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| On the Edinburgh fringe you’re never too young – or old – to do standup | On the Edinburgh fringe you’re never too young – or old – to do standup |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| At the back of a double-decker bus parked in the bustling heart of the city, two comedians sit discussing their careers. Even for the Edinburgh festival fringe they make an unusual sight – Grace, 13, is the youngest comedian taking part; Lynn Ruth Miller, who is pushing 83, is the oldest. | At the back of a double-decker bus parked in the bustling heart of the city, two comedians sit discussing their careers. Even for the Edinburgh festival fringe they make an unusual sight – Grace, 13, is the youngest comedian taking part; Lynn Ruth Miller, who is pushing 83, is the oldest. |
| Compare and contrast. Lynn shakes her head a little wearily – she’s come out of retirement for the festival, having “quit comedy” last year, and is now on her comeback tour. Grace is fizzing with energy, fidgeting on her seat as she describes what her set will hold in store that night. | Compare and contrast. Lynn shakes her head a little wearily – she’s come out of retirement for the festival, having “quit comedy” last year, and is now on her comeback tour. Grace is fizzing with energy, fidgeting on her seat as she describes what her set will hold in store that night. |
| Related: Edinburgh festival planner: three shows to see today | |
| Grace the Former Child, as she is billed, made her Edinburgh debut last year with her set of snappy one-liners and acerbic observations about life as a 12-year-old, being Jewish and the follies of adults. Her joke – “they’re always telling me to live my dreams. But I don’t want to be naked in an exam I haven’t revised for” – made it into Dave’s Top 10 jokes of the fringe, which she astutely points out made her the only female on the list. | |
| Fellow comedians packed into the back rows of her standup, but once her run was finished she loudly declared she was done and was retiring before she even officially hit puberty. Yet this year Grace is back. | Fellow comedians packed into the back rows of her standup, but once her run was finished she loudly declared she was done and was retiring before she even officially hit puberty. Yet this year Grace is back. |
| She shrugs nonchalantly when asked what drew her back to a world occupied, mainly, by dysfunctional adults publicly working through their own insecurities. “I had a lot of new material and it’s Edinburgh; you don’t just leave,” says Grace, who lives in west London with her parents. | She shrugs nonchalantly when asked what drew her back to a world occupied, mainly, by dysfunctional adults publicly working through their own insecurities. “I had a lot of new material and it’s Edinburgh; you don’t just leave,” says Grace, who lives in west London with her parents. |
| Miller shakes her head at Grace, both bewildered and impressed by the comedian almost 70 years her junior. | Miller shakes her head at Grace, both bewildered and impressed by the comedian almost 70 years her junior. |
| “Grace has been doing this for almost as long as I have and she has much more confidence than I’ve ever had,” Miller says in her thick American drawl, hailing originally from Ohio. “I haven’t encountered anyone with quite that much ego in a long time.” | “Grace has been doing this for almost as long as I have and she has much more confidence than I’ve ever had,” Miller says in her thick American drawl, hailing originally from Ohio. “I haven’t encountered anyone with quite that much ego in a long time.” |
| Grace’s first foray into comedy was as an eight-year-old, when she drove past a pub which had a sign in the window saying “standup 9-11” and, assuming it meant age, asked her mum if children could do comedy, “which it turns out they can”. Miller, on the other hand, didn’t even discover standup until she was 71 and living in San Francisco. | Grace’s first foray into comedy was as an eight-year-old, when she drove past a pub which had a sign in the window saying “standup 9-11” and, assuming it meant age, asked her mum if children could do comedy, “which it turns out they can”. Miller, on the other hand, didn’t even discover standup until she was 71 and living in San Francisco. |
| Related: Lynn Ruth Miller: Granny's Gone Wild review – sparky octogenarian standup | |
| Despite admiring Grace’s material, which this year takes a darkly existential turn, Miller takes a cynical view on a 13-year-old doing standup. “Do you want the truth? I feel very sorry for her because it’s way too early to start,” she says resolutely. “She doesn’t get the kind of thrill that I do and by the time she gets to my age she’ll be jaded, she’ll be bored and she won’t be able to do it. That’s such a shame, what a loss, because for someone my age standup comedy is a gift. It’s the ability to be able to communicate with a whole swath of generations.” | Despite admiring Grace’s material, which this year takes a darkly existential turn, Miller takes a cynical view on a 13-year-old doing standup. “Do you want the truth? I feel very sorry for her because it’s way too early to start,” she says resolutely. “She doesn’t get the kind of thrill that I do and by the time she gets to my age she’ll be jaded, she’ll be bored and she won’t be able to do it. That’s such a shame, what a loss, because for someone my age standup comedy is a gift. It’s the ability to be able to communicate with a whole swath of generations.” |
| Grace looks unconcerned. “I’m not going to do comedy for my whole life. I would much prefer to do something in the music industry.” Indeed, none of Grace’s friends at school are even aware she does comedy or is making waves at the fringe. She feels like she has a double life and is happy to keep it that way. | Grace looks unconcerned. “I’m not going to do comedy for my whole life. I would much prefer to do something in the music industry.” Indeed, none of Grace’s friends at school are even aware she does comedy or is making waves at the fringe. She feels like she has a double life and is happy to keep it that way. |
