‘Baby Reindeer needs a trigger warning for comedians like me’-Kitty Chrisp-Entertainment – Metro

Baby Reindeer is loaded with distressing content, but Garrett Millerick explains how it needs a trigger warning specifically for comedians (Picture: Ed Miller/Netflix / Avalon)

The likes of Taskmaster, Fleabag, and Baby Reindeer all started life on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – but the reality of being a comedian in this rollercoaster month is at odds with these success stories.

‘It’s a collective breakdown, but a fun one,’ says comedian Garrett Millerick, a comedy circuit stalwart who has worked on shows at the free access arts festival in the Scottish capital for 22 years now.

Garrett has featured on every Best Reviewed Shows of The Edinburgh Festival list since 2018.

But it’s not like every show – or any, for that matter – is going to get ‘discovered’ and have their creative baby burst into the mainstream, like what happened with Richard Gadd’s Netflix show Baby Reindeer.

The acclaimed TV series started life as Gadd’s Edinburgh Fringe show in 2016, called Monkey See Monkey Do. Eight years later it was commissioned for the big screen.

‘I’ve had absolutely nobody in the audience a handful of times in 20 years,’ says Garrett.

This is not unusual, as many comedians will experience this in their Fringe careers (unlike what those viral tweets from sobbing comedians might make you think, which handily end in sold-out shows…).

Garrett has been to the Edinburgh Fringe 22 times, and he’s back this year (Picture: Edward Moore)

‘I think there are quite a lot of people who are sort of mis-sold Edinburgh as being a place where you’re going to go up there and there’s going to be someone sat behind a panel, and they’re going to wave a magic wand and say you are anointed now, you can go and be rich and famous,’ says Garrett, who also wrote and stars in sitcom Do Gooders alongside Frank Skinner.

‘That that’s not something an arts festival can provide. That’s not the arts festival’s fault,’ he adds.

However, there is an exception to the rule: it did happen for Gadd. Quite miraculously. But while the show is a difficult watch for most people because of the scenes detailing sexual abuse and stalking, Garrett reckons it needs a whole other trigger warning specifically for comedians.

‘I watched Baby Reindeer and loved it,’ Garrett says. ‘I said to Richard, there’s a trigger warning on it because obviously it’s distressing. But there needed to be a trigger warning on it for the accurate depiction of the London comedy scene in 2010 to 2011,’ he quips.

The show sees the on-screen version of Gadd called Donny Dunn (played by Gadd himself) desperately scrambling around with props and telling awkward jokes on stage, usually while heavily bombing.

‘In my first year I had my first time dying on stage for an hour. It was a visceral experience. I’d put it on the level of pet bereavement. A beloved cat,’ Garrett jokes.

Garrett explains how accurate Baby Reindeer is in its depiction of the comedy circuit in 2010 and 2011 (Picture: Ed Miller/Netflix)

‘You learn to take these things in your stride. On any one day of the Fringe there’s always someone experiencing that.’

Fast forward 14 years from the 2010 comedy scene, and it’s more saturated than ever. The Edinburgh Fringe, taking place throughout the month of August, highlights this.

‘I think there were 1,200 shows when I first went, and what are we on now, 4,500,’ Garrett says.

It’s not just the competition that’s cranked up, but the prices too – as we all well know.

When Garrett used to go as a student it was affordable, and everyone had a more DIY attitude. While now you really need a publicist or agent to get reviewers in to see your show, back then you just worked your magic with flyers. But those fresh-faced newbies who used to fork out £500 for a month’s worth of accommodation won’t be so bushy-tailed in 2024.

Instead, they will end up around £5,000 to £6,000 poorer from the whole trip, Garrett estimates. Pre-Covid he would expect to pay around £1,000 for his room, but now it’s upwards of £3,000.

‘I don’t think it’s affordable now for performers or audiences,’ he says. ‘Last year I paid £2,800 for a flat an hour’s walk out of the town. It had mice and no working plug sockets in the bedroom, which also had no lightbulbs.’

Being able to take a show to the Fringe to work on and experiment with is one hell of a bet, which Garrett thinks has led to it becoming a more professional setting over the years.

Garrett Millerick Needs More Space is currently on at the Edinburgh Fringe (Picture: Supplied)

‘It’s a huge circus. There’s always a buzz about it. But the growing cost has dominated the conversation. It seems to be this growing elephant in the room and I don’t know how much longer we can ignore it. But also, I don’t know what to do about it,’ says Garrett.

‘There’s a lot of greed among landlords of all stripes from venues and accommodation and what not.

‘There is a narrative that suggests it’s a huge pot of gold and everyone’s trying to milk it in all different directions. That’s not helpful.’

Funding for the festival is needed: the Fringe becoming less accessible doesn’t just make it unfair – but it totally defeats its purpose.

‘It’s the world’s largest open-access art festival and there’s never been anything of that scale anywhere on the planet,’ Garrett says. ‘If we remove the access element then we have lost something really rather beautiful that’s been built up over 60 plus years.

‘I think it’s in danger. It’s certainly on the endangered list.’

As for being a comedian, while the chances of getting your Edinburgh show picked for Netflix stardom are zilch, Garrett is grateful.

He reflects: ‘You get to live your dreams and sit on the cloud, but sometimes the cloud isn’t as comfortable as you thought it was going to be.’

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