For the next two Fridays – the 11th & the 18th – The Mumble will be bring 5 acts from the Edinburgh Fringe to perform for the good folk of East Lothian. There will be a licensed bar & under-18s are allowed in if accompanied by an adult.
People may come & go as they please through the night & it is free to get in, but as in the spirit of the Free Fringe in Edinburgh, bucket will be set up near the door to receive donations towards paying the costs of the evening. Doors will open at 19.30, & close at 23.30. Inbetween, the running order is as follows, with the acts performing for about 25 minutes each;
19:45 : BEN DALI
A talented hypnotist & mind-reader from London. He is currently performing his ‘Strictly Come Trancing” show at the Fringe.
Dave Bibby, who loves to precede his name with ‘TVs’ is performing at the Underbelly this August, but will be nipping into East Lothian for a couple of hours….
Hello Martha, so where ya from & where ya at, geographically speaking?
Locale – wise- originally from Glasgow – now I’ m a Londoner
When did you first realise you were, well, funny?
I was always a good mimic and used to make people laugh with my impersonations of people around; teachers, colleagues and so on. I decided to try stand-up later in life, with no idea what I was doing, or how to make a career from it. Over the last 20 years I have dipped my toe in then, had lengthy hiatuses.
The Glaswegian comic is traditionally a no-holds-barred, in-yer-face truth-seeking kinda creature. Can you tell us why that is?
Glaswegians are not really ‘in yer face. We just don’t have the same politeness gene that English people have. It’s often said that people from the North of Scotland are softer, gentler. That’s because they never see anybody. I do tell true stories which is pure Glaswegian.
What are the secrets of a good joke?
It has to be funny. Other than that, I have absolutely no idea.
What does Martha McBrier like to do when she’s not being funny?
Nothing. I live to be funny.
Your partner is also a comedian – Matt Price – how funny is your household?
We have a very silly humour-play when we are in the house together. Silly faces, dances, voices. It’s embarrassing, really. We run things by one another all the time. That’s good fun. I am definitely Matt’s muse.
You are bringing us your show ‘Balmory Doubtfire,’ to the Fringe. Can you tell us about it?
Last year, I nearly died, was the victim of false allegations, tried to stop terrorism, found the man who attacked me years previously, lying in the street, and learned to play the didgeridoo. It’s a show about kindness
Can you sum up the Fringe experience in a single sentence?
I find trying to sum things up in a single sentence very stressful. So, no, I can’t
You’ve been performing at the Fringe for over a decade now, how has the festival evolved in that time?
It’s so big! I love that Free shows and Pay-what-you-like shows have developed in number and credibility. I was the first person to get a 5 star Scotsman review for a free show and I am very proud of that. (ooh get her)
What does the rest of 2017 hold in store for Martha McBrier?
I will be working on a didgeridoo CD, which will include covers of ABBA, Queen, Liberty X and Stormzy.
Hello Samantha, so where ya from & where ya at, geographically speaking?
I am from and reside in the Black Country. It’s a real place, but it’s like purgatory. A lot of people get stuck there. My town Walsall is actually the 4th most deprived area in England according to our local paper.It’s called the Black Country as there used to be a lot of factories there, the smoke from the factories would turn the sky black. The factories have mostly gone now but there’s still plenty of smoke, from spliffs and cracks pipes. There’s no place like home!
Who are your comedy idols?
I really love Russell Brand, Bill Hicks, Alfie Brown, Sarah Pascoe & Fern Brady. They all seem to be saying something interesting. I came to Edinburgh 4 years ago as an Actress and I saw Alfie, Rosie Wilby and Mark Thomas. They inspired me to try comedy. I see it as a platform for the truth. George Orwell said “Every joke is a tiny revolution.” I’m all about social change and am drawn to comics who have compassion for people. It was a shock to learn there are so many narcissists in this industry. I guess we all have to be a little bit vain to get up on stage and tell strangers about ourselves. I tend to avoid comics that talk ONLY about themselves though. They are energy vampires!
You’ve been washed up on a desert island with a solar-powered DVD player & three films. Which would they be?
Almost Famous, it’s my favourite ever film, I never get bored of it. It is so truthful and I love the characters. It’s about being a fan. Anyone that’s ever loved a band or has a hero could relate. I would need to laugh so Russell Brand’s Messiah Complex, that is one of the few stand up shows I can watch again and again. It’s interesting as well as funny and I notice different details every time I watch it. Finally a classic epic Gone with the Wind. The strength of Scarlett O’hara would keep me from topping myself whilst stranded. Tomorrow is another day!
