Q&A with David Magidoff

Making Love with David Magidoff sounds completely chaotic and emotionally sincere at the same time. How did the idea for the show first come about? Ha, four perfect words for it. I asked myself one day if I were to make my own improv show, what would make me happiest? I said three things 1. It needs to be musical improv. 2. It needs to be about love, because everyone loves love. 3. And it needs to be just maybe 2 or 3 people. The third one didn’t stick because I kept meeting all these amazingly talented people like Propaganda, my rapper and I had to find ways to include them in the show. But the show truly does make me happy, so I made I what I set out to do.

You take real love stories from guests’ lives and turn them into improvised musicals live onstage. What is it about love stories that makes them so perfect for comedy? Love stories are so immediate and relatable. And genuine. You can connect to them instantly. Plus I just love learning about people’s love lives LOL.

The show seems to thrive on unpredictability. Do things ever go completely off the rails in ways you genuinely couldn’t anticipate? That’s the hope for every show! The show we did last week I asked the audience if anyone had any love stories and one guy raises his hand and says he and his wife met at a party in Utah where both were arrested and put in separate jail cells by the end of the night. It doesn’t get better than that.

You describe yourself as someone who cries at insurance commercials. Has emotional sensitivity always been part of your comedy voice? I tear up every day my 3 year old daughter watched Marry Poppins - and she does watch it single every day. I’ve always been a sensitive guy. I used to think it was a “weakness” or something I needed to hide. But as I’ve gotten older and more mature (and done therapy) I realize it’s one of my greatest strengths. The more I lean into the more others open up and the more fun we all have.

You’ve had guests like Tony Hale and Michael C. Hall sharing personal stories onstage. Are people generally more open than you expect? Once it’s show time, yes. But I can’t tell you how many celebrities have wanted to hop on the phone and chat first about it because they’re really nervous. They think their story needs to be funny. Like really funny. And I always tell them it just needs to be real. The thing that surprises them the most is that even the simplest love story is wildly entertaining to an audience who’s never heard it before. We know our own stories so well, they’re boring to us - but all those little details we’ve lived and taken for granted are actually really rich with humor when told in front of a crowd. It’s a great life lesson for me and all of us: we are enough. Brené Brown would be pleased.

Making Love with David Magidoff will be at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 11th – 23rd August (not 10th & 17th). For more information visit: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/making-love-with-david-magidoff