Q&A with Geoffrey Asmus

You spent over $140,000 on seven college degrees. At what point did you realise stand-up might actually be the more stable career path?

I graduated a year later than most of my friends so I got to watch their souls die in a real time. After I watched one of my dear friends start selling printers for a living I realized that failure comes in many forms. So I decided to throw it all into comedy because i saw that the alternative could be so much worse than bombing in an empty bingo hall.

You’ve described yourself as shy offstage. Does performing still feel unnatural to you, or is stand-up now the place you feel most comfortable?

I would rather perform in front of 70,000 people than have a one on one conversation with an acquaintance. Catching up with someone is one of the most frightening aspects of life. I would rather bomb onstage for an hour straight than ask someone what they’ve been up to lately.

Do you think being online has changed audiences’ expectations of comedians?

Since comics (myself included) post a lot of crowd work interactions I think an unfortunately large number of audience members want to actively be a part of the show. People heckle much, much more than they used to and then after the show they will come up to me like, ‘I was just trying to give you some material bro.’ I hate it so much, but its a beast of my own making.

If you weren’t a comedian, what do you genuinely think you’d be doing right now?

I would be a prestigious tenured professor of Ottoman History at my alma mater of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At least that's what my ego tells me on a sunny day. In actuality I’d probably be working a lifeless job selling insurance while hosting bar trivia on Tuesday to keep my soul afloat.

Have UK audiences reacted differently to the material than American audiences?

UK audiences are leagues smarter than Americans, but they do not like explicitly dirty comedy nearly as much. They want a smart clever line, while Americans are frothing at the mouth for another cum joke.

Geoffrey Asmus will be performing Patriautism at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from the 5^th - 30^th August (not 17^th or 24^th). For more information visit: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/geoffrey-asmus-patriautism