Interview: ' 'I'm Embarrassed I Didn't Come Here Sooner' Moses Storm of MOSES STORM: PERFECT CULT on His Edinburgh Fringe Debut

At the beginning of the Fringe, I had the opportunity to see Moses Storm: Perfect Cult, Storm’s Edinburgh debut “about being raised in an unsuccessful doomsday cult.” The show is a mix of stand-up and interactive theatre as the audience is invited to create their own “perfect cult.”

Recently, I had the chance to talk with Storm about what it’s been like bringing Perfect Cult to the Fringe Festival. We discussed the development of the show, some of his favourite moments and even a sweater made of ropes attached to audience members!

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What made you want to be a part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival? 

One, I should say I'm so embarrassed I didn’t come out here sooner! I have friends that do really well here - Daniel Sloss, Alex Edelman, and Natalie Palamides saying, “Hey, you should go out there, you'd be perfect for it!” Because they've seen me around LA or open for Daniel Sloss and Alex for a while. Part of it’s just been me getting in my own way like, “Oh, I'm not good enough to do it.” And I wanted to wait until I had an idea that I was really excited about and felt like it was a show I cared about, not just making a show just to be at the Fringe. So I was finally there with this show, and I can't explain how much fun it is and how great it is. But that's the part where I retroactively feel stupid for not doing this sooner - This would have made my life so much easier! Unlike New York, where I live, the audience, when you go into the room, they give you the benefit of the doubt. They’re just so receptive!

At the end of the day, it's very fun to dress all this stuff up. This is a healing thing for me. This is a journey and this allows me to get out pain. But at the end of the day, I really like doing standup. It's a really fun thing to do. It feels good. I like making people happy. I like the problems of this, I like things not going well. It's a dream job! So now it's just about, “How do you make it possible for yourself?” If you're in your head, if you're your biggest critic, you have this big weight of this cult thing that you don't know how to really talk about, how do you make it possible for yourself? What can you do? There’s a thousand million, hundred billion reasons to not do anything. Don’t ever put yourself out there. Don’t ever say, “Here's what I think is good.” So as far as the interactive part, it was just about making it possible for myself, knowing that the Fringe would be a place that would be accepting. So it's been a goal, but I don't feel like I was good enough to do it until this year.

What has the development process for Perfect Cult been like?

The development process is the most amount of failure you could imagine. Imagine the most amount of trial and error and big swings because of all the interactive elements. If it's just a joke, you could pivot to the next joke, it takes maybe two minutes out of your set. The swings you have to take in this show, the big set pieces you have to set up, if it doesn't work . . . There was a part where I was attached to everyone in the audience that I eventually ended up cutting, just a logistics nightmare and it felt too gimmicky, not actually connected to the show. I was attached to a sweater and a bodysuit made of ropes that everyone in the audience had, and they could control everything. The intention is just to make it possible for yourself, but then, in practice, there's just been a lot of failure.

And then learning how to do something I've never had to do before, which is not losing control of the room. You keep open to improv, but you have to project a lot of confidence and a lot of energy to say that you are in charge. But then still being kind to people, because I know what it feels like to be in the crowd and get talked to. I'm like, “Oh don't do this!” Can you just do the show? I've gone to a lot of interactive shows where it feels irresponsible. It's too much on us. It's like, “You do the work. I paid for a ticket!” I would come to this if it was fun and I didn't feel like I had to get bullied into participating. The most introvert audience member ever!

How do you balance telling your personal story while still making it a comedic show?

So the goal is to always be funny. If I didn't have to talk about this cult stuff, I wouldn’t. I like to shit on people as a defense mechanism, like, "Dating and Tinder be weird!" But it's completely a defense mechanism because I can't do that. My perspective is just not from there. There's no touchpoints. I can't complain about anyone on a date. We ate from the garbage growing up, so I can't ever complain about a restaurant. I can never give a bad Yelp review! I was not around anyone my age who were in a cult. I just can't do it, but I really want to do it.

The whole goal is to always be funny and not do one of those trauma-dumping comedy specials that I think Hannah Gadsby did really well, and then a bunch of men got angry and said “No, this is how you should do it. That's not comedy!” And then they did their own version of a watered-down Nanette. And it's become this begging for awards, dishonest, performing vulnerability. Horrible trend in comedy. I get it, I get why you would do it. It's a business. What it means to be an artist is say something true that you care about, but also make it make money. Anyone can go scream at a basket of pubic hair in the woods and call it performance art. The art is turning that into something that is enjoyable for people and makes giant evil corporations money. That's what being an artist.

Have you had any favourite moments from the run so far? 

Definitely! What people come in to with the show, whatever their energy is, is so much better than anything I could write. You don't want to admit that as a performer. 

There's so much ego. Everyone should hear me talk - That should be my job. But I brought someone up that completely organically very kind, handsome 22-year-old man who also drew his own porn. So I brought this guy up and he was just so honest, and he was getting the biggest laughs out of the show. What doesn't work is if you can try to be funny. People are like, “Oh, the comedian’s in charge. Is he okay with that? They didn't come to see you.” And I think that's what hecklers don't understand. But this guy was just so charming, so kind, and he had also grown up extremely Christian, but he also drew his own porn because he had no internet. So then I brought him up on stage and I was flipping through and we were just dissecting . . . It was so great. That was such a fun moment during the show. Also, the looks that we get outside is pretty great, when we go out yelling in the streets. 

People are so polite here! This shit would not fly anywhere else. I can't do this show amongst the stand-up world. I can't do this at a comedy club. A comedy club is set up to sell chicken wings and beer. So when I walked people out, people would just not pay their bills at the end! I did try to do this at comedy clubs because I'm an idiot. Knocking over drinks with my rope sweater . . . Yeah. It's [Fringe] just one of those things where the best part is how it makes you feel less alone. It’s great.

What do you hope audiences take away from Perfect Cult? 

Oh, I just hope they have fun. Of course, when I do something just because of my situation, to make it possible to be honest, I have to talk about deep things. But that's now a responsibility. If you say something that is heavy to talk about, it is now your responsibility to dig the audience out of that. You are definitely allowed to express anything you want but know that there's a certain social contract. I hope they take away some sense of fun from it. If they think it's funny and it's entertaining. Make it a show that I would go to!

And how would you describe Perfect Cult in one word?

Fun. I would say it's fun. I'm having a lot of fun, and I think they [the audience] can tell that. It’s fun!

Find out more about Moses Storm here.

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