You have been described as an ‘anarcha-feminist,’which seems an unusual field from which to draw comedy. Is it a rich field to harvest?
I think confrontation can create comedy, or just enemies. Confrontation with bare breasts is very funny, but also very serious. We are serious comedians. I was actually a comedian before I became an anarcha-feminist, before I was just ‘a feminist’ but I had to separate myself from the ones who hate men and sex positive women. Anarchy is about challenging hierarchy, feminism is about challenging patriarchy. So it makes sense that feminism shouldn’t turn into a matriarchy. We need equal ground!
What is it about performing live you love the most?
The warm fuzzy feeling you get from intimately connecting with an audience. You can’t get that soul connection through a plasma screen. Last night I got both kisses and cuddles from my audience on their way out. That is way better than a thumbs up on youtube.
In the past you have featured in national papers and magazines as a glamour model. It seems quite a leap from there to an socially-agitating, feminist comedienne. Can you describe the journey?
I come from a town where the best I could hope for with only GCSE qualifications was a career in our local ASDA. I lasted 6 months working on the tills in asda then moved to London. I did what I could to try and make a living in the entertainment industry, as drama school was too expensive. So glamour modelling was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down, I didn’t do too much and wasn’t allowed to bare my nipples as I was also a member of Pineapple Cheerleaders. We would perform for kids so nipples (which used to feed the little brats) were unacceptable but my coach was cool that my arse cheeks were on the front page of Nuts magazine. Maybe this oppression is what fuels my drive to free all nipples. I would do bits of acting work as well as modelling and cheerleading and I decided I wanted to be a comic after visiting the fringe with a play in 2013.
What does Samantha Pressdee like to do when she’s not being funny?
She likes to have bubble baths, go to yoga & kick boxing. I love my anarchist friends and go visit their squats whenever I am in London. In the show I talk a lot about the Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians, otherwise known as ANAL. Earlier this year they were in the press a lot occupying mansions in Belgravia, to give the homeless shelter. There are something like 1.5 million empty buildings in the UK, more than enough to house all the homeless. This injustice needs to be highlighted, so thank god for ANAL. Our next big fight is against the extradition of alleged hacker Lauri Love. He is appealing in the high courts this November on the grounds that because of his Aspergers and severe depression he would be unable to cope in the US prison system and would commit suicide.
You are bringing your show Back to Basics to the Fringe this August, can you tell us about it?
Yes, it’s about waking up to how austerity has affected our front line emergency service workers and therefore the communities that rely on those services. Particularly people with disabilities or mental health issues. After losing my Dad a few years ago the life I was trying to build in London came crashing down. I saw how short staffed the hospitals were, and lost my home in London as I couldn’t afford to pay my private landlord after all the work I’d missed caring for Dad. My husband then left after I had a mental breakdown. I ended up in a police cell because there were no beds available on the NHS. I’m talking about the importance of getting our basic needs met as a society to maintain mental health. I like the idea of an unconditional basic income and think we need more social housing. Especially in London.
Can you tell us about Tom Palmer & why you connected with him so much?
Tom Palmer was a legendary activist, anarchist and spy catcher. A true revolutionary and champion of the underdog. He dropped out of goldsmiths university to become a full time member of the occupy movement. I met him at Sweets Way Resists, the campaign against social cleansing I talk about throughout the show. He was always fighting the good fight, despite being vulnerable himself. We had both been let down by the mental health system. That mutual understanding of what it’s like to lose touch with reality and rely on a broken system to save you was probably what bonded us. He was a kindred spirit. Last year when I was in Edinburgh another comic, Jon Pearson had ganged up on me along with other comedians on twitter after I stuck some tiny #FreeTheNipple stickers on giant posters. (They easily peeled off.) Jon grassed me up to both the fringe society and Just The Tonic publicly. Tom stuck up for me sharing a video I had posted joining me in my cry “Fuck you Jon Pearson.” He wanted to come up here to help me infiltrate the comedy boys club and perform an impromptu show on Calton hill. He’d asked me for money for a bus ticket days before, I didn’t have it. I had planned to have him come stay with me in the Black Country after Edinburgh, get him under my mental health team, help him apply for his disability benefits and maybe get him into supported accommodation. Tragically, I was too late. On August 22nd I found out from a Facebook post that he had passed away. I wanted to save him but didn’t have the resources, so he fell through our disintegrating welfare safety net. My show is for him, all I can do now to honour his memory is continue our shared mission.
