EDINBURGH 2022: Alasdair Beckett-King Guest Blog

Guest Blog -Alasdair Beckett-King brings his brand-new whimsical comedy show to Edinburgh.

Alasdair discusses newfound internet fame and his love for films.

As seen regularly on Mock the Week, comedian Alasdair blogs for Broadway World about how going viral has changed his writing as well as his live shows and the impact of studying film on his career so far.

I will always associate the years 2020 and 2021 with the word "viral". My name is Alasdair Beckett-King and I'm a stand-up comedian who also films and animates funny short videos for the internet.

I was working as a stand-up comedian when The Big Thing happened and it suddenly became illegal to do my job. I didn't mind. Staying at home and not working is one of my favourite things to do, and the idea of doing absolutely nothing and saving lives was very appealing.

But in early 2021, I got lucky. I filmed a 40 second sketch spoofing Scandi Noirs and it went viral. Someone swiped the video from my Twitter and put it on Reddit (thank you, Anonymous Content thief). For reasons that escape me, the video went semi-viral and I went from having a few hundred YouTube subscribers to having tens of thousands in a week.

Those numbers may be small-fry by YouTuber standards, but it's still an audience, which is something I'd never really had before. I started doing comedy just about the time I graduated from film school in 2012. I wasn't having any luck breaking into the film industry with my weird little films combining live action with animation. Stand-up comedy seemed like a much cheaper medium to be unsuccessful in.

As much money as it's possible to lose doing the Edinburgh Fringe, that's peanuts compared to film. I heard of a guy who maxed out multiple credit cards and remortgaged his house to make a film about lesbian werewolves. I'm not saying that was a mistake, but I really hope he finished it before the 2008 financial crisis. Lesbian Werewolves in David Cameron's Britain doesn't bear thinking about.

So, I had tricked the government into paying for me to learn how to make films (which was possible in those days) and then squandered it all by becoming a stand-up comedian. To my delight, and to the surprise of many, I was all right at it. I actually became competent. The nice thing about comedy is that, as long as people laugh, you're doing it. The scripts I tried to write tended to be met with a sense of bemusement. "Why would you want to make that?" they seemed to ask. "It's all a bit 1970s. Why should we fund this film now?"

My answer, "Because I am alive now," wasn't persuading anyone.

Of course, comedy's gatekeepers are just as intimidating as those in the world of film. (Unless you are one of comedy's gatekeepers, in which case they are perspicacious and delightful and please reply to my email.) But the bar for entry is much lower. You can just go to an open mic and sign up tonight. And straight away, you're doing comedy. Hopefully. And you get feedback. After every couple of sentences the audience let you know if you're doing it right. I can't think of a medium so well suited to people who are extremely needy and racked with self-doubt.

I liked stand-up comedy a lot more than I thought I would, and I missed it when the gigs all evaporated. But I suppose I was doubly lucky. Because while other comedians had to learn very quickly how to tell jokes over Zoom, I had a load of secret skills in my back pocket.

Of course, many of my friends have had huge success doing sketches on social media, and I hardly resent them at all for it. I'm far from unique in having built up a bit of an audience during The Big Thing. But it's been hugely rewarding to be able to apply the skills I spent years working on. And it's very weird to have people come and see my live shows because they saw me on YouTube.

I'm having a lot of fun, and I hope people keep coming. (Especially to my shows in the Lothian region between the 3rd and 29th of August.)

Photo credit: Edward Moore

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