August 16, 2024 The Guardian
Interview: ‘This isn’t going to be sensible!’ Olaf Falafel, Edinburgh fringe’s king of one-liners
Children’s author, YouTuber, ‘sausage bird’ designer … the comic who was born Derek Chickpeas (maybe) talks about cooking up his hilariously daft alter ego – and we pick some of his funniest gags.They say that, for comedians, the Edinburgh fringe is a ruthless trade fair, where sharp-elbowed acts bankrupt themselves in pursuit of the right demographics and a slot on Live at the Apollo. Well, there is that. But there are also comedians such as Olaf Falafel, a one-man art/books/comedy cottage industry, ploughing his eccentric furrow on the Free Fringe, to an audience of kids, adults and everyone in between. Some comedians would kill their granny for an Edinburgh comedy award. Falafel would make yours laugh for a tilt at that prestige-free gong, the much-derided Dave’s Joke of the Fringe....Falafel’s particular brand of nonsense begins, but does not end, with all those daft one-liners. (Today’s example: “I started off with a fetish for head-to-toe Lycra. Then I bought myself a bobsleigh. Where does it go next? It’s a slippery slope.”) But he’s about antics (“titting around,” he calls it) more than wordplay. Much of our interview is spent elucidating a new stunt he’s working on involving an umbrella and some eggs. Elsewhere, conversation pauses for a video on his phone of the “sausage bird” he designed, built, then had valued (for the audience’s pleasure) as fine art.Younger readers may recognise the sausage bird from Art Club, the inspired YouTube series (Falafel calls it “Horrible Histories but for art”) that got many of us, and our kids, through lockdown. “It got me through lockdown,” says the man himself. “It gave me a structure and something to do when comedy had gone, school visits had gone, my football coaching had gone.”A devoted Luton Town fan, he has just decorated a giant ornamental hare in the club’s most iconic kits for an art trail through the town. As for the school visits, well, Falafel is a children’s author with a string of books to his name, including two adventures for Trixie Pickle: Art Avenger. It was via his literary activities that the hirsute comic first twigged he might perform standup for juniors, too.“Publishers get you to visit schools, and literary festivals,” says the dad of two. “I’d no idea what authors do at festivals, so I just did a standup-ish set with bits about my books. And I had to make it kid-friendly. That’s when the penny dropped that actually I could do a kids show in Edinburgh.” This year as ever, he’s performing both a kids show (Olaf’s Stupidest Super Stupid Show So Far) and one for grownups (Has Anyone Actually Ever Woven a Sigourney?), differentiated by little more than the occasional swearword. (For clarity: in the latter.) Both are on the Free Fringe, which Falafel prefers, “not out of principle, but because it fits the DIY aesthetic.”It’s quite the niche he’s carved out, and he couldn’t be cosier in it. With no obligations to the comedy club circuit, he keeps his hand in performing not in theatres, but in schools. “I get lots of emails from teachers and parents,” he reports, “saying that their child doesn’t like reading or isn’t academic. But because I’d visited they were buzzing.” Art educator, YouTuber, comedian and author: “I do like to have lots of little things happening here, there and everywhere,” he beams, coffee drained. “I never want to give up any of them. I enjoy it all, and I hope that comes across.” Click Here For Article