Can you sum up your show in a single sentence?
It’s a cry for help!
In one sentence can you describe the experience of performing in Edinburgh in August?
An enjoyable clusterfuck with multiple climaxes but also with a lot of uncomfortable prodding and fake screaming.
What does the rest of 2017 hold in store for Samantha Pressdee
I would love to go on holiday to Greece, I’ll visit my husband who I’ve been separated from for 2 years to check we really do wanna get divorced. Then I might go to India to study Kundalini Yoga. If hubby and I decide to stay just friends I’ll probably wanna find a boyfriend. So I might try actual dating, that would be a new experience for me because I usually just pounce on them. I want to schedule more social time, I’ve spent so much time producing this show that I miss my friends. I’ll do *some* work. Back 2 Basics is scheduled in Telford and Leeds already.
Just the Tonic at the Caves August 3rd – 27th (16:20)
Material: Delivery: Laughs:
Mr Kealy rose onto the small Fringe stage almost reaching the ceiling with the top of his rather intelligent head. There is no doubt that this comedian slash maths teacher started out expecting to be found funny, such was the confidence in his demeanor. The whoops of certain members of the audience proved such anticipation to be shared… he’d clearly made people laugh before. But stand-up is more than just laughter, its about having a good time, & I cannot help but feel I have not had the best hour I’ve ever had with a Stand-Up comic in the company of Mr Kealy, & perhaps this wasn’t his best performance either. I did, however, spend some time with the fellow, a fine man really, who does posses a number of merits, so let us focus on these.
Mr Kealy is a master of the grand digress for example, & his admission to being a teacher, not long into his show, gave a ready explanation as to his peculiar sense of style and delivery of material. Quirkily entertaining, he possessed a rich gift for audience participation garnered from handling the lecture halls of 2017. His themes were grandiose, witty ruminations on the state of living in the modern world & our following of those major events played out by the global media. Then, he plummets us all into the depths of the toilet bowl with pockets of purile patter. This bipolar attitude gives a great sense of paradoxicality to Mr Kealy’s set, which is more like a storm-buffeted sail vessel in a restless sea – occasionally we are able to see blue skies & yellow sands through a tear in the black clouds – but then we lose sight of land once again. Saying that, Alex has a heart-felt & melodic comedic tone, which is nice to trance out to, & as I clearly found out around me, folk did find him very funny, & you could well be one of them.
Hello Chris, so where ya both from and where ya at, geographically speaking? CHRIS CANTRILL: Hello! I’m from Bradford and Amy is from Hull. We met when we both lived in London but had to move away because they charged £5 for a pint of Carlsberg. Eventually we both ended up in Manchester and there hasn’t be a single day where it hasn’t rained.
Hello Amy, when did you first realise you were, well, funny? AMY GLEDHILL : 12th December 1992. Around teatime.
What exactly is The Delightful Sausage? CHRIS : We like to think of ourselves as 2 hot babes who are trying our best to boycott palm oil but routinely find ourselves eating it from a spoon. Simply put, we’re a sketch comedy double act. Our style is immaculately shambolic. Our dress code is business casual.
Where did you two meet? AMY : We were both finalists in the 2013 Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year Competition setting the tone for what has become a famously bitter dynamic.
What are the secrets of a good sketch? CHRIS : Blood, tears and evermore sachets of salt. If all else fails, we bring in interns. Eventually they’ll throw out some gold and we will credit them as “Chris Cantrill and Amy Gledhill”. We don’t pay them for their time but it’s great exposure.
What’s the comedy scene like in the North West? CHRIS : Manchester, nothing but a breeding ground for tranks, lobos and zipheads. And we love it. There’s such an exciting community of hardworking oddballs. If you haven’t experienced Birthday Bread Man – cancel your plans for the day immediately.
What is the creative process behind writing sketches for The Delightful Sausage? AMY : Chris tends to show up to writing meetings with strange spidery notes written on mucky bus tickets which he then reads out before bursting into tears, mumbling about his infant son. Once that’s out the way, we Google ‘The Two Ronnie’s’ and change the character names.
