So how did you come to be doing comedy together?
Kat: We were both studying at Bristol University. I started doing sketch comedy with the Bristol Revunions in first year and loved it. At the start of second year, Hannah ambushed me in a pub toilet and said ‘I heard you do sketch comedy.’
Hannah: Ambush makes it sound bad but that was our meet cute. And then I joined the society and we bonded over our shared comedic influences. Student sketch comedy was the perfect low stakes environment for us to write and perform together and we were able to figure out what our strengths and weaknesses are.
Kat: We ended up writing loads together in the lead up to Edinburgh and realised that our writing styles compliment each other very nicely and we make a good team. After we left uni, we decided to start performing together as a duo, and after a lovely writing retreat in Britain’s seaside jewel, Weston-Super-Mare, we successfully debuted at a Revs alumni show in Bristol with a whole EIGHT minutes of material.
Hannah: Since then we have reached the semi-finals of the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off and are now ready to perform our first full length show!
What can audiences expect from the show?
Hannah: 2 friends wearing princess hats having the time of our lives making everyone laugh with funny sketches. We are inviting the audience into the house of Hannah and Kat, giving them the exclusive tour. There will also be a shocking amount of dancing involved.
Kat: Audiences can expect ships, spaceships, and graveyards as the setting of general silliness and nonsense. We also have a selection of handmade props and sketches to show off for your enjoyment!
What’s the process of putting the show together been like?
Kat: So so so fun! We both got to do preview shows in the cities we live in so we could show our friends and family, and they both went extremely well. When we were at university we didn’t really get the chance to do proper Fringe previews so this was a great experience for us. We’ll arrive feeling more confident in our material and do slightly less tweaking when we arrive, which makes the whole thing a bit less stressful.
Hannah: It’s pretty much the culmination of the contents of our notes app collected over the past year, turned into actual sketches with beginnings, middles, and ends. AND jokes. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the process of coming up with an idea and then not being able to rest until I have properly seen it through and written an ending.
Which sketches are your favourite?
Kat: My favourite is one where Hannah does an incredible and emotional interpretive dance/lipsync for her life and I get to show off what I remember from my English degree which is nothing.
Hannah: Mine is a tribute to a national treasure that is somewhere they’re NOT meant to be. Also the one where Kat is Ringo Starr.
Are there any other sketch groups people should be going to see at the Fringe?
Who wants to be a sketch comedian? – Our old alum the Bristol Revunions everyone should definitely go check out! We certainly will.
Burger and a Pint: Treats for the Soul – They are fantastic and as fellow ex-Revunions, we can’t wait to see what they do!
Lady Bolognese: Class War – They play the scariest, funniest dinnerladies and we are very excited to see their full show.
Night Mail – Tom Whiston plays a naughty 1940s postman. When he performed at the sketch off I think we almost died we loved it so much.
Spruce Moose – One of our friends who we first met performing at a Cambridge Footlights student sketch show is part of this fantastic group. Their show has a ‘Monty Python meets Pirates of the Caribbean’ vibe and they are very cool! As we write this their run ends soon so catch them after the Fringe if you miss them.
Finally, in the spirit of Toothpaste on Toast, what is your Fringe breakfast of choice? And if you’re eating out, is there anywhere in Edinburgh you’d recommend?
Hannah: When we were still with the Bristol Revunions, I remember having a really fab Scottish breakfast with Kat as we went over notes and script edits from the previous night’s show at a place called Snax.
Kat: That same year we ate delicious bao buns every day because I think they had all of the food groups in them. We can’t remember the name of the place but shout out to that place. They were on Clark Street and that’s all I can tell you. Not technically breakfast I guess but I could eat those bao buns morning noon and night!!!
Hannah and Kat: Pretty Pretty Princess is on at Southsider (venue 148) at PBH’s Free Fringe @ Southsider from the 20th August, at 3.15pm.