Performer: Myq Kaplan
Photograph by: Mindy Tucker 
Show: All Killing Aside
Venue: Underbelly, Bristo Square
Promoter: Generate Management in association with Soho Theatre
Online: Box Office Facebook Website

Tell me about your Edinburgh show.

The show, “All Killing Aside,” is about love and death and philosophy and not murdering. It’s about truth and kindness and hallucinogenic plant medicines that can reveal the underlying spirit that we all share. It’s comedy! Super fun comedy about death. And life. And more. Comedy about the universe, by the universe (as personified by comedian Myq Kaplan [that’s me]).

Tell me about your first gig.

My first gig was playing violin as a young child. It wasn’t very funny.

Do you have any rituals before going on stage?

I have many rituals I do before a show. Each morning, I wake up and meditate, and then write for a while. I walk outside in nature, and have tea inside my body. I engage with loved ones via all the virtual ways possible, and sometimes even with real life actual face to face ways. I make music and read. I read music and make. I aim to remember to express gratitude for all that I have, and I strive to do my best to help others. Then I realize that the day is over and I forgot to do my show.

Tell me about your best and worst review.

The worst review is the one that doesn’t happen. Can you believe that some person didn’t write about me? The best review is this one right now. Oh, this isn’t a review? Well, “Myq Kaplan is the greatest Myq Kaplan there’s ever been.” Now it is. Thank you for collaborating with me on the best review! We make a great team.

During this Edinburgh run, do you plan to read reviews of your show?

I do plan to read the reviews of my show in Edinburgh this year, but only because I’m a spy and there are going to be coded messages hidden throughout the reviews. Now, you might be thinking “why would you tell me that you’re a spy?” and that’s a good question, but do you really believe it? I’m a comedian. I’m probably joking. The point is, I’m going to read the reviews, just in case I’m telling the truth about being a spy. (I’m such a secret agent even I don’t know it.)

How do you feel about reviewers generally?

How do I feel about reviewers? I give all reviewers 5 stars, especially the ones reading this. I love them, because they are humans deserving of love. Unless robots are taking all the reviewer jobs these days. In which case, I love them because they are robots deserving of love, and because they are soon to be our hopefully benevolent overlords. Thank you, future overlord reviewer robots! I love this new society! Please keep having comedy! And me alive!

In April 2018, YouTube comedian, Markus Meechan (aka Count Dankula) was fined £800 for training his girlfriend’s pug dog to do a Nazi salute with its paw, in response to the phrase ‘Gas the Jews’. Do you believe Meechan committed a criminal offence, and why?  

Being from another country, I sincerely am not familiar with all the laws in question, so all I can say is I’m pretty sure that the dog is innocent. Or maybe it’s a criminal mastermind. One of those, probably.

Are there any subjects that are not suitable for comedy?

Are there any subjects that are not suitable for journalism? Or is it possible that any subject can be covered in a thoughtful way? (Now I am the journalist, aiming to cover this subject in a thoughtful way.)

Have you ever gone too far?

Have I ever gone “too far”? I would say that I’ve always gone exactly far enough. For every audience, even though different people have different individual tastes. My comedy is like a painting with eyes that follow you, meeting you wherever you are and want to be, a Rorschach test presenting you with your heart’s greatest desire. Everything I say and do is your exact wish, even if you weren’t aware of it… Or it’s possible that this response goes a little too far.

Looking back over your time as a comedian, tell me about the best gig of your career.

I’m very grateful to have had a lot of shows which I felt were all the best while they were happening. This question is kind of like asking a child, “when did you feel your tallest?” because I’m still growing. (As a comedian and a human, not in height. I’m my tallest now. What was the question?) So, I can’t see my best show by looking back. The best one is ahead of me. In Edinburgh this summer. Whichever show you come to. That one’s the best. Thank you.