EDINBURGH 2026: Interview: Hannah Morton on CRUSHED

BWW caught up with standup comedian Hannah Morton to chat about bringing Crushed to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Who are you, and where might we know you from?

I am Hannah Morton and I am a standup comedian- I’m still getting used to say that because it means admitting that I’m actually doing it. You might know me from hanging about Red Raw at The Stand and last year I did my debut show, Hannah Morton: Cha Cha Real Smooth. That was the life and times of my life as a kids' birthday party entertainer and how I was hungover most of the time and having an existential crisis about what I was doing with my life. Which hasn’t really changed, but I’m no longer a children’s party entertainer. 

And you have a new show at the Fringe this year?

This is my first sort of real-time admitting to myself that I’m doing standup. There are still loads of bells and whistles on it because I am still a theatre kid. It’s Hannah Morton is Crushed and the tagline is- crushes, chaos and heartbreak; this is everything Hannah Morton knows about love. 

You’re doing two dates this Fringe?

Yes short run, I’m doing two work-in-progress dates. The Fringe is expensive, and when you’re going through a breakup with a house and cat involved, remortgaging your house is more important than the Fringe. It’s important for the bank to trust that you have employment, so that is why its only a short run. But its going to be good. 

How was your debut solo run last year?

Physically and mentally exhausting. It was the first time I’d done anything by myself; it was technically my third run at the Fringe but it was my first one-woman stand-up situation. It’s an interesting thing with standup: you’re by yourself! So much of traditional standup if you’re on a bill, there’s a green room and the Glasgow comedy scene, especially, we’re all pals with each other. But if you take a show to the Fringe, you’re on your own. Obviously, you have pals afterwards and audiences are lovely but it was a really scary thing to do. All in all it went swimmingly, apart from finding out that I got cheated on three days into that run.

Is that what the new show is about? 

Yes. 

After eight years. He’d proposed to me in April. Got the cat, got the mortgage, carried the coffin at my elderly aunt's funeral- the whole shebang. Two weeks after the fringe, you’re mentally and physically exhausted and just want to lie down in a dark room. I was in the house and going through everybody’s messages and I was so tired but there was this red dot on my Facebook DMs that I couldn’t get rid of. But there was a message request dated two weeks prior which would be the day the Fringe ended. It was a “hey gurlie” message from my fiancé's mistress's twenty-year-old daughter telling me everything. 

She was a co-worker of his and married with two kids but it turned out the daughter had confronted them while I was at the Fringe and I don’t know the ins and outs of it but he was still nice enough to be like “don’t tell Hannah and ruin her debut Fringe run” but I think because I hadn’t got a message at the end of the Fringe run he thought he was in the clear. 

I remember being like “well, next year’s show is going to be class”. You’re mental after it, but I remember voice-recording jokes while I was crying, being like, this WILL be funny.

It’s been a crazy eleven months of my life! 

Does he know about this show?

He knows. He hasn’t heard certain bits of it. There’s certain clips I haven’t put online yet.

It’s quite obvious to a lot of people who I’m talking about. It’s my story to tell. 

Are you carving out a niche in emo comedy?

This has happened very accidentally. We went to the Cathouse after My Chemical Romance and people kept asking if I was that comedian.

I am not a fake goth but I don’t know all the b-sides. I like going to the Cathouse and I like the gothy aesthetic and Paramore and Fall Out Boy. I like the top-level things. I know all the words to the Hollywood Undead. A lot of gothy people might turn round and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. 

It happened accidentally because I was thinking about this article I’d read that was about being a feminist while listening to rap music. I was laughing because I was going out with my ex-partner who was a big emo kid and there are a lot of questionable lyrics in pop punk. I wrote a bit about that and I’ve found my people. 

When I put these clips out and people are tagging Enter Shikari in there, I’m going like “oh no they’re going to find out I don’t know that much!”. I shared that clip again yesterday, just with a poster reveal in it and it's caught on as well.  

Pop punk is a huge subculture. Me calling myself a goth in Glasgow is different to someone saying it down south. There’s a whole argument in my comment section about me saying the word goth. Whereas in Glasgow, you just looking a bit alternative; you’re a goff. G-O-F-F. 

Do you think Scottish comedy is well enough represented at the Fringe?

No. But I will say that what Gilded Balloon are doing this year is really cool. So I’m at the Gilded Saloon this year and in my head I didn’t think I’d be able to do the Fringe at all this year. I wanted to be able to work my day job at the Fringe and do some mixed bills and maybe a couple of work-in-progress shows but who is coming to the Fringe to do that? 

Because they have the Gilded Saloon its all one of shows in there and it has made it so much more accessible for Glasgow and Edinburgh acts because you can still be a part of it but its not going to put you six grand in the hole. So everyone needs to go and look at what's on there because it is so cool. 

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