THE Edinburgh Fringe is well-known for its diversity. But it’s unlikely anyone has a story to tell quite like Alison Larkin.
After all, how many comics can say their show’s origins lie with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a Margaret Thatcher impression.
If there’s anyone that rings true for, then they best get in touch with Larkin, because that’s more or less how it happened for her.
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The English-American comedian, author and podcaster has returned to the Fringe for the first time in 24 years and, in an exclusive interview with The National, spoke about how Tutu helped inspire her new show, dealing with the loss of her fiancé and her love for Edinburgh.
‘Cracking up with Desmond Tutu’
Larkin first met Tutu in 2006, when a friend of her was making a documentary on the South African theologian.
Having been invited to dinner, the two struck up a conversation after Tutu (below) felt others at the table were ignoring her.
“I felt quite awkward,” Larkin says.
“He told these two young men he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize to help these guys with their career while they ignored me.”
Tutu asked Larkin to tell him a little bit about herself and so she duly explained how she was born in the US and adopted by British parents before going on to find her birth mother later in life.
“He asked me if I had a good adoption and I said I had got lucky but that if I’d been adopted by Mia Farrow then I could be married to Woody Allen.
“Well he cracked up.”
Reminiscing on Tutu’s “incredible laugh,” Larkin explains how he then invited her to join his party for the next two days and that they shared political conversations, often with the comedian performing her impression of Margaret Thatcher.
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“We just clicked. At one point, we were sitting quietly and not making each other laugh for once.
“He said he wanted to say something and I’ll always remember it – that I can’t control what happens to me.”
New Fringe show
That wasn’t the last Larkin saw of Tutu but she picks up her story around 14 or 15 years later.
Despite thinking she would never find love, the comedian says she finally found it with her partner Bhima, who was originally from the south of India.
Five days after the pair decided to marry though, Bhima sadly passed away.
“I had this time of numbness but then I started to exercise and go out into nature where we used to go out walking all the time,” she says.
“The numbness came and went and I waited for the despair but it didn’t come. Instead, there was this extraordinary extra energy.”
Her new show then – Grief… A Comedy – explores those universal themes of love, loss and hope.
Around three months after the death of her fiancé, Larkin went back to her old friend Tutu for some guidance.
“I kept thinking about what he had said to me. He’d read my novel about my birth mother (The English American) and he told me I knew how to take a difficult subject and make it accessible.
“I avoided love my whole life but then found it in my 50s. When the worst did happen, instead of wanting to hide I found I wanted to live a life more fully than ever.
“Tutu wrote back and told me to tell my story, to take a subject like loss and bring people hope.”
The South African bishop passed away in 2021 and, although he never got to see the show in its entirety, Larkin says he was delighted when he discovered the Soho Theatre had said they would act as producer.
“People can just blame him if they don’t like it,” she says, laughing.
‘Coming home’
Larkin describes her own show as an “epic love story,” one that should hold an appeal for everyone.
“I wrote this because I had to. I don’t think about what others will think because I would never get anything done.”
She adds that she’s particularly excited to return to the Scottish capital after 24 years away.
“I’ve had to raise two children in that time,” she jokes.
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“But it feels like I’m coming home. In that time, I found my birth mother, I’ve had kids, I’ve been divorced, I wasn’t sure if I’d get back.
“I’m absolutely loving hanging out with all the young people. They’ve all got plays and ideas, I’m just loving it, every single minute of it.”
Alison Larkin: Grief, A Comedy is at Assembly George Square Studio 2 at 2.10pm - click HERE for more information on tickets.
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