Fringe Anxiety and Joy with Kemah Bob

Already a notable voice on the UK comedy scene, it feels like Kemah Bob should have brought her debut hour, Miss Fortunate, to the Fringe ages ago. She sees her festival absence (until now) as an act of “self-preservation... It is a stressful time and I don't like stress. I'm allergic to it.”

Bob first came to the Fringe in 2018. After her friend landed a dream job, their two-hander quickly became a reworked compilation show starring pals on the circuit, including Alison Spittle who was at the first gig. “There was an audience of three or four people. And I hated it. I almost pulled out. And Alison was like 'No. We can do this.'” A tiny audience can be even more nerve-wracking than a huge crowd. “When you're performing to thousands of people, it's just like 'Cool. If I get 70% of the room, that's a huge win.' But when it's four people, that's three of the four people!”

But it’s not just small audiences which gives them the fear. “I've had the Fringe described to me like war. People just in the trenches.” Bob cites the soaring highs and crushing lows friends have experienced, being surrounded by industry people who are always ‘on’ and finding space to recharge alone as her biggest stressors.

There’s also the party vibe which takes over the city. “I'm concerned about the fact that bars are open until like 4am. I have a real hard time going home,” she emphasises.

Bob is excited about the festival though, she promises. “I’m looking forward to sharing what I've created and what I'm still creating,” as well as “having the opportunity to establish my voice in a way you can't do in five, ten, 20, 30 minutes.”

Bob is keen to keep their show fluid, leaving room for change and honing throughout the month. “If the show was cemented at this point, I might get bored.” Fun, too. “I feel like it's so cliché, but fun is contagious and joy is contagious. And I'm trying to create something that I care about and that I emphatically look forward to sharing and performing so that I can do it for however many days in a row.”

There’s also the tricky line between silly and meaningful which most Fringe comics contend with. Once she finds the bridge between them, she’s worried she’ll say something which will “suck some of the joy and silly out” and disrupt the balance she’s skillfully built.

Loath to give too much away, Miss Fortunate revolves around something life-changing happening on a trip to Thailand. “You don't really know, until you experience first hand, how crazy and dangerous and insidious the world can be. I have so many friends who’ve had really joyful experiences like petting elephants and doing yoga and shit in Thailand, and I thought I was gonna have that and I did not.”

Bob’s also known for regular night FOC It Up, which celebrates comedians of colour who aren’t cis-men. Although it won’t be coming to Fringe this year, so Bob can focus on their own show, curating lineups has become much easier since the gig started. “It feels like the general comedy landscape is changing,” opening more doors to artists of colour and comedians from marginalised genders.

Yet for marginalised artists to thrive at the Fringe, they need more specialised financial support to make and present work at the festival, and to encourage diverse audiences to attend. In turn, the artists will feel more supported by “performing to people that remind you of yourself or that are a reflection of you.”

These artists work harder to connect with their crowds, Bob says, which can be isolating and offputting for newer acts. Then you get diverse audiences not wanting to attend the festival because of the prohibitive costs, and not seeing themselves represented in the programme. “It's a tough cycle,” she sighs.

As for surviving the Fringe, Bob’s been advised to “get out of the bubble, go explore the beauty of the city,” emphasising that Edinburgh exists all year round. “There are [other] things to engage in. Go to the cinema. Go see some shows that aren't comedy (but also go see some comedy)”, excited at the prospect of being inspired by other artists’ work. “What I don't want to do is wait for the buzz to tell me what to see,” Bob says.

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Kemah Bob: Miss Fortunate, Pleasance Courtyard (Baby Grand), 31 Jul-25 Aug (not 7,14,21), 7:05pm, £9-£14
@kemahbob on Instagram