Huge Davies: Sleep Paralysis Princess - Huge Davies Returns to Edinburgh with His Most Personal Show to Date, Huge Davies: Sleep Paralysis Princess
- Cultural Dose
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Critically acclaimed comedian, Channel 4 sitcom creator and one of British comedy's most distinctive performers, Huge Davies returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with Huge Davies: Sleep Paralysis Princess; a surreal and unexpectedly personal new show about spending the last decade trying and repeatedly failing to get a decent night's sleep. Known for his customised wearable keyboard, offbeat musical comedy and unmistakably deadpan delivery, Davies charts his increasingly desperate search for a cure. Absurd musical observations together with a story that is, unusually for him, entirely true. We caught up with him to find out more.
The title Sleep Paralysis Princess is brilliant. Where did it come from?
Honestly, I wrote it when I was sleep deprived and had no idea if it was good. At the time I was reading a lot about sleep paralysis demons, with a view to doing some material on it, so it was at the forefront of my mind. People don’t know that you have to basically decide the title of your show, way before it’s written to register the show, so often the title has no bearing with the finished show, but I’m glad you like it
You spent years trying to fix your insomnia. Was there anything that actually helped?
Nothing so far. The medication makes me so drowsy that I almost can’t function the next day, the acupuncture was genuinely quite painful, and the aluminum is a metal they put in missiles. The therapy was probably the most helpful as it helped me deal with the more existential problems I was having around insomnia.
The show follows ten years of sleepless nights. Looking back over that decade, are there any habits or rituals you’ve developed that most people would find completely bizarre?
I guess the strangest one would be my nighttime routine. I listen to audiobooks while I’m in bed to pass the time. Many people say ‘you should learn stuff’ but the issue is I need to listen to something that puts me into a hypnotic state, effectively distracting my brain from my own thoughts. So, I listen to the Hobbit audiobook every night and have done so for the past decade. So to me, unless I’m listening to Bilbo Baggins slip past a dragon, it’s not really a normal evening.
You describe yourself as having spent a decade awake while everyone else was asleep. What happens in those hours that daytime people never get to see?
Honestly it feels similar to everyone else, as I do have a routine of going to bed, so I’m generally just in my room as everyone else is. In the old days I would stay up all night and watch TV until the morning for months, which was a strange time for me. It was like I was just stuck in one continuous day. I ended up watching so many reruns of old TV shows I felt almost trapped in an alternative world. I once met someone from Take Me Out in real life and almost couldn’t believe she was real, even though she was just working at a pub.
You’ve sold out multiple Fringe runs. Does returning to Edinburgh get any less nerve-racking?
More, for sure. In some ways, you’ll always be worried about who’s coming, even if numbers are good. You also want to deliver a good show for everyone who’s come back, as they’ll probably be bringing friends or family and you don’t want to be responsible for an awkward walk home.
The show touches on the lengths people go to in pursuit of self-improvement. Do you think you’ve become a culture obsessed with fixing ourselves?
I think people are taking more steps to make sure they are healthier mentally, which is good. I knew almost no one who was in therapy in my twenties and now it’s advertised to me daily alongside Just Eat and BetFred. I’d say in my case, it’s been more about dealing with the situation, as opposed to fixing it, which I guess technically is also an improvement. Even though it hasn’t worked for me, I’d recommend anyone having similar problems to try everything possible.
Finally, have you actually found a cure, or will audiences need to come and see the show to find out?
You’ll have to come see the show to find out I’m afraid as there’s much more to the story than advertised. If I’m honest the insomnia is dwarfed by the story of how I got it in the first place.
Huge Davies: Sleep Paralysis Princess will be performed at 9:30pm at Monkey Barrel Cab Vol from 5th – 30th August.
