Inside Megasquirt: Fully Loaded, the queer rave-comedy taking over Fringe

Late-night Fringe shows don't come much stranger than this. We spoke to the duo behind the madness of Megasquirt: Fully Loaded about gay brain rot, audience volunteers and bringing the party to Underbelly.

The show's been described as "gay brain rot" set to a beat. For readers who haven't encountered that corner of internet culture, how would you explain the world of Megasquirt to them?

If you haven’t encountered gay brain rot then we would say A) congratulations, you have been medically cleared to serve in the Armed Forces and B) girl, live a little. We are doing queer stuff in the way that queer means weird. But also in the way that queer means gay. Like weird and gay - does that track? Like a mesh tank top on a pitbull.

Audience volunteers get pulled into the show — including, apparently, a lot of bread-eating. How much of that is scripted versus genuinely unpredictable on any given night?

We have an idea of what we are going to ask of the audience, but whatever they give back to us is completely unpredictable. So there is a script, in a sense; it’s just a script with a lot of blank spaces. Less of a script, more of a Mad-Lib™.

You're both Second City alumni, an institution built on sketch and improv tradition. How did that training shape a show that's as much a concert and rave as it is comedy?

Second City was a great opportunity for us to have an open stage to do whatever the hell we wanted. Our director, Second City Artistic Director Jen Ellison, had three criteria for what material would make it into the final show: funny, impactful, and satirical. As long as we played within those boundaries, we were really able to stretch the definition of what counts as ‘sketch’ or ‘improv’ or ‘jerking the audience around a bit.’ This genre-bending energy radiates throughout FULLY LOADED.

This is your Fringe debut as Megasquirt. What made Edinburgh, and specifically a late-night slot at Underbelly, feel like the right launchpad for this show?

Megasquirt just wants to party. Underbelly brings the party. Simple as that. Also kinda weird to be yelling about gooning at 3 pm idk.

With content warnings for strong language, sexual content and potentially distressing themes, how do you think about keeping the show feeling joyful and freeing rather than purely shock-driven?

We are all living through the death-throws of late-stage capitalism - if you want to talk about ‘potentially distressing’ try watching the news for more than five minutes. Megasquirt doesn’t care about feeling joyful - Megasquirt cares about filling your hole. Also FYI - babies get in free.

Megasquirt: Fully Loaded is at the Edinburgh Fringe at Underbelly Cowgate from 5 – 30 Aug (not 18) at 11:50pm. Ticket information here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/megasquirt-fully-loaded