A Laughing Matter: 20 Years of Abnormally Funny People

Abnormally Funny People, created by Simon Minty and Steve Best to showcase disabled comedians, is returning to the Fringe this year with a celebratory show to mark their 20th anniversary. This year's ensemble boasts members from the original 2005 line-up, along with some newer recruits. The Skinny chats to Steve Best along with four of the group: Tanyalee Davis, Juliette Burton, Don Biswas and Steve Day. 

There's no mistaking the affection within the group, which works as a loose collective for one-off workshops and gigs. Steve Day, a deaf comedian who was one of the founding members, "loved the communal feel" of the 2005 Abnormally Funny show. Their performer flat was his "first time sharing with other disabled people." An added benefit: "If you're sharing with dwarves, the food lasts longer when you put it in the overhead cupboards." Don Biswas, a comedian with autism and dyspraxia, reports a similar roasting from the irreverent Day: "He takes the piss out of me for having ‘a fake disability,'" he laughs.

Tanyalee Davis, a short stature Canadian-American comedian, also loved the 2005 experience. Living with Chris McCausland and Day, she recalls: "Blind guy keeps tripping over me, deaf guy can't hear me scream." The show itself, with the ensemble all on stage together, "evolved throughout the weeks," getting better and better as the shared references developed. The improv game – which will return this time – was clearly a highlight for her: "Lost Voice Guy can't speak, Steve Day can't hear, Jess Thom with Tourettes." It was "an absolute shit show and a lot of fun," she says with evident relish.

Juliette Burton, meanwhile, a comedian with a history of mental health conditions, has performed with many groups, but says it's different with Abnormally Funny People. "When we all know what it's like to have that experience of stigma – whatever condition we have, we're all united – there's a whole barrier down." More than anything, it's a chance to "muck about with mates on stage." 

High profile comedians like Chris McCausland and Rosie Jones (and indeed Simon Minty himself as a TV regular) have done wonders for raising awareness and dispelling lingering preconceptions, so there's a general sense amongst the group that mainstream literacy about disability is improving. Best wonders if the increased public awareness of neurodiversity might also have played a part, and Burton, herself diagnosed with neurodivergent conditions, suggests sensitivities towards hidden disabilities has allowed for "the building of bridges" – to other conditions and other experiences of marginality. 

It's not all straightforward, though, and ableist misunderstanding (and even hostility) persists – Biswas describes casual abuse shouted from van windows, and notes how a friend, Benny Shakes, a comedian with cerebral palsy has to wear the Hidden Disabilities sunflower lanyard, "otherwise people have a go because they think he's drunk." For Davis, the issues are the perennial ones of access – the limitations of public transport in particular. And Burton is clear that it's society at large that ensures her conditions become 'disabilities'.  

Comedy, however, is "a beautiful oasis", Burton says, where marginality becomes a strength – and where being at the "sharp end of the wedge of human experience" can fuel insight and stand-up is the ideal place to explore those specificities. Indeed, marginality is actively helpful in comic terms: if comedy relies upon building tension in order to break it with a punchline, then given "a lot of my life experiences cause tension – mental health, sectioned under the mental health act, hallucinations – it's up to me to harness that tension, like riding an untamed horse." Burton is adamant that those at the 'sharp end' can help effect change to benefit everyone: she cites the example of electric car windows – an innovation which came out of disabled users' needs but now helps everyone. And one of the solo shows she's currently working on develops a parallel analogy:  "I'm a marginalised person – a canary in the mine – and I can report that society as it is currently designed doesn't work for us – and more than that, it doesn't work for any of us."

Biswas is similarly passionate about stand-up's capacity to bring about political and social change: "It's all about persuasion," he says, particularly on the club circuit, where he's "often the only brown person there." "While making people laugh is the most important thing, I also hope to change minds and inform people about race and disability." He describes honesty and authenticity as central to his stand-up.

