My Festival: The Umbilical Brothers

Mind-bending special effects, flying babies and exploding heads.  

What will we learn from your show that we didn’t know before? 

You’re never too young to drive a rally car. 

Who or what was the biggest inspiration for your show? 

Looney Tunes, the classic, psychotic ones, Buster Keaton, and those 4am ideas that still seemed funny the next day. 

What’s the best review you’ve ever had, and the worst? 

The Sydney Morning Herald - “Marcel Marceau on really good drugs.” The Herald -  “A chainsaw decapitating a child may look bad in print, but for some reason has a place in this show.”  You can decide which is the best, and which is worst. 

Who or what are you most excited about seeing this year?  

Last festival it was the shows we stumbled upon after midnight.  Wonderful shows that make you think “My God, you can do that?”, and shows that make you think “My God, what do you think you’re doing?” The masterpieces and the trainwrecks. We’re here to be surprised, delighted, and possibly terrified. 

Who do you most like spending time with in Edinburgh? 

“When in doubt, head to the Clown Yurt” was a phrase we uttered often last year.  We’ve found clowns to be very good company, which is lucky because they’re bleedin’ everywhere these days. 

Tell us something about you that would surprise people. 

We sold out our very first Edinburgh run but came out of it with just 33 pounds each.  Actually that wouldn’t surprise anyone. 

What are the best and worst things that have happened to you at a festival? 

Best - nominated for the Comedy Award in our second year at the Fringe.  Worst - last year’s bed bugs.  

What’s the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? 

 That’s a tough one, the festival throws any kind of schedule out the window. Here are some late-night things from last year. Remembering we hadn’t eaten and running to find an open food truck. Lining up for the hottest room in the world in Monkey Barrel, then asking “What the hell are we looking at?” Doing a spot at a late show where a giant backstage elephant costume fell on an AV cable, so the tech manager had to hold the cable, but then something fell on the lighting desk, plunging the stage into darkness - the tech manager was occupied.  Shane had to perform the whole spot lighting himself with his phone.   

And first thing in the morning? Checking our pulses and IDs, because this festival can make you forget who you are. 

Thanks for the interview! We’d like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking? 

Cheers!  The clown yurt at BlundaGardens is calling.  Are you game? We’ll be drinking anything with an umbrella in it. Or anything from an umbrella.  A big one holds ten pints.

The Umbilical Brothers: The Distraction, Assembly Roxy, 6:35pm, until 25 August