EDINBURGH 2023: Christopher Macarthur-Boyd Q&A

BWW catches up with Christopher Macarthur-Boyd about bringing his new show Scary Times to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Scary Times.

Scary Times is the new show that I'm taking to the Edinburgh Fringe. My last show Oh No was all about losing my mind during the pandemic, culminating in suicidal ideation and realising that it's important to derive your self-worth from things other than your job. The Scotsman described it as "breezy". I really liked talking about quite heavy themes, so I'm trying to develop that aspect of my writing.

We're living in quite scary times, what with the collapse of the N.H.S., and the death of the high street, and the collapse of the pound, and the heartbreaking political climate where the Labour party's line on immigration is pretty much identical to what the BNP's was. I think it's worthwhile to try and find humour in that. I've also wrote quite a good joke about pickled onion Monster Munch, so, something for everybody. 

What are the advantages to performing in Monkey Barrel again?

This will be my third year in a row performing a show at Monkey Barrel, and I absolutely love it. They've got me in a new venue for them (The Tron) that they've taken over from Just The Tonic, and I'm really excited to do my show there because some of my favourite comedians have done runs there like Eddie Pepitone, and I've heard that it's a brilliant space. Very few other venues promote local acts as much as Monkey Barrel does, and they get the best of the best because their deal treats you like a human being. There's places at the fringe where you can sell every seat at full-price for the entire month, and then put on extra shows and sell those out as well, and the comedian is walking away several thousand pounds in debt. It's great to work with a company that isn't ethically bankrupt. 

Tell us a bit about your podcast, Enjoy An Album.

Yeah, me and a great comedian that you should go and see called Liam Withnail do a podcast at Monkey Barrel Comedy's new in-house recording studio called Enjoy An Album. We started off listening to every album of Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list as a lockdown project, but then Liam had a near-death experience and we realised that life is too short to listen to some of the pish that was on there. Now we let our guests and our audience and our whims decide what records we should listen to, and it's been brilliant. We've had a run of really great guests recently, and I think me and Liam both love making it. We're going through a phase just now of talking about 9/11 in every episode of the podcast, but I think that'll pass.

Where else might we know you from?

I don't know! I've been opening up for Frankie Boyle and Susie McCabe on their national tours as a support act, and I used to have a programme on BBC Scotland called Up For It. That seems to be what most people recognise me from, just now. I was on the Some Laugh podcast, and they put a clip up of me on Tik Tok, and somebody commented, "I think this wee guy is my neighbour, he's always chainsmoking outside my flat at like three in the morning."

Who else are you looking forward to seeing at the festival?

Too many to count. This will be my eighth or ninth run at the Fringe and its incredibly dope to see all the friends I've made over the years at the Fringe again. It's such a lovely month, for all the things that are wrong with the entire endeavour. I've been commuting through from Glasgow the last few years, which cuts down on the amount of time I can spend seeing shows, but I've found a wee flat to share with Marc Jennings and Stuart McPherson, so at the very least I'll have to see their shows because it will be awkward in the kitchenette area if I don't. 

Tickets are available at :

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