The Spirit of the Fringe flies thro’ Stephen Catling’s new show, Beehavioural Problems

Hello Stephen, first things first, where are you from & where are you at, geographically speaking?
From Sheffield , South Yorkshire but now based in South London.

What is it about comedy that makes you tick?
Doing comedy is the time that I most feel alive, my most creative and it is second nature to me and the most amazing adrenaline rush when I rise to challenges.

Can you tell us, in a few sentences, what kind of comedian are you?
One of a kind! Glib remarks aside, I am definitely not a club-style comic telling anecdotes, doing observational comedy or discussing politics. I would define myself as an alternative comedian but specifically, I am a high-energy surrealist clown. My style is of a fantastical or absurdist nature and a clown as much of what I do falls under the aspect of physical comedy and playfulness that you see in other clowns. Where I differ is I tend to talk a lot more (in comparison to other clowns). In a way I have more in common with sketch troupes in comedy stylings than I do with mainstream stand-ups.

We had a lovely chat four years ago & you were set to bring your 2019 show, Stephen Catling Vs Himself & Other Monsters, to Edinburgh in 2020. Alas, of course, Covid happen’d – how did you feel at the time?
I appreciated that and the chat was lovely. Not taking Vs Himself & other monsters to Edinburgh 2020 was heartbreaking but so was losing a lot of gigs to the pandemic. I worked for the NHS and did feel a duty to serve the public during the pandemic. I was proud to do this but I have often had a difficult time in a workplaces, experiencing some truly abhorrent (at worst) and ignorant (at best) ableist behaviour from (some) employers and (some) co-workers. These experiences are a major reason why I am writing this show in the first place.

How did the rest of the great Covid event effect your life, creativity & career?
I came to the conclusion I could no longer work in the life sciences due to the toxic environment (sadly not referring to hazardous waste), and general dissatisfaction with my career progression in that field. I went off to study MSc in Psychology at Glasgow. This actually resulted in greater progress in my comedy career as Monkey Barrell Comedy Club took quite a shine to me in my time in Scotland and I got to be a semi-finalist in Chortle student comedy award with further semifinals, finals and awards to come in 2022 and 2023. I will also say that the pandemic pushed me into my current day job (a different sector of the NHS) which I am actually quite happy in.

Initially though the pandemic impacted my comedy considerably. When I moved to Scotland in 2021 the scene had been devastated and I could not gig as much as I like. In addition, fixing my life due to the epiphanies I had in the pandemic greatly delayed me from making shows. That being said, not all was bad in terms of creativity because, while the accursed zoom gigs limited me from doing material that cannot work on zoom, it forced me to talk about other things such as autism, so in some aspects the pandemic was a catalyst for change.

Roll on to 2023 & you have just won the Keep it Fringe Award, how did that happen & how did you feel about it?
Fellow comic Francis Keyton reminded before the deadline so I applied and told them about the current show, my plans and hopes for it, then thought nothing of it till BOOM I get an email telling me I was selected. It is lovely to be deemed worthy of carrying the spirit of the fringe by doing risky material with a style which often deemed very high-reward high-risk, but I do now feel a bit more pressure!

You’re bringing a new show to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, where & when did the initial idea come from?
The pandemic was the catalyst as I thought about an idea of the next show I wanted to write about after Vs Himself. People seemed to like the idea of me dressed as a bee which I liked as a simple question – I went to university to do biomed at 18, I have woken up in my mid-20s thinking I need a sexy BEE costume, which leads to the question; what happened? Other aspects of the show came from a need to talk about autism, but in my way and to make clear that this is a show about autism and difficulties of my day jobs with the condition told in my own alternative comedy way rather than a more conventional style of show.

How is the creative process going which is rushing headlong to that first show in August, are you on top of things?
My director is happy and I am happy with how it went in Brighton and the feedback in general from GICF has seemed that I have managed to stay on top of the things, at this stage it is more fine-tuning the show.

With the nature of autism, letting your comedy fall on the right side of humour could be quite knife-edg’d – how are you approaching this?

I mean generally I try and take a conscientious approach to humour. I am never trying to punch down and I do my best to make sure the nuance is clear. To keep me in check I have my friend Phil Green (who was nominated for the Amused Moose Comedy Award last year) to help direct the show. Fortunately he tends to say yes more than no, but he has steered well when it looks like I might go off the rails as the topic of the show is very sensitive and raw for me and there is still a lot of pain from my experiences that have not fully healed. Phil is keeping me focusing on the healing aspect rather than the fiery rage that I could have easily lapsed into.

I find that the autism aspect of the show is less problematic, more than that I am speaking quite openly about my workplace experiences with the NHS and other organisations, which I do highlight is not a black and white issue. The employers in these workplaces have been neither good nor bad, but rather imperfect. Many things they have done for me as an employee have been great, but others have been deeply harmful.

I have to find the balance between the clowning and the more standup-esque part of the show.

What are you looking forward to most about returning to Edinburgh?
I feel have made a show that people seem excited to go see. It seems to be getting the right kind of attention (from other festivals and media), but more importantly it is mine, it is unique and it is mine. I enjoy being immersed in comedy, both to perform and watch, and I will get to see many of my favourite acts do their shows too.

You’ve got 20 seconds to sell your show to somebody in the streets of Edinburgh, what would you say?
I don’t think I need to say anything much as I am dressed as a sexy bee and that has made people keen enough, but I would probably say don’t mind me I am just beeing myself.