EDINBURGH 2022: Crybabies Guest Blog

Guest Blog - Sketch comedy superstars Crybabies bring new absurdist show to the Fringe

Crybabies discuss returning to the stage after an unexpected hiatus in live performance.

2019's Best Newcomer Nominee's 'Crybabies' blog for Broadway World about their new show Bagbeard finally coming to the Fringe after live plans were put on hold, and the influence bagging big roles on Netflix has had on the show.

Last time we took to the Fringe, all we had was a black bed sheet, some bungee cords and a suitcase of props. Three years later and it's all change. Apart from the bungee cords and the suitcase of props. Both of those are actually identical but the sheet is now a kind of off-white colour.

But I suppose in many ways that encapsulates the last three years for Crybabies. The content is very much the same but those on stage now sport a ghostly pale hue.

It's been a long time since we blackmailed our way to a Best Newcomer nomination with our second world war farce Danger Brigade. But now we're back with our latest narrative sketch comedy, Bagbeard; a surreal sci-fi adventure that follows out of luck scientist Chris Mystery as he finds an alien creature in the woods. Think E.T. meets The Wicker Man meets When Harry Met Sally.

The extended gap between these shows has been, what we like to call, very cack. We had a feeling 2020 wouldn't be our year when a February performance of Danger Brigade was cancelled by the discovery of a World War II bomb on Dean Street, London. What on the surface looked like one of the worst judged PR stunts in history set the tone for what would be a snoozy (financially crippling) 18 months for the team here at Crycorp Industries.

However, in the time we couldn't spend together, each of us managed to survive by picking up some odd jobs on TV James popped up on Afterlife, Ed wore some very nice gloves in an episode of Bridgerton and Michael will appear in Neil Gaiman's upcoming The Sandman. Fun fact - that Netflix-Crybaby triple-header coincided with the biggest subscriber loss in the streamer's history.

Aside from obliterating share prices, working on those shows has definitely helped us whip Bagbeard into shape. For starters, we want to up the spectacle this time around. Back in 2019 we were performing in the basement of a Brazilian restaurant with a grand total of two lights. That's not to say they didn't do a good job - both featured impressive on

and off functionality - but for Bagbeard we want to bring a little more of the pizzaz that makes 80s sci-fi films so fun.

If anything, working on screen has reminded us of all the great things about performing live. Bagbeard is essentially us trying to condense a Spielberg flick into a 60-minute stage show but we never want to shy away from the unique quirks of live comedy. This show is somewhere between a comedy, a movie and a pantomime so we embrace things like audience interaction and unpredictability. When you're playing some 30 characters between you, you've got no choice but to lean into the haphazard.

It's one of the reasons we wanted to do Bagbeard solely as a live show. A lot of people in the 'biz' will tell you that Edinburgh hours should be made with one eye on TV commissions, but we said no! This show's got monsters, alien planets, secret labs, musical numbers, owls - the kind of things that make a TV exec say, "this is bad and won't work on telly". Well prove us wrong BBC/Channel 4/Dave/Sky/Amazon Prime. Prove us wrong.

Having been through three years of despair and delirium, it feels fitting that Bagbeard has ended up becoming a sprawling tide of nonsense. But somewhere in the chaos is a message that says everything will be alright in the end.

Or maybe it won't. Who knows? Come and find out.

Crybabies: Bagbeard, Pleasance Dome (10 Dome), 5.50pm, 3-28 August (not 15)

Photo credit: Rebecca Need-Menear

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