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Landin in Scotland: Stand-up against the gig economy

Conrad Landin chats with award-winning comedian ED NIGHT about precarious work, socialism and the difficulties of being a performing artist

A STAND-UP routine at Edinburgh might not seem the most obvious front in the battle against gig economy exploitation.

But perhaps it’s exactly where the fight needs to be. The summer festivals and the massive fringe of comedy, theatre and music are notorious for the exploitation of venue staff desparate to get a break in the arts.

Now comedian Ed Night, nominated for the Best Newcomer Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2017, is putting precarity at the heart of his show. 

He’s experienced it not only as a performer, a role in which he’s used to batting off calls to work for nothing, but in taking whatever he can get. 

“Door-to-door leafleting, standing in the street handing out flyers, editing videos” are just some of the short-term employment opportunities, as the bosses would probably call them, he found through the website Craigslist.

But rather than seeing the likes of Uber and Deliveroo as a new phenomenon, Night believes it all comes back to the means of production. 

“Under capitalism, your worth is monetary rather than intrinsic and social,” he says. 

“Our sense of duty and obligation is not to one another but to our employers, most often impenetrable corporations. 

“So despite the fact that our work can affect others, we only see the relationship between our employers and ourselves. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, I believe socialist working conditions could actually increase productivity.”

It may seem like heavy stuff, but Night is also engaged with the quirks and mundanities of everyday life. When I phoned him yesterday, he was a little preoccupied at the dry cleaners. 

“Yesterday I found these wicked Ralph Lauren trousers in a charity shop,” he confesses. “Imagine when I was talking about the gig economy I just had these wicked fucking trousers on.”

According to his publicist, Night’s new show takes us “on a journey through the identity crisis of a younger generation” through “bringing his signature wit and perception to topics such as youth, the future and human nature.”

This could cover just about anything, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised to know he’s only recently come round to finessing his routine. 

“I write material throughout the year,” he says. “Around June and July, I collate material teasing out what links them altogether, it’s really only now … I think ‘What do I want to talk about’?”

Part of the show may concern Marxism, and “how much it annoys people when you talk about it, how it upsets people” for no apparent reason.

“When you talk about it, people inevitably say: ‘If you hate capitalism so much why do you have an iPhone?’

“Well you could say: ‘If you like Star Wars so much why don’t you live on the moon’?”

Comedy is in Night’s blood: his father was a stand-up comic, while his mother still works as a stage manager.

“When I was a kid my mum would take me up to Edinburgh and just leave me on my own,” he recalls. It took him longer to develop his own passion, however, as contemporary British comedy was not cutting it. 

“When I was a teenager, with friends, I started to discover American comedy.”

Then when he was 19, a friend asked Night to perform alongside him at an open mic — and now at 23, he’s never looked back.

Trips to Edinburgh every year have also highlighted how the gig economy has driven up the cost of living. 

“I love Edinburgh but the thing that’s frustrating about it is the complete unchecked nature of Airbnb,” he says, telling horror stories of vastly inflated rents. 

“£8,000 for a two-bedroom flat. There’s no regulation on it … no regulation on the scammers.”

Night reiterates that venue workers, as well as artists, need decent pay and conditions. 

“It’s the people who make [the fringe] run who are treated the [worst],” he says. “With stand-up there’s a sense of obligation to the fringe itself.” 

Across comedy, he says, “the atmosphere is you rely on your employer more than they rely on you.

“The big thing of making people doing open spots to prove yourself. Some clubs take the piss. It’s like the Wild West in a way.”

For details of Ed Night’s Edinburgh Fringe performances and to buy tickets visit mstar.link/EdNight.

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