Crybabies are writers, actors and comedians James Gault, Michael Clarke, and Ed Jones. As a trio they have previously had success with the shows ‘Danger Brigade’ and ‘Bagbeard’. Individually they have appeared in numerous hit shows such as Lockwood & Co, After Life, and Bridgerton. This year they bring their new comedy horror ‘The Scaring’ to the Fringe. We spoke to James and Michael about the show, scaling up with the backing of powerhouse producer Francesca Moody, and their aim of making a hilarious Woman in Black.

Can you tell us about ‘The Scaring’?

Michael: ‘The Scaring’ is a comedy horror show from Crybabies. It’s our third show, the third of the trilogy, and we essentially set out to make a kind of funny Woman in Black. We really wanted to embrace a proper old school horror Victorian theatre, but in our own downright silly way.

James: Slapdash surrealness.

Michael: Yeah, we want people at points to be genuinely genuinely scared, but mostly at its core it’s a comedy show, and it’s a continuation of of the work we do. A silly narrative-driven comedy show, but with spooks this time.

James: This is kind of like our third… was it the ‘Cornetto Trilogy‘? Those are three genres. So ‘Danger Brigade’ was our action, ‘Bagbeard’ was our sci-fi, and we were like, ‘let’s finish it off with the horror one,’ We decided to do that.

And for those who might be unfamiliar with you, although you’ve touched on it slightly already. How would you describe your approach to comedy and performance?

Michael: How would we? Why? Why would we? [laughs] I’d say it’s all very sort of DIY. We like the idea that our reach extends its grasp, and that we try and make these big shows that are very very silly, but we like [that they are] by the end very much narrative driven. We do love story and character and stuff. So rather than just disposable sketches, you know, you start by sort of disarming the audience and [make them] think, ‘Oh, this is just knockabout nonsense.’ But then by the end, we like surprising the audience and get[ting] them actually invested in these characters and the story, and get them just sort of swept up in it. That’s something we really like.

James: We like to just… when in doubt commit a little bit is usually our thing when we’re trying to be funny. It’s just like, ‘Let’s commit harder.’ Let’s take this silly situation more seriously until like it feels like…  Okay. we never want anything to feel flippant or anything. There’s a lot of stakes to our shows. We try to make it feel like you’re watching like a film.

How do you split the the writing process between three of you? Is it quite harmonious? Is one person more of the ideas person, and then somebody is good at finessing those ideas? How do you work as a trio?

Michael: The other two do nothing because it’s all me! [laughs] No, it’s very sort of evenly distributed, really. I mean, we find there’s naturally certain aspects of scripted stuff that the three of us hone in on more. Someone would look more on the structure and overall narrative and story of the show, and some more like the big visual moments in the show and those sort of set pieces and stuff, and then what are the funny like quirks and details of each character and stuff. Those are sort of things that each of us kind of naturally gravitate towards.

James: We all kind of like swap and change.It’s never like, ‘Okay, you can only talk about story.’ There’s a lot of fluidity. Ed’s very good at details today, and [to Michael] you’re very good at structure. But I think it sometimes can be tricky to do all at once, if you know what I mean. Usually what happens is you spend a lot of time working on big ideas, then that gets kind of honed into a story, and then you can sort of fine tune stuff to make it more about like, ‘Okay this kind of relates to this and this…’

Is the show pretty much locked in now or is there room for it to change and evolve during August?

Michael: Yeah, much to our creative team’s chagrin! It’s been interesting. It’s been so wonderful working with [producer] Francesca Moody and [director] Jon Brittain, and all our creative team this time, because it’s always just been the three of us doing everything. But this time, I’m very lucky to have Francesca’s help, and so we’ve got a whole team behind us now, which is really lovely. Very talented people working on each aspect of it. So that’s really, really cool.

But then, yeah, trying to sort of balance that because our process has always been like, we just sort of keep changing it right up to Edinburgh, which we still still are but it’s been nicer this time. These big core elements are sort of locked in place, but there will be jokes and gags we tweak because the more you do it in front of an audience, the more you fine tune that sort of stuff.

James: Yeah, you find the sort of rhythm of the show a little bit more. With previous stuff, it always just has been the three of us. But even then, with so many sound cues and stuff, it’s kind of hard to completely change a lot of stuff, in between these shows. But yeah, I think we’ll still keep evolving it as much as we can.

Michael: The plan is to yeah keep growing and evolving the show. But yeah, now everything’s sort of locked in place, and now we’re looking at refining and tweaking. Well, drilling it down. And more jokes!

And now you’ve got the backing of Francesca Moody, and Jon Brittain’s directing. Has that meant you’ve been able to be more ambitious with the show? And how would you maintain the sense of chaos you’re known for, and how would you make sure it’s not overly directed, if that makes sense?

