Cringe at the Fringe

Sam Roulston, a London, UK born, Toronto-based comedian and improviser, is no stranger to the Toronto Fringe. With three ensemble shows under his belt he’s decided to try something new for his fourth - CRINGE, a solo sketch show. However, when Toronto Fringe went digital for its 2021 season, Roulston pushed himself creatively to try even more new things.

“For years I've wanted to do digital comedy and film some sketches with friends. I just never had the guts or the know-how.” He says over drinks in his west end backyard. “This was a moment where I was doing nothing else and I thought why not just put my energy into writing the show and learning how to do it. Before CRINGE, I’d never used a camera, never picked up a mic or edited.”

Roulston wrote many of the sketches while working aboard a cruise ship as an improviser. “I was performing five hours a week and I had a lot of downtime. So I would throw myself into the show.” He continued: “I was excited to explore this stuff that I had never really done before, adding the digital element was just another learning experience.

Having performed all over Toronto with stops in Cape Town, New Orleans and his native London, Roulston’s tastes and influences are varied. “During the lockdown I watched so much comedy. Search Party, obviously I Think You Should Leave. Anything that Dawn French touched. I mean, Bo Burnham came out right in the middle and just made me wish I had a budget.”

With the show running from July 21st to 31st, this is the first time in his Fringe experience that he’s not in his words ‘running around wrangling a bunch of friends in a damp room’. “I have nothing left to do except promote it and it feels nice,” He says about CRINGE, “It’s also scary because there’s nothing more I can do to edit or polish. It’s locked in. I just blew it a kiss and sent it away.”

The show is inspired by Sam’s intrusive thoughts -- the thoughts that would pop into his head when he was brushing his teeth or doing a mindless activity. “That was the initial inspiration - what are the cringeworthy things that I've done or seen? This is a fun little way for me to process these things.”

CRINGE is filled with larger than life characters who truly don’t realize that they’re being awful. “That’s the definition of cringe to me,” Roulston says. “I love, love, love people watching. I love human beings that are in my life or my peripherals that have moments of being genuinely terrible but don’t seem to see it, bless them.”

“It’s about taking these cringeworthy experiences and boiling it down to one specific character.” Some of those characters include Allies, lazy friends, trust fund kids, snobby baristas, closeted country singers and people who weaponize cancel culture. “I love to hate some of them, and a few I genuinely love.”

Toronto Fringe’s reputation as a breeding ground for fun, exciting, and new talent is one of the draws for Roulston. “That’s the great thing about Fringe. you can workshop, you can be a little rough around the edges - which is perfect for me considering I've never filmed or edited anything before. I feel like I can put my work out with a little more love and a little less judgement.”

Digital Toronto Fringe runs July 21 - 31, 2021.
Get tickers to Cringe here.

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