FROM AMERICA WITH LOVE! US COMEDIAN MYQ KAPLAN RETURNS TO EDINBURGH FRINGE
“ImPerfect” – 7.45pm, 2nd – 28th August
The Dairy Room, Underbelly Bristo Square
For Tickets, go to: underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/events/event/myq-kaplan-imperfect
“Kaplan should be making any comedy connoisseur’s ‘to see’ list.” Chortle
“A solid hour of clever gags.” Fest Magazine
“A one-man screwball comedy in which his silly and brainy sides bicker.” New York Times
“A master deconstructionist…the lightning-fast comedian.” AVClub.com
With an illustrious stand-up career including appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and his own specials on Comedy Central and Amazon, American comedy legend Myq (Mike) Kaplan is a colossal name at this year’s Edinburgh Festival.
Marking five years since his first appearance at Edinburgh in 2018 with his ‘All Killing Aside’ show, which inspired ‘A.K.A.’ – a comedy album that hit #1 on the iTunes charts, the new show is about the biggest high of his life – finding love with his girlfriend, Rini.
Teasing audiences about what to expect, Myq says: “The show is about love. And marriage. And growth. And psychedelics. And quantum physics. And love again. And video games. And everything. It would probably be best if you just saw it.
“My girlfriend Rini (who I’ve been with for about seven years) is a co-creator of the show because it’s about her and us. The whole show is something we’ve been working on and shaping together, similar to how we work on our relationship. It is about becoming a better human, man and relationship partner. It’s about philosophy, religion and science and how to be the best version of myself.”
After 20 years of performing sell-out stand-up, the show’s romantic theme is perfect for the post-pandemic world, where values about what is truly important and how we see the world has changed.
Myq explains: “A shift happened, gradually as things do, from my earlier hours of comedy that was just full of the best jokes I could tell, the things that made audiences laugh the most, to a paradigm where now I’m telling jokes about things that are the most meaningful to me, not just whatever people will laugh at. I’m telling jokes that I care about, about THINGS I care about. People still laugh also. Maybe even more now.”
MYQ Kaplan: “ImPerfect is a romantic comedic journey from polyamory to monogamy and it’s full of advice to myself from myself, tracking where I’ve been (New Jersey, Boston, stardust at the dawn of time, etc) and where I’m heading (Edinburgh, wherever the earth is hurtling in space, stardom, etc), reflecting on potential improvements as a human, a relationship partner, and matter/energy comprising an infinitesimal portion of this universe. Oh, also the show is mainly about my relationship with my girlfriend Rini and how she and it have changed my life. and maybe how it will change YOURS! TWIST ENDING: MY SHOW IS ABOUT CHANGING YOUR LIFE! (maybe!). “ImPerfect” evokes both the original thought that “I’m Perfect” while simultaneously demonstrating that I thus far have been “imperfect.” still working on it! I think the name is perfect, but if it isn’t, then the fact that the name is “ImPerfect” is even more perfect!!
