Tom Burton is a comedian, writer and performer from Melbourne. He is an improv & sketch ensemble member and teacher at The Improv Conspiracy Theatre. He has written and performed in a number of festival shows since 2017, including playing the titular host of an absurdist, late night talk show, ‘Talkie Time with Jackie Lime’, which just recently finished up a limited run at Comedy Republic.

Josh Burton is an actor, writer, comedian, and singer with over a decade of professional performance experience. He is a regular cast member in ‘Impromptunes The Completely Improvised Musical’. He played a recurring character on long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours and had supporting roles in Australian films including Holding The Man and Son of a Gun.

We spoke to Tom and Josh about the show, the best things about the 1920s, and history repeating itself.

Can you tell us about ‘1925’?

Our show, ‘1925’, is a sketch comedy show where the only rule is that all of the sketches must take place in the year 1925. It’s filled with historical references, trans-Atlantic accents, and big band jazz numbers galore. It’s a decade that is rich with history, style, and a blind optimism that is ripe for comedic satire.

All that said, the aim of our show is fun and laughs. You don’t have to know anything about the 20s to enjoy this show but if you do, your knowledge will be well rewarded.

What is it about the 1920s that inspired the show? Your press release suggests there are historical resonances between the 1920s and the 2020s that should be heeded?

We are big fans of classical Hollywood. The voices, the looks, the vibes, it’s so much fun! We grew up obsessed with comedy legends from the ’20s like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and their comedic voices (or lack thereof) echo throughout our show.
We are also big lovers of the music of that era and our show is weaved together with musical numbers that we love from then.

Not to mention the rich history of the time period. The ‘Roaring 20s’ with its opulence, decadence, and excessiveness is such a fun world to play in. The whole decade was this stop gap, party time between World Wars where people thought that this was as good as it gets. Little did they know there was a Great Depression and another war looming on the horizon. It’s a marvelous set up of blind optimism building to a disastrous implosion on itself.

The historical resonance between then and now is the simple reality that things really haven’t changed all that much in one hundred years, as much as we’d like to think anyway. The ’20’s created the movie star as we know it today and we have pushed that idea to its absolute extreme with social media and the internet. Fascism was all the rage back then and looky looky if it isn’t Mr Popular once again (oh boy…). And organised faith and religion began to fall to the wayside to make room for new beliefs, such as capitalism. The world’s current favourite pastime, especially amongst the Rockerfellers of today.

You’ve recently performed the show at the Comedy Festival at your home in Melbourne. How did that go?

We had an incredible run with this show, not just at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but at Fringe Festivals across Australia. We had sell out crowds across the country and a bevy of 4 – 5 star reviews.

People of all ages really resonated with this show and we had stacks of people come multiple times. Our initial run of this show in Melbourne completely sold out and we added extra shows that also sold out.

Long story short, you should book in tickets early in the run because once word of mouth spreads we’ve got a high chance of selling out!

Josh, you’re also performing a show for kids, ‘Signor Boffo’, can you tell us about that?

Of course, ‘Signor Baffo’ is a kids comedy show set in a kitchen. The head chef hasn’t shown up to work so Baffo, the lowly kitchen hand, decides to open and run the kitchen on his own. It’s silly, it’s physical, it’s (organised) chaos and there’s plenty of audience interaction with the kids. I have a great time performing Baffo because I remember exactly the sort of shows that spoke to me as a kid and I’ve tailored this to that experience. There’s also plenty of gags for the parents in there too just to keep them on their toes.

Beside ‘1925’ and ‘Signor Baffo’, can we expect to see you performing elsewhere during August?

We will be popping up doing gigs all over the shop. See us at ‘The Best of The Fest’ and at The List opening night party to start. Otherwise follow us on instagram @burtonbros to see all of our upcoming gigs in Edinburgh.

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

The best thing about the Fringe is seeing the best and weirdest shows you’ve never heard of. Taking a chance on a random show and being blown away or repulsed in equal measure.

The worst is the exhaustion of doing this marathon of a festival. Maybe that’s just due to my terrible fitness levels and excessive imbibing but hey, that’s all part of the fun.

Have you had any really memorable Fringe experiences, good or bad, either as performers or audience members?

The last time we did Edinburgh we did a crazy gig at 3am. Only in Edinburgh can you do a weird sketch comedy set at three in the morning and have a warm and rowdy crowd ready to meet you.

I also got yelled at by a local one time for saying that the coffee in Edinburgh was bad so I’ll avoid doing that again.

Are there any other acts at the Fringe that you would recommend audiences see?

Oliver Coleman, Mel McGlensley, Rueben Solo, Casey Filips, and a wealth of other hilarious comedians from our home town in Melbourne, Australia who will be crushing it in Edinburgh this year.

‘1925‘ is at Assembly George Square – The Crate from Wed 30 Jul to Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 16:20

‘Signor Baffo‘ is at Assembly Rooms – Bijou from Thu 31 Jul to Sun 17 Aug 2025 at 11:05