| “Although I do a lot of comedy, it’s not really part of my daily life. I just go to school and hang out with my friends, normal 13-year-old things. I do practise jokes on my friends to see what makes people laugh but they don’t know its stuff for a show. Sometimes if I tell a joke and my friends laugh, I secretly write it down. Then I go on stage and I’m this comedian and it kind of surprises me.” | “Although I do a lot of comedy, it’s not really part of my daily life. I just go to school and hang out with my friends, normal 13-year-old things. I do practise jokes on my friends to see what makes people laugh but they don’t know its stuff for a show. Sometimes if I tell a joke and my friends laugh, I secretly write it down. Then I go on stage and I’m this comedian and it kind of surprises me.” |
| Rather than brimming with precocious self-confidence, Grace is unfazed by it all. “I wouldn’t say comedy has made me more confident, but it’s made me less scared of going on stage and stuff. I’ve just got used to it.” | Rather than brimming with precocious self-confidence, Grace is unfazed by it all. “I wouldn’t say comedy has made me more confident, but it’s made me less scared of going on stage and stuff. I’ve just got used to it.” |
| It is a very different story for Miller, whose life was changed when she discovered standup “accidentally” at 71 and admits she still gets terrified before going on stage. | It is a very different story for Miller, whose life was changed when she discovered standup “accidentally” at 71 and admits she still gets terrified before going on stage. |
| As a struggling novelist she would make jokes at her readings and they always went down much better than the books themselves. Then, after attending a comedy class, she discovered an untapped talent for making people laugh. “By that time I was over 70 years old, I had 11 novels that I couldn’t get published and about a thousand paintings that I couldn’t sell, I was barely able to feed myself. But all of a sudden I had all this adoring attention on me, so I just decided to keep going at it” | As a struggling novelist she would make jokes at her readings and they always went down much better than the books themselves. Then, after attending a comedy class, she discovered an untapped talent for making people laugh. “By that time I was over 70 years old, I had 11 novels that I couldn’t get published and about a thousand paintings that I couldn’t sell, I was barely able to feed myself. But all of a sudden I had all this adoring attention on me, so I just decided to keep going at it” |
| Miller’s show often opens with her stripping off and throwing bras at the audience while singing Anarchy in The UK, and is full of risqué jokes, but she says this does not reflect her personality before standup. It’s also not to everyone’s taste. She appeared at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions in 2012 and got a thumbs down from Simon Cowell. | Miller’s show often opens with her stripping off and throwing bras at the audience while singing Anarchy in The UK, and is full of risqué jokes, but she says this does not reflect her personality before standup. It’s also not to everyone’s taste. She appeared at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions in 2012 and got a thumbs down from Simon Cowell. |
| “People don’t believe it now, but I was extremely conservative. I always wore dresses that went up to my neck and below my knees. I hadn’t gone out on a date in 50 years. Now everyone thinks I’m this fun dirty old lady, but I’m not – I’m just someone who found something fun to do instead of bingo.” | “People don’t believe it now, but I was extremely conservative. I always wore dresses that went up to my neck and below my knees. I hadn’t gone out on a date in 50 years. Now everyone thinks I’m this fun dirty old lady, but I’m not – I’m just someone who found something fun to do instead of bingo.” |
| Related: 'Booed off in 17 seconds' – comedians recall their first gigs | |
| Yet despite their seven-decade age difference and opposing comedy styles, Miller and Grace also have much in common. Being the oldest or the youngest in an overcrowded field of comedians gives them an advantage, they both agree, and both also lament how much people patronise them. | Yet despite their seven-decade age difference and opposing comedy styles, Miller and Grace also have much in common. Being the oldest or the youngest in an overcrowded field of comedians gives them an advantage, they both agree, and both also lament how much people patronise them. |
| Comedy has also been an education for them both, with Miller freely reeling off a variety of explicit terminology she has recently learned from fellow comics. Grace’s mum, Gabrielle, who is listening nearby, seems not to mind about the adult content her daughter is coming into contact with. “I’d rather she encountered it here than somewhere on the internet,” she says. | Comedy has also been an education for them both, with Miller freely reeling off a variety of explicit terminology she has recently learned from fellow comics. Grace’s mum, Gabrielle, who is listening nearby, seems not to mind about the adult content her daughter is coming into contact with. “I’d rather she encountered it here than somewhere on the internet,” she says. |
| Grace will perform only five shows at the fringe before going back to normal summer holiday activities, but Miller will do the whole 30-day marathon and says she wouldn’t have it any other way. | Grace will perform only five shows at the fringe before going back to normal summer holiday activities, but Miller will do the whole 30-day marathon and says she wouldn’t have it any other way. |
| “I will do this until I die,” she says dryly. “I have promised the guy who runs the Leicester Comedy Festival that in 2033, which will be my 100th year, I will die on stage. I’ll get everyone to bring a shovel – I think it will draw the crowds.” | “I will do this until I die,” she says dryly. “I have promised the guy who runs the Leicester Comedy Festival that in 2033, which will be my 100th year, I will die on stage. I’ll get everyone to bring a shovel – I think it will draw the crowds.” |