live. I did covers on YouTube and such, with not much traction or interest. Then, I found out that a local gay interest group were running a talent competition, which would be a great way to get out there and maybe show some folks. Also, everyone who participated would get a year’s free entry to the local gay club, so I was already a winner.

The issue was I needed to fill eight minutes of stage time, and my song only ran for four, so I needed to fill that extra four minutes. I really loved watching stand-up on YouTube as well, so I thought “What the heck, let’s do some stand-up.” I wrote a godawful four-minute set, performed it to no reaction in the audition, but thankfully the singing was good enough to get me in. Funnily enough, one of the other competitors, a drag queen, also did stand-up and invited me to an open mic, which was genuinely the first time I ever heard the term. I followed her a week later and watched the best comedians in Singapore perform, some bombing, and I thought “What the heck, I can do better than them!” I signed up for the following week, which was serendipitously also April 1st, and enjoyed myself so much that I just kept coming back. The dream of singing faded in the rearview mirror, as my love of stand-up started to shine in the distance.

I did come in second in that talent competition, losing to that very drag queen. So I suppose singing is the fallback career.

What made you want to create And I Can’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore?

Honestly, a bit of spite. My last hour show, Government Approved Sex, was something I really enjoyed, but I got flak for it behind my back for not being “real stand-up.” The show used slides, crowd work and education to make something I’m proud of, but comics and audiences did turn their nose up at it. I’m also known as a crowd work comic back in Asia, so I didn’t get respect from some acts for my work. I wanted to write this show as proof and also a “take that” to those acts, to show I can do the general stand-up hour, but I just choose not to so I can have fun in my own world of creativity.

Thankfully in the end - and after some performances of it - the show has now become less about bitterness and more about positivity, which I think makes better art in my case. Also, it makes me drink far less whisky when writing the show.

What is your creative process like for a show like And I Can’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore?

This has been a show that has been cooking in the background for years - bits of material I’ve always wanted to do or stories I wanted to tell, but couldn’t when I was still based in Singapore. I sketched out the core story elements first, then slotted the bits I wanted to do in-between, where it makes sense energy and flow-wise. Adding in more jokes and stories to flesh it out, and then once it was finished, I then went in with a large razor and cut out any jokes or bits that I felt were just not up to the mark. After, it was the WIPs, where it’s more testing, removing, adding in riffs that work and make sense, and then a few more shows and it was done. There’s still more to iron out, but I feel you only have a proper hour show after 30 performances, so we’ll be there before the middle of the Fringe.

The best part is looking back at early notes and seeing weird lines like “seven inches” and trying to figure out what the heck that was about. Do I need to add in seven inches to my show? Oh crap, now I’m really wondering if I have to.

What is it like sharing your own story as a comedy show?

It’s really strange, especially for this one. I wrote in the emotional, pathos-inducing moment at the forty-minute mark, because I do like having those moments of honesty in an hour show, and it became REALLY personal. I haven’t been that honest and raw on a stage before, even if it’s more a minute. It’s so wild to do it and then have to get back to the comedy afterwards, but I really need that, I suppose, as a performer and as a human. I love sharing my life in jokes because I very rarely make up stories for the stage. For this hour, it’s really about the comedic honesty, hopefully with enough comedic in it.

You’ve performed in over 25 countries - what is it like performing internationally?

People would think it’s difficult, but for me, I thrive in it and on the road. My stuff has never been too “local” for Asia - I’ve always written for an international audience, so there weren’t many translation or reference issues. Plus, I love to create stuff just for the city, town or just for the gig itself. I feel it adds that “something something” to a show, the feeling like you’re watching something happening in the now and here, a club show that can’t quite be repeated 100%, so I spend time writing, walking around, and writing some more. I also love seeing people from all over in their own space, what they eat, where they go. An artistic voyeur of sorts, if I can make it sound not so creepy.

What is it like bringing a show like this up to the Edinburgh Fringe?

It’s a thrill for me. A festival where every day and every show is different, with audiences ranging from the fans to the bored, drunks and druggies, kids and pensioners, and it’s my job to entertain them the best I can. With a show like this too, it’s hopefully showing people the journey I’ve taken to literally get up on that stage in that festival, all the way from Singapore. It’s going to be cathartic by the end of it. I hope. I could also have a dreadful festival, but I know I’ll find a positive spin to it.

What do you hope audiences take away from And I Can’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore?

My merchandise.

Also, the want to look for their own home, a place where they enjoy, a place where they belong, and fighting for it with positivity and optimism in a difficult world.

But mostly, my merchandise.

How would you describe And I Can’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore in one word?

Hope.

 As in I hope you people buy some tickets to this show.

 Sam See: And I Can’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore runs from 1 to 25 August (no performances on 6, 13 or 24 August) at Laughing Horse @ The Counting House - The Lounge at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Photo Credit: Nicholas Yeo

Sponsored content

To post a comment, you must register and login.