Interview: BriTANicK on their Edinburgh Debut

“I love anything made from spite, it's fantastic,” says Nick Kocher over a Zoom call. I’ve just explained the rebellious origins of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – instigated by Scottish theatre companies excluded from the very first Edinburgh Festival – to him and his sketch partner Brian McElhaney.

This year will be their first Fringe. Performing as BriTANicK, the duo made their start at San Francisco’s Sketchfest in 2008 (“We accidentally opened for Robin Williams,” recalls McElhaney), so they’ve been in the game a while. But what’s most noteworthy is that they were also launching an online video career at the same time, back when YouTube was barely out of nappies – which is probably what most people know them for.

“When we started in 2008, there were like 12 sketch groups total,” says McElhaney. “And we all knew each other, we were all just doing it just for fun, and no one was really making any money. And that was a blast.”

That ‘wild west’ era of the Internet also gave us platforms like CollegeHumor, FunnyOrDie and Cracked, all of which fueled the virality of BriTANicK’s witty, weird, often self-referential sketches. And while this paved the way to things like being the voices of Cartoon Network, making and starring in films, writing for Saturday Night Live and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the duo’s first love has always been the stage.

“Performing live is a thousand times more fun than performing on camera,” says McElhaney – and Kocher agrees.

There are respective strengths, naturally; videos permit multiple takes, and can be easily viewed all over the world. But the electricity of a live environment is unmatched – primordial, even. “That hasn't changed since caveman times,” says McElhaney. “Just get up on stage and see what happens.”

They’re also keen to stress how crucial bombing on stage is for personal development, especially for budding young comics coming from TikTok and Instagram. “Right now I feel like everyone tries to curate their image to be perfect on social media,” says McElhaney. “And it's like, go be real bad. Just go be publicly bad on stage. It's good for your soul.”

Edinburgh offers a unique challenge of course: running the same show every day for a month (“Sometimes we'll do, like, two nights in a row. But that's about the most that we've ever done,” says Kocher). But they’re unfazed, relishing the chance to hone their craft across the gauntlet of the world’s biggest arts festival. 

McElhaney recalls a Broadway actor friend who “says it's like being in The Matrix when he's been doing the show for months. He's like, you can just start moving little things and you feel like you're, like, in it. It doesn't control you – you're Neo controlling it. I want that.”

In preparation for August, the pair have been trying out almost all of their live material in New York, with feedback surveys for audiences to vote on what they like best. But they’re not doing the Fringe alone. Their debut Edinburgh show is being directed by former Best Newcomer winner Alex Edelman (“He's actually a big part of why we're doing the Fringe,” says Kocher), who brings some critical festival wisdom.

“To [his] credit,” recounts McElhaney, ”he was like, ‘That's a great show guys, I love these sketches. Scrap a bunch, try new shit, take a huge swing and do something crazy.’” So there’ll be some new sketches mixed in with the tried-and-tested.

Not all his feedback has been positive, though. When they unveiled the working title of their Fringe show to him, he was not kind. “Yeah, he was like, ‘What the fuck are you talking about? That cannot be your title,’” says Kocher.

I am of course dying to know this original title (the actual show name this year is simply their act: BriTANicK), so I ask. “It was called Turkey Burger Dick Parade,” Kocher mutters quietly. I lose it.

“If Alex ever reads this interview,” says McElhaney, “I want you to note how hard George just laughed.”