Q&A on Geoffrey Asmus: Patriautism

This is your first full Edinburgh Fringe run after a hugely successful one-night appearance last year, does that change the pressure going in?

Since I am basically a first-timer at the Fringe I have long ago resigned myself to utter failure. Anything above a completely empty room will be a sweet victory for me. It’s silly to feel too much pressure about telling jokes. I’m not a kid in a Kyiv bomb shelter, this is easy stuff.

You’ve performed across Europe, what’s the biggest difference between UK and American audiences?

UK audiences are much smarter because Americans think reading is gay or something. But UK audiences also do this annoying thing where they politely clap at a joke instead of just laughing. I would rather someone threw a bottle at my head than clap politely. I don’t think the Brits need the joy as much as we do. America is an increasingly awful place and we really need to laugh as loud as possible to get our dopamine counts up.

Have you had any weird cultural misunderstanding you’ve had while performing abroad?

I remember I used to have a joke where the big punchline was something about Applebee’s - a wretched American chain restaurant known for microwaved mediocrity. The joke bombed every single time on my European tour because of course there are no Applebee’s here. You guys eat food with ingredients you can pronounce, which is why it’s not a problem to fly in the middle seat on RyanAir. No one is spilling over into your seat.

Your clips online have attracted a huge audience, has social media changed the way you write jokes?

For a while I tried to write quickly write jokes about whatever hot-button issue was in the 48-hour zeitgeist, but that quickly grew tiresome. It worked, but it was unsustainable and quite empty. Now I just write jokes about exactly what I want to talk about and people can take it or leave it. Which has alienated some folks, but I think my clear interest in what I’m talking about resonates more in the end.

You have done seven college degrees. What’s the most useless of your seven degrees?

I earned a minor in Central Asian Studies. I have no idea how that happened. I took one class on the -stan countries and suddenly it showed up on my degree. I think they just wanted to finally give it to someone.

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