Sara Schaefer’s debut stand up show ‘Little White Box’ will be at the Pleasance Courtyard – That for the month of August.
1. Tell us about your Fringe show
Little White Box is a collection of stories and thoughts about what it’s like to be an American in the current political climate and the struggle to live what you believe in an increasingly complex world.
I talk about my night terrors, what it was like to grow up as an evangelical Christian in the Bible Belt, my obsession with crafting, and the struggle to find meaning in a world of horrible cliches. And there’s one poop joke.
2. How does it feel to be playing the Fringe for the first time?
I’ve been wanting to do the Fringe for a few years now, and this year it all came together and I’m so excited. I’ve never been to the UK before, even though it’s been my number one place to visit since I was a teen. It just never worked out until now. I’m a little nervous in that respect, though, because I’ve never performed for a UK audience.
3.If you were not a performer what would you be doing?
If I wasn’t a comedian, I like to think I’d be living out in the country farming the land and creating soft goods to sell at the local market. But in reality, I’d probably be some kind of boring business woman. When I first started comedy, my day job was at a high-powered law firm in New York City calculating damages for securities fraud cases.
4. How do you combat pre-gig nerves?
I usually focus on the jokes and practice a few tricky parts out loud over and over, pacing like a lunatic. Sometimes I do squats if I’m too nervous. The absolute hell of doing squats distracts me from my nerves.
5. Worst on-stage experience?
One of the worst on-stage experiences I’ve had was when my boss at my old day job (a securities fraud law firm) asked me to do a “funny powerpoint” for their high-powered clients. I agreed to do it - not only for the extra cash but because it was something creative instead of my normal work stuck in spreadsheets. It was a disaster.
The clients didn’t get my humor at all. It also didn’t help that I was an inexperienced comedian trying to make jokes about complicated financial concepts. After I got off stage, the lead partner of the firm came up to me and patted me on the head and said, “Well, *I* thought it was funny.” I felt like I was going to die.
6. What do you love about Scotland?
Honestly, since I’ve never been here before, what I love about Scotland comes mostly from movies, literature, and art. I have long been obsessed with anything involving the British isles.
The landscape, the history, the art, the people. I absolutely can’t wait to come see it for myself and learn what makes the Scots particularly unique.
7. What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve ever done?
I honestly don’t know, but I’ve heard that Scots are an honest and forthright people, and I’m pretty honest and forthright, so maybe that’s it. I also just mailed off my DNA to see what my heritage is, so maybe I’ll find out that I’m part Scottish. That would be cool.
8. Favorite Scottish food/drink?
Whisky. Unfortunately though, I’ve had to cut whisky out because it turns out, I am allergic to hangovers. I stick to the lightest of beers these days.
9. Sum up your show in three words.
America, Jesus, Death. (FUN!)
Sara Schaefer’s debut stand up show ‘Little White Box’ will be at the Pleasance Courtyard – That for the month of August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article