Edinburgh Interview: Helen Arney

Edinburgh Interview: Helen Arney

by: Emma

"I love how immediate live comedy is. You can write a funny song during the day and perform it at a gig that night." Emma McAlpine speaks to musical comedian Helen Arney.

Helen Arney would make an excellent comedy promoter. During the course of the hour I spend chatting to her, she gushes about so many of her friends' Edinburgh shows that I have to gently remind her we’re here to talk about her own. After making her solo debut last year as a musical comic with Eight and a Half Songs About Love, she’s back this year armed with her ukulele and some Songs for Modern Loving.

“I felt like there was another show about love to do. The premise is that I think love was a lot easier 400 years ago when you had less choice. Since I met someone at Edinburgh last year I’ve been in a relationship. Unfortunately he lives in Melbourne so I’m having one of the most modern relationships possible via Skype. But the crux is that you have to find happiness where you can get it.“

This year, Arney tells me she is much more confident and relaxed which might have something to do with not making a deadline out of her show title. “Last year I was very much trying to stay under the radar and see if I could write a show but I put too much pressure on myself and had to come up with 8 ½ songs before August. On day one - there were six songs, and on day two -  there were five, because one was so shit I had to take it out! By day four, it was fine. I made it across the channel!”

Although she’s been gigging on the comedy circuit for the last three years, Arney has only recently become a full-time comic and quit her job as an assistant producer for BBC Radio 3 before the Festival. “It’s been a gradual thing but it was quite scary. It was a properly good job, one my parents were actually happy to tell their friend’s about!” Ultimately though, it was her job that pushed her onto the comedy circuit. “I went for an audition to present on BBC3 and they said I didn’t have enough personality to be a radio presenter, so out of spite I did a comedy writing course and I’ve never looked back. I love how immediate live comedy is. You can write a song during the day and perform it at a gig that night.”

After starting out on the open mic circuit performing some “very mediocre” stand-up, Arney introduced music to her routine and it all suddenly clicked.

“It always felt like there was something missing with my stand-up and I was never really getting anywhere with it. I realised I had to pull all the stops out and go in a different direction. I’m a classically trained musician and I can play piano and guitar so why shouldn’t I use all my training and skills like actors and writers do?”

Now she’s left the open mic circuit behind and runs her own night, The London Air Accordian Society, as well as performing at “a lot of lovely weird gigs” like the Cheltenham Science Festival. “I got distracted in the beginning by this theory that you’ve got to do loads of circuit gigs and eventually you’ll get to play Jongleurs. Then you find out there are people who aren’t on the circuit all the time who are following much more interesting paths.”

Helen performing with some fellow ukulele players on Edinburgh's Grassmarket

We get back to Festival talk. Like a lot of comics I’ve interviewed for the Fringe, Arney has a rather intimidating schedule of shows, performing daily in Andrew Clover’s Love Rules and James Campbell’s Comedy 4 Kids as well as her own. I am however, extremely envious of her inaugural chilli nights, which sound like a blissful refuge from the non-stop maelstrom that is the Edinburgh Fringe:

“I’m living with Broderick Chow, my assistant producer and Eric from Eric’s Tales of the Sea this year and every Thursday we have a chilli night. We invite the dregs of Edinburgh who’ve spent the last seven nights in Brooks Bar and give them all a cup of tea and some chilli. It’s very civilised. We put all the staplers and the flyers away so there’s no evidence of the Festival.”

As we finish up talking about her plans for next year, I'm reminded that behind the kind and friendly exterior is a wicked sense of humour to boot: “I’m thinking next year’s show title could be either Science: The Musical or Nazi Space Race: The Musical. What do you think? I like Nazi Space Race.  It’s certainly not as controversial as a show I saw last year called Kiddy Fiddler on the Roof. That title was quite something!”

Photo credit: Alex Brenner

Helen Arney: Songs For Modern Loving will be at the Leicester Square Basement on Thursday 23rd September.

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Emma