Burton and Biswas are looking for structural as well as individual change – but for Davis the greatest issue is an all-pervasive "victim mentality", and it's her project – her vocation, even – to change that. "We need positive role models more than ever," she says, and as someone "living my best life" – traveling the world, horse riding, parasailing – "I can help people who aren't disabled but who are mired in a 'I can't' mindset. I feel like it is my purpose to prove that it's mind over matter." With 3.2 million followers on Tik Tok, it's a message that's getting a lot of traction. Not everyone's buying it, though, and she's had some pushback from disabled people accusing her of 'toxic positivity'. She hoots – astonished that "this is actually a thing." Characteristically unfazed, she's pocketed the phrase as the title of her next show.   

Davis is interested to see audiences' responses this year – like Best, she's aware of a degree of "hyper-sensitivity." Best suggests "current audiences are sometimes not willing to extend much tolerance – they hear one trigger word..." and then pass judgement. Davis may be worried that "people are going to be overly demonstrative of their allyship," but she also hopes that audiences "are finally starting to lighten up a bit." In fact, she says "Scottish people are the best audiences in the world," precisely because they "don't get so hung up on disability issues" – part of her reasoning for touring in Scotland after the Fringe.

Davis can't wait for the Fringe – alongside the pleasures of performing, it’s also "so exhilarating, meeting performers from all over the world – and getting to see group and double acts, and character acts" which aren't common on the US comedy scene. For Biswas it's quite simple: "I wouldn't be able to go to Edinburgh without Abnormally Funny People," and as a nine-time veteran of the Fringe, Day reiterates this: "It's too expensive now to be in Edinburgh on my own, I don't think I'll do another solo show unless it changes." There's a chance this Abnormally Funny show might be a last hurrah – if so, says Day, 'it'll be a fantastic way to go out'.

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Abnormally Funny People, Pleasance Courtyard (Beside), 30 Jul - 25 Aug (not 14), 4.50pm, £10-15 / @abnormallyfunnypeople on Instagram

Juliette Burton: Best of Burton, Gilded Balloon @ Appleton Tower (Ruby), 30 Jul-8 Aug, 7pm, £9-12.50; Juliette Burton: Rogue Knights (WIP), Laughing Horse @ West Nic Records (Main Cellar), 5 & 12 Aug, 8.15pm, free/PWYW; Juliette Burton: Going Rogue, Laughing Horse @ Counting House (The Lounge), 18-24 Aug, 1.15pm, free/PWYW

Tanyalee Davis tours various venues across Scotland, 25 Aug-2 Sep, for full details visit tanyaleedavis.com

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And if you’re keen to support some other disabled-led comedy shows this Fringe, here’s a handful we’d recommend...

Alice-India puts the spectrum of good and evil into context, in their ultra-confessional debut hour including getting arrested 10 days before a diagnosis of two hidden disabilities. Alice-India: See You In Hell, Underbelly Bristo Square (Daisy), 30 Jul - 25 Aug (not 11), 7.15pm, £8-12

Skinny fave Stuart Laws has something a little different in store for us this year – a comedy-theatre whodunnit set on an island full of puffins AND an hour of excellent quality, joke-rich stand-up following on from his most recent shows exploring his late autism diagnosis. Stuart Laws Is Stuck, Monkey Barrel Comedy @ The Tron, 28 Jul - 24 Aug (Sun-Thurs, not 13), 3pm, £7-10; Stuart Laws Does Stand-Up Comedy for an Hour, Monkey Barrel Comedy @ The Tron, 1-23 Aug (Fri-Sat only), 3pm, £12

Visually impaired comic Jake Donaldson is a mainstay of the North East England comedy circuit and was a finalist in the BBC New Comedy Award 2024. His latest show is rammed with early 2000s nostalgia. Jake Donaldson is the Fifth Weezer, Laughing Horse @ City Cafe (Nineties), 31 Jul-24 Aug (not 14), 11.55am, free/PWYW

And finally, Ria Lina brings her first full run to the Fringe in nine years, with Riabellion seeing the comedian look at rules and rebellion through her unique autistic lens, whilst using her access requests to help others. Ria Lina: Riabellion, Monkey Barrel Comedy @ Cabaret Voltaire (Cab Vol 1), 28 Jul-24 Aug (not 14, 21), 2.25pm, £6-12