Harvey Cobb is a comedian, juggler, and circus performer from the North of England. After spending his teenage years honing his skills as a street performer, he relocated to the Netherlands to formally study his craft. In 2022, he graduated from Codarts, Rotterdam, with a degree in Circus. His graduation act Something About Pink earned him the prestigious BNG Circus Prize, an award recognizing the most promising young circus talent in the Netherlands. He brings his debut show’ Pink Boots and An Alcoholic Sock Puppet’ to the Fringe this August. We spoke to Harvey about the show, the origins of his signature pink wellingtons, and his hopes for the festival.

Can you tell us about ‘Pink Boots and An Alcoholic Sock Puppet’?

Yes! I would say it’s half a satire of contemporary art, and half absolutely nonsense. I think it’s a lot of fun, there’s elements of clown, stand-up, circus, character comedy, I juggle pink wellies and make a concert with a sock puppet. I’d say it’s weird, playful and chaotic.

For those who might be unfamiliar with you, how would you describe your comedy and your approach to performance?

Quite clowny I would say. In that I’m going on stage with a pretty good idea of the general direction the show will be heading in. But it’s a game with audience, I’m never 100% certain of what will happen. Also, I grew up in the circus, so my comedy has circus in it, I guess that’s something maybe not so many people have seen before.

The pink wellingtons are a very striking and unique signature. How did they become part of your act?

So, I went to a circus university in Rotterdam, and one day my juggling teacher told me I needed to decide what shoe to wear on stage (meaning formal shoes), and that I should train in that shoe so it’s not different when I perform. When I told him I will perform barefoot, he told me that was not acceptable, it was unprofessional, and disrespectful to the audience. I was a bit mad at him and thought he didn’t know what he was talking about, so to prank him a bit I turned up to my next class with some pink wellies, and told him this would be my shoe. We laughed for a minute, and then we realised actually it wasn’t such a bad idea. So, I stopped juggling clubs and only worked with the boots after that.

The show is partly a satire on pretentious contemporary art. Are there any particular offenders that have influenced your onstage persona?

Oh yes absolutely. But most of them are only one degree of separation from me so there’s no way I’m gonna give you any names.

‘Pink Boots and An Alcoholic Sock Puppet’ is far from a one-man project. What have the rest of your creative team brought to the show?

Soooo much! I’ve been very lucky to have a lot of help. Matthias Romir who is a clown and juggler, and a big idol of mine when I was a kid, helped me a lot creatively on the project, we spent a few weeks in a dance studio in Germany losing our minds. Pepijn Ronaldo who is a brilliant clown, and Captain Frodo who I’m not even sure how to describe…. Side show weirdo maybe, also gave a lot of creative support. Then I also have a beautiful costume that was made by Julia Gut, and Yiorgos Bereris who is an incredible pianist created all the music for the show. Cahit Metin made a beautiful light design, although in the chaos of Ed fringe I’m not able to set it up fully. I was immensely lucky that I got so much help in this project. And also, of course so much moral support from friends, family and lovers.

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

I would really love to be able to say that I don’t care about reviews, and that I don’t care about the awards. I’m really trying so hard not to care, but I’m not doing a very good job. But also to just make it to the end already feels like a big success, I’ve wanted to come to Fringe for as long as I can remember so I’m so pumped to finally be doing it.

What are you looking forward to, and perhaps dreading, about the Fringe?

Well, it’s my first time coming back to the UK to perform in so long, so I’m honestly so excited to meet other people in the scene, comedians, clowns and weirdos. As well as putting my show in front of a (mostly) British audience for the first time. I get told a lot by people who aren’t British that my humour is very British, but I guess let’s see what the Brits think about that.

I’m not sure if I’m dreading anything to be honest, I’m scared I will get sick maybe… I feel like the thing most people dread is doing the show when there’s only two people in the audience, but to be honest I think that’s kind of fun and special, I think I would quite enjoy it. Although from a business perspective that’s a terrible thing to say, I definitely want more than two people in the audience.

Besides ‘Pink Boots and An Alcoholic Sock Puppet’, can we expect to see you performing elsewhere during August; guest spots, compilation shows, etc?

Yes, for sure! But they’re not quite locked in yet, I’ll keep you updated.

Are there any other shows/ performers at the Fringe that you would recommend?

Oh absolutely. I’m super excited to see Lara Ricote, Elf Lyons, YUCK Circus, Nina Conti. I’m a huge Aunty Donna fan so I’m super curious to see Zach Ruane’s solo show. ‘Furioso’ by Piotr Sikora is maybe my favourite show ever, and he is working on his new show ‘Blizzard‘, so I really look forward to that. Also, they’re all funny shows, but if people want some proper amazing circus, I recommend so hard that they see EXIT, that’s something really special.

‘Pink Boots and an Alcoholic Sock Puppet‘ is at Underbelly, Cowgate – Big Belly from Wed 5 to Sun 30 Aug 2026