How much time do you guys spend together out with The Sausage? CHRIS : We tend to have 2 meetings a week plus gigs all over the country with many bitter arguments. Not really! I couldn’t think of a better partner to be doing community service with
What is it about performing live you love the most? AMY : It could be the adulation, maybe the occasional free Battenberg but its almost certainly the cash in hand.
You are bringing a show to the Fringe this August, can you tell us about it? AMY : Cold Hard Cache is a sketch comedy show which is loosely about The Internet. So, so loosely. The central premise sees myself and Chris running a free course for those in the community who need a helping hand with modern technology. It’s all just an elaborate structure from which to hang some premium titting about. Also, one of us gets topless in the show. I won’t tell you which one though, as I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t come if you knew.
In one sentence can you describe the experience of performing in Edinburgh in August? CHRIS : It’s great fun; based on previous Fringe experiences I expect us to clear probably £1 million in the first week. Maybe more if we want it hard enough.
What does the rest of 2017 hold in store for The Delightful Sausage? AMY : We’ve got a lot of crazy projects on the go including starting our highly awaited second hour, plus some pretty radical ideas for phone case designs. Before we start any of that we will be having a little break to water the plants, settle a few scores and work our way through a big bag of amphetamines.
Appearing live in the bowels of Cabaret Voltaire, you twist down stairs, bend around tight corners and finally get to a foyer with a collection off blacked-out vaults. That’s when I came across the Long Room where the Cornish born Comedian Matt Price is back at the Edinburgh Fringe with his hard hitting, in-your-face, stand-up story-telling extravaganza of a show. The man also know as The Weed Fairy takes no prisoners, and it is apparent from the start of the show that he means business. Like an out of control Tornado, he bombards you with joke after joke and tale after tale, playing the audience like a laughing orchestra. Indeed, the audience are an important part of his show as he works extremely hard to involve them in his murky world of dos and don’ts. The energy and continuous eye contact allows no-one to escape from his ultimate goal, to make you laugh like never before, which he did with consummate ease. In a recent interview with The Mumble, Matt explained how he weaves his comedy web;
I can only really be myself on stage. That’s when I think I connect with the audience the best and when I get the best reaction. I also usually end up having a great story as life seems to hand me certain gifts in that respect. So I take a story and make it into a show. And I suppose they are bit different to the norm, but I like that. I’m the sort of person who things happen to and no matter how bad or weird they might be, I eventually turn them into material.
A trip through Matt’s life is like a roller-coaster that has no way of stopping. Direct, witty and played out with a deep Cornish accent which jabs at us with stitches of laughter, Matt has you hooked with his relentless onslaught of mind-provoking gags. Like a Cornish Pastie bursting at the seams, full of flavour and meat, Matt is here to fill your stomach with Free comedy that will leave you full of joy. When his Father is brought into the fold with stories of Weed growing, you soon become aware that if you want to know anything about pop music you speak to Simon Cowell but if you want to know about Pot, speak to Matt Price and his Dad. This is a true hidden gem of a show that kicks you in the face with life as we know it… Matt doesn’t bite but he will leave you with tears in your eyes.
Nick Revell is a master story teller who is able to keep his audience in suspense for his one hour show, Nick Revell vs Lily Evil Cat Queen of Earth Planet and the Laughing Fridge. The story is a surreal mix of sci-fi, technology-paranoia, pop-culture, geo-politics and a cat brought to life by Nick’s swan-flighted oratory. Last year Nick brought us his widely praised ‘Gluten Free Jesus,’ & since then has conjured up an entirely different subject & content from the bubbling factory that is his creative mind. In an earlier interview with The Mumble, Nick told us;
It’s in a similar style to last year’s show – a surreal and structured story which runs for the full hour. And audiences seem to be enjoying it. There’s plenty of jokes, but I don’t do any audience interaction, and very little improvisation. It’s about Artificial Intelligence and robots taking over and specifically about how I saved us from my cat becoming a ruthless global dictator. Entirely true, of course, but the events I describe were so traumatic that most of us seem to have wiped them from our memory.
The most interesting theme of the show to me was the technological aspects. The story involves the growth of artificial intelligence, to where AI could become smarter than humans and try to exterminate us. Nick tells us that his cellphone tracks his own bio-rhythms so it can play music for him in accordance with his mood. I thought this was a fictional spice added to the story but I had to google ‘cell phone sensing bio rhythms’and sure enough there is an app that does sense & analyze our bio-rhythms… if you feel a stomach ache, the app can sell that data to a pharmaceutical company and you might just find an advertisement for a stomach calming pill the next time you are surfing the internet. Then if you bought that pill, the pharmaceutical company would have more money to fund technologies which sense our bio-rhythms and soon enough we could very possibly have a cat overlord.
