Underbelly Buttercup stage, 6.45pm, 2nd – 28th August 2023 (excluding Monday 14th)
“His punchlines hit home…sure to delight with his amusing frustration.” – Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
Edinburgh-based comedian, Joe McTernan, has over 30 million views and 170k online followers for his hilarious character-based sketches. Joe will bring his exciting, high-energy debut show to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Famed for his observational stand-up and unique style, Joe switches from laid-back to uproariously frustrated at a lightning pace. He shares his irritation at inspirational online life advice and lambasts motivational nonsense, offering an alternative view encouraging people to live life to the ‘adequate amount’.
Joe has performed on BBC’s ‘The Comedy Underground’, supported Tom Stade on tour, and co-created the online (Scottish Comedy Award-winning) sitcom ‘M.U.F.F.’ alongside Daniel Sloss and Craig Hill. His energetic style and enthusiastic following have earned him gigs across the UK, frequently performing at The Stand Comedy Club, Glee Club, The Comedy Store, Frog and Bucket and Monkey Barrel.
Joe McTernan says: “It’s a dream come true performing at The Underbelly. My show stemmed from feeling a little depressed in life and searching for motivation online. I realised quite quickly that these videos can sometimes be the reason we all feel so worthless.”
Joe’s aim is to connect with his audiences and states: “I wanted to write something that people could relate to and realise that we’re living the best way we can and sitting in bed eating crisps for a whole day is completely fine sometimes”.
Starting stand-up changed his life, suffering from a terrible depression which lasted for a couple of years before he became a stand-up. Comedian, Joe felt I was lost and aimless. Performing for the first time was one of the moments in his life that changed him. “It felt like the perfect job,” he says, “It was creative but also had an obvious route to success. It forced me to travel to different places, meet more like-minded people, and gave me instant gratification if I did well at a gig”. Weirdly, the high of doing stand-up also came with a low. Joe had been known in the comedy industry as a filmmaker/actor. “Everyone knew me from little sketches/online sitcoms or from filming their show,” he adds.
Joe’s big career highlights include supporting Tom Stade on tour. “He was incredibly kind to let me do that because
I probably wasn’t quite ready for it. We sat in the car on the way to the gig and he made me perform to whole set
about twenty times and gave me better ideas to use,” Joe explains.
Talking about his famous sketch with Since my Instagram started to grow, I received some messages from famous actors. Recently I was in touch with Angie Harmon, and she agreed to be in one of my sketches when she was visiting Edinburgh. It was such a great experience because I never thought people would see my videos let alone want to be in one. I remember watching and loving ‘Agent Cody Banks’ when I was younger, so it was so cool to be filming with Angie who was in it. There are some other collaborations coming up soon, so watch this space.
For tickets, book here: tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/joe-mcternan-life-advice-that-won-t-change-your-life
