Interview: 'The Fringe Forces Me to Only Care About Standup.' Horatio Gould on Performing SWEET PRINCE at the Fringe

Recently, BroadwayWorld had the chance to sit down and chat with Horatio Gould about his show, Sweet Prince. We discussed how he got into the world of comedy, what it has been like developing the show over the past few years, and advice he has for anyone looking to bring their show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

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How did you first get started in the world of comedy?

I always was making short films growing up, but I started doing stand-up when I was 18 years old at uni - I joined my uni’s comedy society. I’ve always loved making lots of different comedy things. And then I saw a Stewart Lee show about immigration, and immediately I realised that standup can be something different. So I was absolutely terrible for about three years. It was great because it was three years where I could bomb in peace. Not anyone seeing me who mattered. So it was the perfect place to start, at university.

And what made you want to bring Sweet Prince to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?

So this is my sixth Fringe - I've done the Fringe every year I’ve been a comedian. Literally, my seventh gig was at Edinburgh because I went out with the uni showcase. I did a work-in-progress last year. This has just been a show that's been building up over the years. I want to make a YouTube special, and I really care about getting some of these routines online so they exist. And doing Edinburgh has meant that it's sharpened - It's the only place where you can do a show that endlessly. So that's been the main reason.

What has it been like doing social media versus performing live? How do you work with that contrast?

It's interesting because now, a lot of comedians, their main source of traffic is online. So during the Fringe, you weirdly take a month off that. Your socials will go down, your views go down. Edinburgh Fringe was the “end all be all” and now it can get in the way of social media. But because I do a lot of social media stuff, I often neglect standup throughout the year. So I find Fringe is an amazing place to force me to only care about standup. I love it because you can't really teach standup - you have to just put the hours in. So being forced to do that is really helpful. You can tell if someone doesn't have the hours. It's just like a gym, where essentially you have to work out.

How did you develop Sweet Prince?

It’s always routine first with me. I care a lot about the jokes, and the premise, and the idea. And so this is not like an Edinburgh show where I had a big idea and thought I really need to explain this idea over a show and then write jokes about that. These are all my favourite bits from the last two or three years. I laid them all out and I thought, “What links them all together?” And then it became a show about modern masculinity, trying to work out what to keep from old masculinity and what not to keep. That seems to be the theme that ran through my bits, but I certainly wasn't driven by that as an idea. That was from what I've written over the last three years. It seemed like that was the most compelling theme throughout all of it.

How do you toe the line between joking and being serious on topics like toxic masculinity?

I'm not very interested in being serious. I threw in some serious stuff because you're in Edinburgh, but where I am at the moment standup, I really only care about the funny and the joke, and the idea that makes me laugh. Maybe there are some thoughts that come out of that, but it’s certainly led by the funny. It's always funny first, and I think any seriousness I have in my show, maybe for a brief glimmer, is just more of a neat rounding up of the ideas that have been discussed more than something that I really care about. It's much more about the jokes.

You made a comment there about being serious because it's the Fringe; what do you mean by that?

Fringe is quite an interesting place because its history is so much in theatre and variety acts. If you're watching six or seven shows a day, it is quite hard just to take a classic hour of stand-up. Often, you need more. I love Edinburgh and I love Edinburgh Fringe. I hope that that comes across! I do, actually. I've been very cynical about it, but it's my favourite place. Sometimes the shows need more depth when you're at the Fringe, because it's just a much more artistic creative headspace. But then the kind of show that I'm ideally trying to make is more about the tightest selection of jokes possible. I might even take out any seriousness that was in the show when I film it. I haven't decided yet. I think people can leave feeling a bit empty if you didn't give them at least something to chew on.

Has Sweet Prince changed much since the start of the Fringe?

Hugely...I mean, the jokes are all the same, but what I struggled with in July was forcing a show out of these jokes. I've had these jokes for a while. And so previewing in July, it was all over the place, a lot of them [jokes] didn't segue into each other. It took at least three or four shows for it to actually seem like a through line and all segue together. So it's changed a lot. It certainly wasn't ready at the beginning, but it is now.

And what does it feel like now having done the same show for almost a month?

It's been nice. I get anxious about losing material, like not having it filmed well. Bits can rot if you do them too long. They lose freshness. The idea of having a bit that’s really funny to me and then it is lost forever to time scares me. So I'm very much looking forward to filming this and then never doing these jokes again because some of these jokes are three years old! I've been carrying them around like heavy bags. Everywhere I go, I’m carrying these jokes. I'm very excited to become this naked vulnerable thing again, without any of these jokes anymore. I'm excited by the idea of doing them [the jokes] justice.

Have there been any shows you've seen that have stood out this past month?

Julia Masli was amazing. I know everyone says that, but I do think she was amazing! Both of my friends that I've come up with just got nominated for Newcomer, very deserving. They’re amazing. Paddy Young and Dan Tiernan. It's been interesting having your peer group for the “debut generation.” When I was starting out at Fringe, a lot of the shows that I liked would be these comedians I respect a lot and look up to. But now they're my peers doing my favourite shows, which is quite exciting.

Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to bring a show out to the Fringe?

Know what you want out of it, and know that there's many different things you can want out of it. I don't think what I wanted out of it is the traditional Fringe route. With social media, I don't need the Fringe as much as maybe some acts whose year is built around the Fringe. So I think if you're coming up, there's many different things you can get out there. Be realistic with your expectations and really just know going in, “What do I want out of this?” and working hard to get what you want. I got one very specific thing out of it, which was developing a great hour for online. But then I didn't pay for PR, I didn't have many reviewers in, I didn’t do the awards thing because I genuinely didn't want to get my hopes up when it wasn't a show designed for that. So just know what you want and work hard to get that.

Finally, how would you describe Sweet Prince in one word?

One word . . . That's a crazy thing to say! I would say silly because you can read it two ways. If you read it silly, then it's a lot more what it’s meant to be. But it's easy to read it the other way as being edgy or dark. I don't see this stuff as actually edgy because I find all the premises so ridiculous. Even though they're touchy subjects, it's such an absurd look at them that I don't feel that anything I say is actually offensive. 

Find out more about Horatio here.