An Interview with Nerd Mentality

If you fancy a delightfully silly show with fun facts, mad maths and daft chats, make sure you catch Nerd Mentality this Fringe

Hello guys can you tell us where you’re both from, & where you are living today?
JOE: I’m from North London, and still living there now.
MERRY: I was born in Australia and grew up in Kent, but now I live in London right around the corner from Joe!

When did you first realise you were funny?
JOE: In lockdown I ran a competitive PowerPoint comedy night for my friends – I loved figuring out new ways to surprise them every week whilst also convincing them that the best colour is zomp (the last colour on Wikipedia’s list of colours).
MERRY: I played Dungeons and Dragons with friends for years and had loads of fun purposely making the silliest choices possible – my favourite was a fantasy Ninja Turtle I named ‘Pablo Kick-asso’.

You’ve got three famous comedians (dead or alive) coming round for dinner. Who would they be & what would you cook; starters, mains & dessert?
MERRY: For starters I would serve Mawaan Rizwan infinite mango slices as punishment for his annoyingly good song ‘Mango’ that never leaves my brain.
For mains I would cook Julia Masli a baked potato – with the same potato that she produced from under her dress in her show last year to solve my ‘hunger problem’.
For dessert I would serve Tim Minchin a platter of TimTams with a fresh cuppa to complete the TimTam Slam Challenge (google it).

JOE: Whoever it is, they’re getting skittles for every course.

So Merry, you’ve been the winner of Queerovision Comedy Competition ’22 and West End New Act of the Year Finalist ’24 – what’s it like in the cauldron of comedy competition?
MERRY: It’s different from normal gigs as there’s way more pressure and the audience have very high expectations – which can be hard to get into a relaxed state-of-mind to perform comedy. However, behind-the-scenes you develop a kinship with all the acts, and you can make really good friends! Having a drink with everyone once it’s over is definitely the best bit.

Hey Joe – can you tell us about Corpsing?
JOE: It’s a murder mystery comedy night! One act dies and the rest are suspects in the case, solved by the audience. It’s always very melodramatic, silly and a ton of fun. When we had the one year anniversary show, the lineup was all of the previous murderers who came back to take over!

How did you two first meet?
JOE: Merry knows my friend’s brother! He brought her along to watch Corpsing and then we hung out a lot at last year’s fringe.
MERRY: Their dad is probably our biggest fan now too – he’s come to more of our shows than anyone else! (shout-out to the Hughes family)

Where, where, & how did your collaborations first begin?
JOE: After last year’s fringe we started meeting up as writing buddies every week, and we had so much fun working together that we thought it’d be fun to work on a whole show!
MERRY: Specifically ‘where’ is a mixture of our favourite locals in North London, the Spoke Café and The Owl and the Hitchhiker.

You’re bringing a show to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, what are you adding to the comedy table?
JOE: Nerd Mentality is about everything we’re geeks about (etymology, legs, a 3-hour YouTube video about the Titanic, etc.) as well as the specialist subjects of everyone in the audience! Plus, it’s got maybe the best (but definitely the silliest) ending of any show at the fringe this year.
MERRY: Don’t forget about our live data analysis on the audience! If you want to know if you have the highest-scoring-scrabble name, come to our show.

What have been the biggest obstacles you overcame while putting your show together?
JOE: We may have gotten carried away once or twice and spent several hours in a spreadsheet trying to make sure a joke was mathematically rigorous.
MERRY: We also spent way too long on the International Phonetic Alphabet Wikipedia page.

When you visit Edinburgh, what are you looking forward to most about engaging with both the Fringe & the city itself?
JOE: My favourite thing to do at the fringe is bumping into a friend in the street, it happens so often! The more I let myself end up at shows I didn’t originally plan to see, the more fun I have.
MERRY: I love seeing all the weird wacky alternative shows that only spawn among the Fringe chaos.

What is your last-minute routine before stepping out on stage?
JOE: Go over the running order, put my phone on silent, and eat a large bag of sour skittles.
MERRY: Lip-sync to the Pokémon Theme Tune

You bump into somebody in the streets of Edinburgh & have 20 seconds to sell your show – what do you say?
Nerd Mentality is a comedy show from a maths PhD and a QI Elf, with fun facts, mad maths and daft chats. Join us to celebrate everyone’s nerdiest interests!

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