Michael: It’s a big balance, and John’s been so great at honoring and maintaining that. So yeah, it’s still keeping that DNA, and it’s been lovely. We have been able to scale up, and there’s certain effects, and even some… we’re working in the horror genre. moments of illusion and stuff that we have in the show, which we’re really excited about. But yeah, we’re always throughout getting that balance and maintaining that. You can see our thumbprints in it throughout.

We never want anything to be sort of too elegant, although you just allow those moments of surprise, that you lull people into a false sense of security: ‘Oh, I can see how that’s done. They’ve done that trick in a very silly way,’ and then you undercut it with, ‘Oh, but how have they done that?’ That’s been a fun thing to play with throughout this process. So, not letting the kind of impressive stuff take over the show, but you still want to make it interesting and allow for these moments of surprise.

James: Jon’s been very good at all. He and Francesca have been very great in saying they just want to elevate us rather than make us do something else, you know what I mean? That has always been great, and I think also the sort of Woman in Black Victorian theatre kind of our our style does marry up a little bit. It feels like it’s a nice little union.

You’ve mentioned The Woman in Black and alluded to the ‘Cornetto trilogy’, but what were some of the other films and literature you’ve mined for inspiration for the show?

James: The Shining is obviously a big one. Psycho, The Omen, Carrie, Pet Sematary, Ghostwatch, a bit of that. Ghost! Oh, The Sixth Sense. There’s a bit of that. We love also stuff like Hereditary. And Obsession. All these sort of things talking about consequences; we’ve quite a lot of that in the show. And a bit of even Backrooms. We’ve got something up our sleeve which is kind of similar to that as well.

Michael: You know, I haven’t seen either of those two!

James: Widow’s Bay, actually. That kind of does it really well. Of the comedy and the horror never at the expense of the other.

Michael: Yeah, it’s a show that’s so good with detail. That’s something there in the final stages of production. It’s looking at, ‘Oh, what extra hidden details can we put into the set and the design so the people in the first few rows can spot stuff?’ which which is a lot of fun.

What are your hopes for the show? What would constitute a successful Fringe for you?

Michael: It’s been so wonderful to being able to, as James said, we’ve been able to scale up for the show. So we’d love to just keep scaling it up and seeing what more life it can have, and just keep letting it grow and grow, and be like, ‘Oh, what’s the next step for it?’ So yeah, we’d love to take it into bigger spaces, make a longer version of it that we could then transfer to a tour around the country, take to the West End someday. That would be that’ll be really cool to have a show on the West End, that’s as funny as The Play That Goes Wrong, but as scary as The Woman in Black, that’d be the end.

What for you are the best and the worst things about the Fringe?

Michael: I think the best thing is I do think you can still get discovered there. I think you can. It is still possible to start the month there with no foot in this industry and leave with people knowing and liking your work and wanting to see more of it. But I think on the flip side of it, probably the worst thing is that that is shrinking and getting harder.

James: Because everything’s so expensive.

Michael: I think what’s been so lovely about working with Francesca is she feels like one of the people who’s still really championing that and still wanting the Fringe to be what it was. The stuff she’s been helping us with here and with Shedinburgh and stuff as well. So good at helping support artists to showcase their work and not leave penniless and destroyed.

James: It is just fun. Obviously, having all these cool shows all at the same time feels a bit like summer camp. Bad thing would be it’s super expensive to even go up there and do a show, and the accommodation, all that sort of stuff, is pretty bad. That’s a pretty unfunny answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone’s made that point before. Besides… yeah, I don’t know, blooming weather, right?

Besides the show, are the three of you performing elsewhere during August? Any compilation shows or guest spots?

James: We’re doing a show called ‘Eye Infections‘, which is kind of like the umm, the offcuts of all of our shows.

Michael: You’re really selling it.

James: Sort of like a like a mixed bag without a home.

Michael: Basically, because our shows always like weave a narrative in, but often our shows start as like… we’ve got these sketches. And then as the story forms some of those sketches have to leave the show because they no longer fit. So this is a sort of collection of those basically sketches without a home, but they shall find a home for one night only. That’s in Shedinburgh, on the 19th at 5 o’clock.

Are there any other shows or performers at the Fringe that you would recommend we go and see that might not otherwise get as much attention as they deserve?

You’ve got to check out Mothman: A Romance Musical. It’s very funny, brilliant songs. Just a really great cast of cool, funny, up-and-coming comedians who’ve come together to make something in a similar sort of area to us; a real narrative-driven, kind of sketch musical show. It’s really fun. Recommend that.

‘The Scaring‘ is at Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance 2 from Wed 5 to Sun 30 Aug 2026