From Punk Bands to Pathetic Little Characters: Rory’s Joyfully Chaotic Road to the Fringe

Rory Marshall’s debut sketch show Pathetic Little Characters brings together years of odd jobs, social cringe, and deep affection for humanity at its most awkward. Cultural Dose caught up with him to talk Fringe chaos, lovable weirdos and what he hopes to take from Edinburgh Fringe. 

You’ve gone from punk bands to kebab shops to BBC credits. Has your path to the Fringe felt more like a straight line or a series of chaotic character studies?

Much like the punk band and the kebabs the comedy thing was something that I sort of fell into I suppose. Like many people in lockdown I had a load of time on my hands and so decided to experiment with putting some comedy sketches on the internet (LOVE ME!!!!!!). Taking this show to the fringe was also a bit of an experiment at first, I wanted to see if I could do an hour of comedy and now I’m heading to Platform 9 and ¾ at Kings Cross to catch the Edinburgh Express! Will there be characters in the show that I met through my weird and wonderful back catalogue of odd jobs? YES! Will you enjoy those characters? NO! Why? Because they are all based on you and they are really mean and horrible!

How do you describe Pathetic Little Characters to someone who thinks they don’t like sketch comedy?

I would describe it like this: ‘Listen mate, I get it. You don’t like sketch comedy and that's fine. I actually agree that sketch comedy can be pretty hard work. But it’s not about that. It's about having a good laugh. This show is relatable. It's fast paced. It's free! Well, it's not free, it's about £14 and it's cheaper if you go on a day when less people are about, so aim for those days if you want to save a few quid. But ultimately, it's worth it. So drop the whole ‘i don't like sketch thing’ and grab yourself a staropramen and come and have it out with me and the rest of the rabble in The Attic at Pleasance Courtyard at 6pm. And bring me a staropramen while you’re at it. And make it a large one.’ And then I wink at them and give them a fist bump and go and do the show and I kill it and afterwards they give me a knowing look as if to say ‘you were right all along.’

Among your cast of awkward figures, do you have a favourite - or one that made you laugh out loud while writing it?

I must admit I especially enjoy playing a patronising, smarmy bartender. On so many occasions I have been made to feel like a little mouse by a bartender who somehow manages to make the simple task of ordering a couple of drinks the most difficult thing in the world. Have you ever been wronged by a smarmy bartender? If yes, come to see the show and we can finally have our retribution! (this is absolutely not a show fueled by bitterness and revenge. This show aims to see the world from everyone’s perspective and is very, very positive and lovely and even the complete wankers in this show have a very lovely side to them and that's what it's all about!) 

Bringing your first solo show to Edinburgh is a big moment - how are you feeling?

It feels really crazy that it's about to happen and i'm so excited to get up there and get rocking and rolling! I feel like the poster boy for ‘just happy to be out the house’. Not only am I ‘out the house’ but I'm also heading to Platform 9 and ¾ at Kings Cross to catch the Edinburgh Express! Genuinely I can't wait to get up there and perform this show every day. I do actually feel a little bit like Harry Potter! I wonder if I can use a cool spell to make everyone laugh like mad at everything I say. Might be a bit of a pain actually. Wouldn’t be able to finish the show if people laugh too much. Perhaps I'll just work on the content of the show and try to produce some magic-free laughs. Good idea, magic-free laughs it is.

How do you make sure the satire still has empathy — especially when the people you’re poking fun at could so easily become caricatures?

I really cannot stress enough that the characters in this show are people that I LOVE. People are all different and act in different ways and that’s a fact of life and it ROCKS! I'm celebrating these guys! We all can be a bit weird at times and we all have our reasons and I like to think this show explores those reasons. This show is a celebration of people! (NB: there are some characters with problematic behaviours in the show and I’m not celebrating that, that bit gets a bit more fiddly but ultimately is all thumbs up across the board morally)

What do you hope people take away from the show — beyond laughing at other people’s awkwardness?

I want people to walk out of that show, onto the Pleasance Courtyard and shout ‘PEOPLE ARE AWESOME!’ as loud as they can. Maybe even a chant. Get the whole courtyard going. Then people will say ‘why are they shouting that?’ and then someone will say it was Rory Marshall’s show and they’ll buy me a staropramen. 

Rory Marshall will be performing Pathetic Little Characters at Pleasance Courtyard (Attic) from 30th July - 24th August. Ticket link HERE.