Lorna Rose-Treen Serves Up Surreal Silliness in “24 Hour Diner People” at The Edinburgh Fringe

Comedian Lorna Rose-Treen is bringing audiences into a diner like no other with her absurd, cartoony sketch show 24 Hour Diner People. Inspired by a childhood spent watching American TV and play-acting in questionable accents, the show gleefully smashes diner archetypes into surreal extremes - waitresses, mothers, spies, and more. She spoke to Cultural Dose about viral success, breaking tropes wide open, and why she hopes audiences leave the diner feeling both entertained and slightly destabilized.

For anyone discovering your work for the first time, how would you sum up 24 Hour Diner People?

A cartoony character comedy sketch style nonsense show all about people who wander into a liminal diner. It’s absurd and silly and lightly satirical. 

Where did the idea of setting a whole show in a roadside diner come from?

I wanted to use a diner as a playground because it’s a place that I associate with being a kid that I feel I know so well from watching American TV growing up, but also know nothing about at all. And that’s a really exciting place I like to be. I watched a lot of American TV growing up in the 00s, Gilmore Girls, Cheers, cartoons, Saved by the Bell, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Hannah Montana…etc.  so when I played pretend, with my sister and friends, we’d all adopt absolutely piercingly bad American accents. I think I wanted to honour this joy I had by creating a nonsense fictionalised diner.

The show plays with tropes - waitresses, mothers, spies - but pushes them to surreal extremes. What do you find most satisfying about breaking those archetypes open?

I just love being a woman and being stupid. One of the only perks of women being marginalised in the course of history is there’s lots of untapped areas of silliness for us to do. Whereas men have completed it all and are just repeating now. I actually think Mel Brookes completed it ages ago!!!! Sorry men!!! 

You’ve had huge viral moments online - what’s the biggest shift when you’re in the room, doing it live?

I think there’s simply more women in the audience than before. Sometimes trad comedy spaces still feel so old school and male dominated, but socials have mean comedy has reached way more audiences who now feel they can relate to comedy spaces and come. I love it!!! 

What’s the weirdest or funniest comment someone’s ever made after seeing one of your shows?

Machynlleth Comedy Festival famously has some of the nicest audiences ever. I did a wip there and had to restart a song 3 times, and I said “gosh you are all so nice!” And a woman heckled with a huge grin shouting “we’re patient!” Not technically after the show though, it was very much during. 

What do you hope audiences carry with them after seeing 24 Hour Diner People?

I hope they leave having had a fun hour of absurd nonsense drilled so hard into their brains that they leave feeling distablised and concerned about me (in a good way.) 

Lorna-Rose Treen is performing 24 Hour Diner People at Pleasance Courtyard (Beneath) from 30th July - 24th August. Ticket link HERE.