How would you describe your show to someone discovering it for the first time at the Fringe? My show is like a “Mom-com.” Lots of comedy and laughs about and with my mom and also some heavier moments here and there. So there’s comedy and drama! Can’t go wrong with the mix of both. What moment, idea or frustration first sparked this show into existence? The moment I knew I would write this show was when I told my mom I thought I cared too much what I looked like and said, “I dunno, mom. I feel like I’m shallow” and she fires back with, “Oh Joanne, you come from a long line of shallow people!” Which wound up being the title of my show!! How has the show evolved from its earliest idea to what audiences will see now? Lots of changes since first performing this in 2024. More jokes, more humor overall, but also the addition of more of the heavy, dramatic episodes in my childhood that helped shape who I am. The play has more emotional layers to it now and I like it. I don’t just want to make people laugh, I hope that the story of my complicated and troubled relationship will move people as well. What makes Edinburgh Fringe the right place for this show right now? Edinburgh Fringe is the PERFECT place for this show!! Everyone in the world has a mom, everyone has their own story about their mom. I want as many people from all over the world to see this and be inspired to take a leap of courage and show their moms a kind of love that I was too afraid to do. What does bringing this particular show to the Fringe represent for you personally? A huge step for me! Me saying a big fat YES to my deepest desires, which, as a recovering Irish Catholic, have always been a no-no. But no more!! I’m going to Fringe alone, I’m doing a 55 minute show alone. I am not young but this show is teaching me just how strong I am, both physically and mentally. There’s a lot of faith involved in walking through this door and letting myself have success (which is just doing it!) and keeping that faith in myself through all the different ups and downs that are bound to happen. It’s been a long time since I’ve practiced a kind of all-out joy around performing and I am so ready!! What has been the most unexpectedly challenging part of getting this show to Edinburgh? I am not technically adept at all and so for me, getting all the details set for my venue, my lodgings, my posters, my flyers. Trying to keep up with questionnaires like this, lol. And not panic around the details. Trusting that I have a good helping hand with my daughter (who had been to Fringe) and that everything will work out. So hard for me!! All of this has been challenging for me, especially when I was working full-time up until June! If audiences leave the venue holding onto one thing, what do you hope it is? That no matter how fractious a relationship one may have with their mother, the work of forgiving yourself and your mom and coming to appreciate what you actually had, is incredibly wonderful and worth it! How do you think performing this show during a Fringe run will shape it? I imagine that I will change parts of my piece as I go. I will discover what doesn’t work as well as I’d like and lose it. I’d be so happy to get feedback from my audiences and see what resonated, what they wanted more of, what was missing. I think the show can become both funnier and more dramatically moving with my Fringe run. Who do you hope this show finds at the Fringe? I hope this show finds people with a fabulous sense of humor who love to laugh out loud! I hope this show finds people who can identify with the struggle of having a mother who is distant and difficult but who loves you in her own way. My show is a big party. I want people to see my show and feel happier at the end! Finally, if this show came with a warning label, what would it say? Sharp left turns. Bouts of turbulence. Keep your seatbelts on. You Come From a Long Line of Shallow People runs at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 6th-30th August 2026 (except 18th).
Next in our Edinburgh Fringe interview series, we speak to Joanne Green. Joanne describes her show You Come From a Long Line of Shallow People as ”a one-person stand-up comedy show about my mother who died recently. She was hilarious, beautiful, brilliant and brutal. I loved my mom but we never got along. We never really liked each other. I wrote this show to find the the places where my mom had loved me but I refused to notice. I wrote this show to celebrate my mom’s fabulous sense of style, her humour and intelligence and, despite her own demons, her deep desire to have her kids be substantial and happy people.”
