Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Sarah Roberts

Tell us about your show, Silkworm. What can audiences expect?

Silkworm is my debut stand-up hour and it’s about the stories we tell ourselves (and everyone else) about who we are. When I was younger, I got double jaw surgery to ‘correct’ a ‘facial deformity’. The show reflects on that experience, and how it feels to be told every day you’re facially deformed (spoiler! Not good!). It’s about realising you’ve actually been perfect all along, even though the world is constantly trying to change you. 

The show also has a lot of embargoed gossip in it. Audiences can expect a circle of secrets, but all the secrets just happen to be mine, and they all happen to be gross and/or brags. If you like oversharing, horrid nasty women, and flirting, then I think you’ll love it. If you hate laughter and gossip, then I’m sorry I can’t help you. 

Your show is set to cover a range of personal topics, such as double-jaw surgery, sexuality and your past life as King Henry VIII. How did you decide which personal stories to include?

The show is very personal, and I think it’s just about finding the right tone with that. A lot of my comedy comes from me thinking I’m high status, but telling a story that is actually kind of tragic or disgusting, and the audience is like, does she know that’s bad? So much of figuring that out is getting on stage, telling a story, and knowing immediately whether it feels icky to me or not. I’ve learned a lot about not giving too much of myself away.

I originally wanted to write about my brother Jonny, who died in 2011. But I found that actually a bit too difficult to talk about on stage. After I took out that, everything else personal that I put in there felt like child’s play. 

How did your obsession with Candy Crush begin and what advice would you give people tempted by the sweet game?

My obsession with Candy Crush started when I was in this interim period, waiting to get double jaw surgery. At 15, I’d been told I was eligible to get the surgery because I was “medically deformed enough”, but I had to wait until I was 21 to get it. So as a teenager, I felt like I was in this limbo, waiting in the wings of my life to become the perfect version of myself. And I think playing Candy Crush was a relief because when I was playing it I wasn’t thinking about how I looked, I could be free! 

My only advice would be, don’t use Klarna to buy new lives on Candy Crush!

Were you always interested in comedy and who were your favourite comedians growing up?

Growing up, I was too preoccupied with Candy Crush and my own chin to care about anything else. But my school friends are the funniest, most creative people ever. So probably them. We’ve always been very committed to ruining our lives for the bit, so it’s helpful to have a never-ending pool of awful stories to draw from.

In my 20s, I started watching more stand-up, and I love high-status comedians like Cat Cohen, Katherine Ryan and Mary Beth Barone. I also always loved watching This Country, and in a way it’s quite similar to what I’m doing on stage, in that the audience feels like they know something about the characters that they themselves don’t.

What shows are you most looking forward to seeing in August, and why?

Andrew Doherty’s show Gay Witch Sex Cult is amazing. So funny and silly and like nothing else you’ll see at the Fringe. Also Bebe Cave’s show is brilliant, she’s such a fantastic performer, it really blew me away. Bella Hull’s show Piggie is a perfectly constructed hour of stand-up, she’s an incredible joke writer, and Kiran Saggu is fantastic. I’m also so excited to see Rosalie Minnitt’s Clementine again. It was my favourite show last year, she’s such a star. I also saw Paulina Lenoir do her show Puella Eterna at London Clown Festival a couple of weeks ago, I laughed, I cried, I gave her a standing ovation. 10/10 no notes. 

How can Edinburgh audiences keep up with you beyond the festival?

Instagram! Sarahroberts_69 :)