Milo Edwards

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Friday 15th November 2024

It was the first of times, it was the worst of times. This week it's the turn of Milo Edwards, who is currently on tour with the critically-acclaimed Sentimental, a show unafraid to delve into heavy territories. Milo's lows. Did it take some work getting the mood right?

"I never feel like I struggle with the tone of my shows," says Edwards, "but there were points where I felt I had to make the audience feel like they could laugh about the darker bereavement stuff. It amounted to more or less telling them 'you can laugh at this, it happened to me and I think it's funny'."

It's a permission statement. And plans are already in place for the follow-up - well, he's booked a WiP spot at the Leicester Comedy Festival, early next year. Any solid themes yet?

"The new show, no idea. God help me. I'm writing a few little bits here and there. that feels like a January 2025 mental breakdown to have, not a November 2024 one."

Fair point. But what was he doing, ooh, about 12 years ago?

First gig?

It was at a Cambridge Footlights gig for first timers in 2012 at the ADC Theatre (the university theatre), I was 19. There were probably about 170 people there? It was sold out, whatever the capacity of that place is.

I can't really remember much about the night or even about what was in my set, although I know I felt like I did well (bear in mind I'm sure this was a very easy crowd).

There was a weird system in Cambridge comedy at the time where you had to audition for gigs so I'd done a lot of auditions before I got my first actual gig, which made the show itself feel comparatively easy.

Favourite show, ever?

This is a hard one to pick! I've had a bunch of great club gigs over the years, notably the Newcastle Stand years ago and one more recently at the Sydney Comedy Store - but my favourites are probably some of the Sentimental shows in Edinburgh in 2023, the special taping of [previous show] Voicemail in London in 2024 and the tour show I did in Perth, Australia in April 2024 - the fans there are truly something else.

And the most horrendous gig?

Again, how to pick in such a crowded field? I once did a gig in Russia that was between two escalators in a shopping centre with a standing crowd that was at least 20% toddlers.

Which one person influenced your comedy life most significantly?

In terms of my sense of humour, probably my parents. A university friend who came to my family home once said 'You guys are always taking the piss out of each other', and we were.

And who's the most disagreeable person you've come across in the business?

There's nothing I could say here that would surprise anyone that much, since I tend to quite vocally disagree with the disagreeable people in a way that's not necessarily good for my career. Once another comic and I (he's doing pretty well these days) went to the midlands for a trial spot at this night and I drove us there. We both did well and then the promoter starts slagging off our sets to basically make us come and do his gig for free again.

Anyway, something he said about one of this other comic's jokes was so idiotic that I started arguing with him about it, to the point where the other comic goes to me 'Milo just leave it mate'. Never spoke to that promoter again.

Anyway most people in comedy are pretty nice really and I love to do nice people a favour, but I do keep a naughty list.

Is there one routine/gag you loved, that audiences inexplicably didn't?

There's a routine in my special Voicemail where I talk about teenagers on TikTok describing the Arctic Monkeys as Classic Rock and then I say 'Tick Tock Indeed'. I fully believe this is one of the best short jokes I've ever written and it would work 50% of the time. Half the time it would crush, half the time - nothing. There was no middle ground. Thankfully it worked at the taping and, ironically, the clip did very well on TikTok.

You've podcasted at length about Seinfeld, the TV show, but what do you make of his stand-up?

Seinfeld's stand-up is so weird to watch now because it feels like a guy doing an impression of a '90s comedian, but that's also because someone doing an impression of a '90s comedian is doing an impression of Jerry Seinfeld.

I don't think Seinfeld's stand-up is that good, per se, but he sort of invented being hack - it became hack later because of people copying Seinfeld. So then when he does it, it's not hack? He's at the centre of a kind of comedic ouroboros. What's the deal with the snake eating its own tail? What kind of snake would do that? You get hungry and think, 'hey I don't need this tail!' - but sooner or later, you're eating head!

Any reviews, heckles or post-gig reactions stick in the mind?

My current tour show Sentimental is named after a comment in a review and there's a routine about five minutes into the show where I take apart a couple of reviews of Voicemail and frame Sentimental in response to those reviews. The reviews for Sentimental were glowing so I think I won.

How do you feel about where your career is at, right now?

Show me a comedian who's happy with their career and I'll show you a liar. I'm lucky in many ways, I make a living from it which is great and I have a fanbase who are loyal and are regularly reviewed by venue staff as 'the politest fans we have ever met'.

Having said that, I've never had what I would call 'industry opportunities' and, as much as people love to drone on about how it's 'all online now' or whatever, it would be nice to do the odd thing that didn't have to be fed through a cursed algorithm to be watched silently on the bus.

Milo Edwards: Sentimental is touring the UK now. miloedwards.co.uk