“Patron Saint is an hour of stand-up about spirituality, sexuality, virality and why anyone is funny. More specifically, it’s an hour of stand-up by Kelly Bachman, a comedian and rape survivor who found herself with sudden notoriety after encountering serial predator Harvey Weinstein at a comedy show in New York. Kelly was then asked to talk to CNN, The Guardian and a documentary called Hysterical on FX/Hulu, too. Years later, Kelly still hears one recurring question: ‘Are you a comedian because of trauma?’ Patron Saint aims to answer that question.”
How do you describe your show to people when you’re out flyering?
Coming of age stand up about growing up with five sisters, healing from trauma, Harvey Weinstein and more!
The night I saw it, there was a woman in the audience who had to leave, she was quite affected by the material. Does that happen often?
I actually spoke with her after the show, she was very sweet, very honest. I think she’s surprised herself with how emotional the material would make her. And she was very supportive. That’s happened one other time, but there’s been other times where people didn’t want to, but told me afterwards that it had the same effect. People have been very supportive.
What have your audience been like in general?
Every day is winding road at Fringe. I would say sometimes audiences are very young and sometimes the audience is older. Scottish people remind me of my parents, so it feels like doing it in front of my parents. I think [doing the show in] New York, I was reaching a different audience there, and you just keep adapting and learning from different people, and I think that’s never a negative thing. I think also, if you’ve had a few drinks, it’s like there’s different things that can affect the day. And also in that room there’s really nowhere to hide. I’m used to performing that show in rooms where the audience is more anonymous. At [Assembly Front Room] there’s no raised stage, and I can see the audience. I think everyone in that room probably feels like they’re on stage because there’s not any separation.
You’re so open in your show, do people sort of feel like they know you more than they do afterwards?
I mean, the way that I flyer is literally talking to people, interrupting their day, asking them to come to my show and talking to them. So I started it.
You talk a bit about your relationship with your parent in the show. What do they think about it?
When all that came out about me in the news, that’s how they found out. And my mom didn’t really know how to feel about my show when I first started. I think by the time I did this show, she understood my intentions. Yes, but I used to do a show called Rape Victims Are Horny Too. I worked with Dylan Adler, and my mom, was supportive of that, but she didn’t really understand. But when she read a review of that show, that really helped her to understand what other viewers saw, and how the show meant a lot to them. And since then [Mom] has really understood what it is for other people to watch it. She’s like, I didn’t understand that. But seeing what it means for these survivors to enjoy the show, I’m really proud of that.
This show kind of goes against the new trend in comedy, which is the kind of 45 minutes of jokes followed by 15 of sad, as pioneered by Hannah Gadsby. This is really just
I wanted it to be sharp and fast and every few seconds, a laugh moment. I mentioned in the show the sort of “that rape girl wasn’t very funny” thing, like the way people would talk about Nanette, which I love, when she’s talking about [her assault], it’s not funny. It’s on purpose switching. So I really felt there was a time when I really wanted to prove myself and say you’re not gonna be able to say that about me. Like you’re not going to be able to say anything. And then I think it became more about just wanting to show others a before and after. It’s a choice to make. There are things I was telling jokes about before I started talking about this. And then there was this, and there’s jokes I want to make now, on my own terms. I think with this show, with the goal was always this would be a show for survivors. So at the end of the show they would there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, like there’s laughs. There’s options.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Erin Murray Quinlan is an American playwright, amateur beekeeper, and proud solver of Cain’s Jawbone. Her complete biography can be found at www.erinmurrayquinlan.com
