EDINBURGH 2016: BWW Q&A - Abandonman

BWW speaks to Abandonman about their 2016 Edinburgh Fringe show Life and Rhymes.

Tell us a bit about "Life + Rhymes".

It's a wild hip hop comedy show in the form of a fictional music biopic. It kicks off with us as school kids in 1992, starting out on our rap career. The audience collectively become all the people we met along the way - they decide where songs go and how our career progresses. It's been really fun developing it - our shows are often made up of individual songs; with this one we've been working to keep that element and also a wild storyline.

What have you been up to since your last performance at the festival?

We've been travelling a lot with our previous show, "Hot Desk". Apart from Abandoman, we've been working on Bass Drop Ceilidh, a big dance show - basically ceilidh meets Major Lazer. We performed it for the first time in Edinburgh for Hogmanay with some Scottish ceilidh musicians. It's been a definite high point of the last year.

Do you think you know what to expect from the Fringe?

Yes. Week 1 - excitement and anxiety. Weeks 2 + 3 - excitement, tiredness, over-eating. Week 4 - Google searching the reviews I've promised myself not to read this year. Week 5 - while weaker comedians go home, I'll stay and continue to do the show nightly. Week 6 - get into a vicious war of words with the council, as they insist that I'm no longer allowed to stay in George Square Gardens, performing an abridged version of the show at 8.45 each evening. Week 7 - insist the Gardens are my home - plant vegetable patch. Week 8 - order 3 person tent from Argos. Create my own mini-venue. Continue playing until the Christmas season. Retire. Forever. Like Jay Z did in 2004.

What sets "Life + Rhymes" apart from the thousands of other shows at the Fringe?

Costumes. We have, for some reason, gone crazy on costumes this year. There's 12 of the feckers in the show, including a leather jump suit with our faces plastered across the back of them (also in leather). Apart from that, it's just another improvised hip hop comedy narrative in a city that already has far too many.

What's next for "Life + Rhymes" after Edinburgh?

We're taking it on tour to the States and Australia. After that, it goes in a little box and we get started on 2017's show.

Timings and ticket information for Abandonman: Life and Rhymes are available on the edfringe website.

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