Like the novel 1984 by George Orwell, which warned us about the dangers of the state gaining too much power over the people, within a wonderful story, Nick Revell vs Lily Evil Cat Queen of Earth Planet and the Laughing Fridge contains genuine warnings about the path we are heading down with technology. This show is not just a wacky title, it is an arena-seated, eye-opening mine of information through which Nick is actually attempting to save the world, while having a darn good laugh along the way.
Loo Roll is the name of Kat Bond’s first solo comedy show at the Fringe. The white stuff is draped everywhere in the room and Bond is about to use it to take us on a wild adventure. That’s after she climbs out of the green wheelie bin, that is. Bond is the star of Channel 4’s Comedy Blaps, BBC’s Call the Midwife and many others, and brings her years of experience to her one-woman show. Directed by Matthew Crosby, Loo Roll is an hour of off-the-wall mini skits that somehow loosely knit together by the end. Her irrepressible energy channels itself through the guise of a range of disparate characters, aided by just a few rolls of loo roll, a couple of vests and the wheelie bin.
Bond first metamorphoses into Pat, an alter ego who’s plaintive and slightly unhinged, due to being left in a bin outside a Papa John’s in Luton as a baby. ‘Pat’ aims her bright-eyed beam into the audience as she continues her desperate search for her family, asking ‘Are you the dog?’, ‘Are you my dad?’ The laughs start early, as the audience are drawn in with friendly and silly questions, and stay on her side until the end.
Bond leaps manically from character to character, layering voices and movement onto a white androgynous outfit of a lacy blouse tucked into sports shorts. You don’t quite know what’s going to come at you next, as she wraps her head in toilet paper for a quick gag about Van Gogh, or has a laugh at the trope of the scullery maid endlessly peeling potatoes through the centuries. This allows for wild spontaneity and a sense of excitement, but overall lacks a sense of coherence. The show relies on a great deal of audience participation, but none of it likely to ever be mean or embarrassing. The audience were game for playing along with her, too, almost to the point that had you wondering if they were planted there by Kat herself.
Without a doubt, her thorough acting background and clown training comes to the fore. From Tabby Crab, her rambling ‘loo roller’ mentor, creating endless ridiculous stories from rolls of the white stuff, to Bill the footie loving bin man, looking slightly crazed as he looms towards you. Her intense expressions pull you into her world of lovable and manic characters, making some sideways social commentary along the way. Her physical theatre skills are excellent; an energetic impression of am overeager dog sends one audience member over the edge into uncontrollable hysterics.
While the show may lack in coherence, it’s brimming with cheer and good-heartedness. You leave feeling happy, as you check your feet to see if you are dragging any of those strips of discarded loo roll along with you. You’re likely to be leaving with a big smile. You’ll certainly never look at loo roll the same way again.
There is a certain young lady out there this Fringe called Marina Margarita, a fast-talking, bizarrely brilliant, ‘cleaning lady number seven’ from Australia who you may see flyering in the Broughton Street area of the New Town in the most unfashionable of attire. I mean, she’s funny before she even opens her mouth, & when she does open her mouth, revealing a set of saintly & exceptionally well-polished teeth, she gets even funnier. Her attractive & colorful rapid patter is like receiving a loose fist beating of a really good masseuse, hitting those tight spots of social anxiety & releasing them all like starlings from a trap. Her command over our comedy pleasure-zones is both instantaneous & continuous & I really don’t have any choice to award her top marks. In a comedy world full of jokes & stand-up comedians who think they’re funny, when they’re clearly not, its refreshing to know that ‘clowning about’ & acting silly has the same effect on we moderns as it did, lets say, Will Sommers had upon Henry VIII.
