Scottish comedian Connor Burns is bringing his debut standup show Vertigo to the Lowry in Salford early next year, and spoke to MM about his favourite places to tour, how he got into comedy, and his most embarrassing memory from performing live.
Burns started out as a comedian in 2017 and has enjoyed a meteoric rise since then, adding extra days to what was initially a very modest tour due to popular demand.
He says: “You never know if online success is going to convert to ticket sales, so we were very trepidacious and planned a very small show, but now we’re sitting at 44 shows so it’s gone way above our expectations. It’s a lovely problem to have!”
An Edinburgh native, he cites the famous Fringe as a constant inspiration growing up.
He says: “As locals, I think we almost take it a wee bit for granted. Once I got into comedy, I started to realise, this is crazy – I don’t have to leave my own city and I can see acts from Australia, from China, from America.
“This tour that I’m on now all kind of kicked off at the Fringe. It’s an insane feeling to be in your hometown to go to a festival that you attended a lot as a punter and have people actually come and see you.”
Home is understandably his favourite place to perform, but Burns is also excited to bring the show to this neck of the woods. “I’m not just saying this, but Manchester has always been a city that I’ve loved to perform in. Generally the Northwest has a good sense of humour – very similar to Scotland. It’s very working class, don’t take anything seriously, it’s all in the name of fun.”
Outside of Edinburgh, Burns has travelled extensively and is fresh off a trip to New York as part of a ‘Fringe encore’ season.
New York was “surreal,” he says. “I feel like British comedians have got a real chip on our shoulder – we worry that our stuff isn’t going to carry over or translate. And there’s little references that you need to change, but very quickly you learn that funny is funny, it doesn’t really matter where it is.”
Performing in New York also meant sharing a stage with household names like Ed Byrne and Larry Dean, the latter of whom has become a close friend.
He says: “I have to pinch myself sometimes because these are people that I still look up to, but you run into them and it’s like, ‘That’s just Larry now.’ And then you realise, no, he’s got an insanely huge following and great career. I’m very lucky that I get to perform alongside really talented people.”
Burns also has a successful online presence, but says “like a lot of comedians I was a bit resistant to the social media thing. But I’m now completely connected to my own fan base, and I think it’s given artists and performers a bit more of the power.
“It’s hard – you’ve got to learn how to be a pseudo-video editor and marketer, but it only benefits you. Social media is the reason this tour has happened.”
One of the places he’s enjoyed the most success is on the other side of the world – Burns has toured Australia three times in two years and plans to go back in spring 2024. He says: “I went over with not low expectations but realistic expectations, but the gigs I got to do were fantastic.I debuted on Australian TV before I’d ever been on British TV, so I’ve done everything backwards.”
Speaking over Zoom with Christmas decorations in the background, he adds: “It’s also nice to leave Scottish weather behind! Even though it’s winter there, people there are in North Face jackets and I’m like, ‘This is tropical.’”
It all feels a far cry from a working-class upbringing in Scotland. He says it can be difficult being on the road for long periods of time, but “I just remember, I used to have to get up at 7am to go to do a job I hated, so I can do a four hour drive now or stay in a not-great hotel for a night. I’m quite good at keeping myself grounded anytime I start grumbling.”
He adds, “You’ve got to put things into perspective. You turn up to a gig and people are working 12-hour shifts behind the bar, and you want to grumble because the heating isn’t on in the room!”
Growing up he was the youngest of four with a ten-year age gap between him and his closest sibling. “I figured out very quickly that I didn’t have any physical advantage against my siblings. So I thought if I could make them laugh I might get by!”
It seems a natural transition now into the “attention business,” but what finally convinced him to give it a go was giving the best man speech at his older brother’s wedding eight or nine years ago. “There were laughs where I wanted there to be laughs so I thought, ‘Maybe I should try it.’ That was it: a little buzz from that speech.”
The writing process happens for Burns in a similarly spontaneous way. He says: “My notes on my phone are full of psychotic little one-line things – I’ll be driving and something funny will pop into my head, so it’s very everyday stuff. I don’t have the discipline to sit and write a show, it kind of happens naturally.”
Audiences for Vertigo can look forward to “a very personal show. I talk about my family, getting to travel, this job, touring Australia. There’s a lot of me talking about this next phase of my life. I can’t give too much away!
“But I’m really proud of the show, I’ve done it about a hundred times so far and it’s grown arms and legs. It’s very different from how it started out.”
It’s also a long way away from when he started out – he recalls a “crushing” heckle at a tough early gig from “a lovely old woman sitting near the front. She just whispered to herself, ‘Come on son.’ It wasn’t even mean, but I was so crushed.”
Moving swiftly onwards we talk about his best memory from performing. “I got to play the Town Hall Theatre on Broadway, opening for Daniel Sloss, and I found out David Schwimmer was in the audience. I grew up watching Friends so it was surreal – I was like, ‘Ross just watched me do stand up!’”
And goals for the future?
“I’ve got to perform at the Edinburgh Playhouse and Sydney Opera House as part of a much bigger show, and I’d love to sell them out as a tour show myself. Apart from that, this [year] was my first time in New York and I really got bitten by the bug.
“I’m very working-class,” he laughs. “So any time something good happens in my career I’m like, ‘Well if that’s the pinnacle, then that’s fine.’ I’m just happy to be here.”
Connor Burns will perform at the Lowry in Salford on 19th January 2024, with tickets for the tour available here.
Image courtesy of Melody Joy. Used with permission.
