EDINBURGH 2023: Krystal Evans Q&A

BWW catches up with Krystal Evans to chat about bringing The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about The Hottest Girl At Burn Camp.

It centres around my house burning down when I was 14 years old. It also deals with themes such as growing up poor with a mentally ill parent, death and dark family secrets. All of my stand-up material up to this point has been funny and I've been proud of it, but all completely surface-level stuff, and I honestly thought it would never work to put these stories into stand-up comedy. But putting it all out there, people have connected with this show more than anything I've ever done.

Why was this an important story to share?

I haven't talked to anyone new about what happened for years. When I would tell people, a lot of times they'd have a really shocked reaction to it, so I just learned to shut up about it. But I think it's important because it's a huge part of who I am, and why I operate the way I do. As artists and comedians, we are essentially making material about our own lives, and I think making yourself vulnerable is sometimes where the most satisfying narratives lie.

Why is it important to find warmth and humour in dark times?

See, I'm not sure if this is actually important for everybody, but it's everything for me. My mom's side of the family particularly, is very funny and we were laughing and joking my entire childhood. It's how we'd get through hard times. It felt like a breath of fresh air. It was a natural stress reliever when things felt hopeless. It's definitely why I'm a comedian, and it's also why I don't get rattled easily.

With this being your Edinburgh debut, do you think you know what to expect from the festival?

I sort of do, sort of don't. I've done two full runs before, but one was 30 mins and the other was 45. So I get the grind of doing daily shows and running around like a phrenetic, sweaty, sleep deprived swamp creature surviving on packets of crisps and applying your third coat of clumpy mascara before realising that the mixed bill you've been booked for at 11.30pm has been pulled due to lack of audience or because the guy who runs it says he has food poisoning, or covid (which always means he's just hungover). But, this is my first full hour and the pressure of press and things isn't something I've had to deal with massively before, but I've definitely got some very supportive comedian group chats I'm in where we can bitch about things freely, and that always helps.

What would you like audiences to take away from it?

I hope they can take away that it's not a life sentence of grief when you go through something tough. I really just want people be captivated by the story, feel all the feelings, but hopefully laugh their asses off at the same time. I haven't structured my show in the classic way of revealing something hard 2/3rds of the way in, then ending on a high note- there's loads of deep dark moments in my show, peppered with loads of laughter. Because that's how life is. 

Tickets are available here: 

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

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