Marina is a brilliant actress, a fantastic singer (tho she uses her sweetly resonating voice quite frugally) & a complete master of the mop, which swept us up into whatever the hell planet her creative genii lives on. In a recent interview with the Mumble, she described her education at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier, also the origins of Odette;
A mother of 4, my Mum had a lot on her plate when we were kids so Portuguese mother and daughter team, Odette and Erbelina, used to come and clean the house for us every few weeks. When I was first toying with the idea of Odette as a character I recorded several Spanish and Portuguese friends to try and develop a convincing accent but the minute I stepped on stage in character, a broad ocker Aussie voice came out! I’ve had a ball developing the show through trying 10 – 20 minutes at various comedy cabarets across London. She hasn’t always brought the house down, but I’ve kept all the bits that have and woven them into the show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Her snippets of spellbinding audience interaction work so much better than the vast majority of others. I mean, my wife was involved & had a jolly good time of it. The next morning, I’m like, ‘hey, you should do your own fringe show, it was cool’ – shes like nah, then, ‘y’know, I might have to have a think about it;’ this is the power of Marina Margarita. Her mind has been an ingenious rock-cutter that has found a wee niche in the Mount Comedy corpus, a cave of delights we should all take time to explore. Her creation, Odette, represents a rose-like blossoming of her substantial talents, & for anyone in Edinburgh this month, at the perfect time of night between tiddly & pissed, go see Odette at 48 Below.
Just the Tonic @ The Mash House 3th – 13th August (18.20)
Material: Delivery: Laughs:
The RH Experience’s Scribble consists of four young and charismatic cheeky chaps Conor Jatter, Luke Spillane and Tom Webster and Dan Attfield who sprung onto the stage on the first night of the festival with their highly successful improvised sketch show. The comedy quartet, who pull in half a million viewers on their award winning YouTube channel also have a sell-out night at London comedy club The Miller and a regular radio slot on Camden’s Roundhouse Radio.
The show is colourful, witty and dynamic and easily earns itself frequent laughs from the thrilled audience, who decide and pen the topics to be tackled on entering the venue. These ideas are then selected and drawn real time by none other than the Beano’s illustrator Ed Stockham. Add to the mix some beat boxing, guitar playing and comedy songs, and you have your audience captivated on a one hour razor sharp journey.
Their genuine love of interactive, physical comedy is apparent within the group, and pours out in boundless energy and flowing dynamics. They work well together and bounce off each other, both literally and metaphorically, swiftly catching any hesitant gaps with fast paced punchy jokes or a deft steer of the improv around another corner into a whole new territory. Our particular show touched on the random topics of lonely circus life, midget magicians and detective bingo, but given each show will be spontaneous and unique who knows where you might end up.
The quartet have a definite Inbetweeners vibe and would definitely appeal to a younger audience. They introduce some beatboxing, which possibly could have been expanded more throughout the set and the music could perhaps have had a bigger role in the sketch altogether, but all in all, a well delivered, enjoyable show by some talented and rather endearing young guys.
Hello Martha, so where ya from & where ya at, geographically speaking?
Hello Samantha, so where ya from & where ya at, geographically speaking?
You are bringing your show Back to Basics to the Fringe this August, can you tell us about it?
Delivery: 
Mr Kealy is a master of the grand digress for example, & his admission to being a teacher, not long into his show, gave a ready explanation as to his peculiar sense of style and delivery of material. Quirkily entertaining, he possessed a rich gift for audience participation garnered from handling the lecture halls of 2017. His themes were grandiose, witty ruminations on the state of living in the modern world & our following of those major events played out by the global media. Then, he plummets us all into the depths of the toilet bowl with pockets of purile patter. This bipolar attitude gives a great sense of paradoxicality to Mr Kealy’s set, which is more like a storm-buffeted sail vessel in a restless sea – occasionally we are able to see blue skies & yellow sands through a tear in the black clouds – but then we lose sight of land once again. Saying that, Alex has a heart-felt & melodic comedic tone, which is nice to trance out to, & as I clearly found out around me, folk did find him very funny, & you could well be one of them.
Laughs: 
Delivery: 
The most interesting theme of the show to me was the technological aspects. The story involves the growth of artificial intelligence, to where AI could become smarter than humans and try to exterminate us. Nick tells us that his cellphone tracks his own bio-rhythms so it can play music for him in accordance with his mood. I thought this was a fictional spice added to the story but I had to google ‘cell phone sensing bio rhythms’and sure enough there is an app that does sense & analyze our bio-rhythms… if you feel a stomach ache, the app can sell that data to a pharmaceutical company and you might just find an advertisement for a stomach calming pill the next time you are surfing the internet. Then if you bought that pill, the pharmaceutical company would have more money to fund technologies which sense our bio-rhythms and soon enough we could very possibly have a cat overlord.
Mumble Comedy 