Giulia Galastro wants to talk about growth, in every sense of the word, while bringing her warm and slightly absurd style with it.

MC extraordinaire for the award-winning Open Comedy in Edinburgh (Tuesday Nights at Artisan Roast Leith Walk), Giulia has leapt ahead a year from her work-in-progress at the last Glasgow Comedy Festival to delight, and maybe slightly gross out, her audiences with ‘Growth’.

Reflecting on the past year personally and looking at the world as a whole, Giulia is digging deep with the content of this show while bringing the staples for which she has become known. Or as she calls them, ‘Galastro classics’, like diary entries from her teenage self, and maybe even a ‘zine…

What inspired the title for your newest WIP, ‘Growth’?

I’ve since come to realise that ‘growth’ can mean almost anything – it’s too broad! I had two main kinds of growth in mind when I picked [the name], which was a growth that I have, namely my fibroid, and feeling icky about turning 40, and personal growth. Then I’ve also been thinking about economic growth… whether or not I can make any of those things funny is another question. [The show summary] is very mysterious. It’s almost as if I hadn’t written the show!

What else will you be exploring?

I see it as setting a vibe and hopefully making people feel comfortable. And I think those are still useful skills when you’re doing a solo show. I went to Clown School for two years and I was thinking about making a big-

[Giulia goes on to talk about a spectacular, high concept idea she wants to bring to the show. I can’t spoil it here; you’ll have to get tickets and see it for yourself]

– I thought it could be visually striking. There’s this stereotype of women comics only talk about their periods. I’ve just done it anyway… trying to think about a way to make it more absurd.

What do you think you learned from your WIP last year, ‘Pelican’?

What did I learn? It was really my first time putting together a full hour. I feel like you can have slightly different rhythms when you’ve got a larger stretch of time. If you’re doing 10 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever, and there’s two minutes where no one is laughing, something has gotten terribly wrong. Whereas I think with longer bits… you almost need to give people a break from, you know, from being so hilarious.

[This show] will be new. This past year I got an ADHD diagnosis, and I think my brain craves novelty and it’s hard to force myself to go back to something. It might have been smarter to do something that was kind of working and make it better, but let’s start from scratch!

This is your first longer show since last Glasgow Comedy festival – what makes a Glasgow audience special?

I do love Glasgow audiences. I feel like they, in general, tend to be quite warm, quite receptive. It’s a funny city! The stereotype that it’s friendlier than Edinburgh, I think, has some merit. Timing-wise, it’s really helpful for me to have a deadline for stuff and where the comedy festival falls in the year feels like a good point to be like, “write something!”

What do you want your audience to take away from this show?

Well, Becca, that would suggest perhaps that the show is more complete than it, in fact, is at this day! I’m thinking about the idea of growing a following and getting big online and that it’s not something I’m personally interested in. Running a little local comedy night every Tuesday, the beauty of DIY and things that are smaller scale but are meaningful.

I have a desperate need to be liked and so I’ve always tried to kind of bring things that are relatable. Though I guess also embrace some of areas where I’m just a little weirdo that maybe is less relatable.

In honour of ‘Growth’, what’s your favourite unit of measurement?

Great question, very glad you’ve asked that. I feel like there is an ancient Egyptian [measurement], I’ve got, cubit? I got a cubit in my mind, which I believe is from your elbow to the tip of your finger [spot on – Ed]. I think that’s a cubit. From memory. So, I’m going cubit. Whatever happened to the good old cubit?

Sum up your show in five words?

Money, age, tumour, community, improvement.

Giulia Galastro’s show, ‘Growth (WIP)’ will be at Gael & Grain, Sat 14 Mar at 14.45 as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.