EDINBURGH 2026: RORY MARSHALL Q&A

BWW catches up with Rory Marshall to chat about bringing Thank You For The Opportunity to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about ‘Thank You For The Opportunity’

Well, the clue's in the name! Its 1 hour of me saying the words 'Thank' and 'You' to the audience over and over again. It’s going to be one of those cult hits where everyone says 'you know there’s a show where this guy just says 'thank you' to the audience for an entire hour! It’s so good!' It’s not really that. It’s an hour of character sketches inspired by the 30-something jobs I’ve had in my sad and lonely life. Some are inspired by people I’ve worked with; some are based on my own behaviour while working these jobs and some are just little ideas about those jobs that got massively out of hand and ended up on a stage at Edinburgh Fringe.

Having sold out your debut run, do you think you know what to expect from the Fringe?

I really believed that doing the fringe for the second year in a row would relieve me of some of the anxiety and nerves about the whole thing. I was wrong. This time it feels even more unpredictable. A bigger room, a different show - I’m feeling the pressure to be honest. And no, I do not thrive under pressure, I crumble under pressure. And not much pressure for that matter. I'm an extremely weak comedian, both mentally and physically. Last year I had nothing to base my expectations on and was so happy with the success of it. As much as I'm not here to 'beat' last year's, in the back of my mind I think I'm expecting a certain standard. I can’t know what's going to happen with the show, but I can guarantee myself at least 1 beer after every performance:)

 

How has having all of these ‘normal’ jobs influenced your career as a comedian and writer?

The reason this show came about was because when i began preparing this show and was thinking of any old ideas, I realised that all the sketches i were writing were about the workplace. It was then i realised how much my vast CV had influenced my comedy. The stuff i write is usually based on people with character traits that i find odd and the workplace is the perfect place to harvest these ideas because your plonked in a world where you spend time with a range of different people every day. You could be working in a pub and chatting with hundreds of people every day or you could spend every day from 5am to 2pm cleaning windows in Brighton with a man who believes UFOs are going to kill us all (true story). I feel so lucky to have done all these jobs because I’ve met so many amazing people. Some good-amazing and some bad-amazing but still amazing. 

 

Who will relate to it?

Anyone who's ever had a job or anyone that’s ever been anywhere where there are people there who are doing a job. And if you don’t fall into either of those categories you should still come to the show so me and the rest of the audience can ask you what the hell you've been doing for your entire life. The sketches in this show are all inspired by real people and I hope the audience recognise them and relate to them.

 

What would you like audiences to take away from it?

I want them to think it’s the best thing they've ever seen. Not just the best comedy show, but like better than any films or gigs or anything. So, if they were planning on going to see The Odyssey the following day id like them to feel like they should sell their tickets to that because they know nothing will beat my show. (I also want them to walk out of the show with an overwhelming sense of positivity and love for human beings and people of all different kinds and be grateful for human interaction and I want them to celebrate our differences and acknowledge that people all act in different ways in different situations and that’s awesome and we have to muddle through together in this crazy old world.)

Rory Marshall: Thank You For The Opportunity runs at Edfringe 5-30 August

Photo credit: Rebecca Need-Menear

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