Philipp Kostelecky is a stand-up comedian with Austrian-American-Slovenian heritage who is now based in the UK. Since starting as a comedian in 2018, he’s impressed audiences with his physical storytelling and easy charm. He brings his debut hour ‘Daddy’s Home’ to the Fringe for 2023. We spoke to him about the show, his international background, and what his expectations for a hectic August in Edinburgh.
Can you tell us about ‘Daddy’s Home’?
‘Daddy’s Home’ is my stand-up comedy hour that I’ve been touring around Europe as a work-in-progress show for the past year, which I am now taking up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. It’s more of a traditional freewheeling American-style stand-up show with a little bit of heart but none of this 40-minute sad moment that seems to plague so many Edinburgh Fringe shows (I do mine at the 50-minute mark so it’s totally different #InovateAndElevateBaby).
It’s a really fun show, and it embodies everything I like about the stand-up I watch and the stand-up I love to perform. It’s funny, stupid, silly, some [air quote here] “smart and socially critical” jokes, a little bit of darkness, and of course a little bit of heart to round it out. It’s also got a lot of physicality to it! Not in the clowning sense, more in doing an impression of a thumb and a lizard sense. I love performing the show and have toured it internationally so that it can be accessible to any audience. It’s not really heavily themed either, a bit about growing up in a non-traditional family structure, what makes someone who they are, and humanity in the face of weirdness. In short, it’s a show about love, family, and pancakes.
In the show, you talk about your varied heritage. To what extent have you retained your American identity, and how much have you adjusted to living in Britain? And just how much difference is there between the two countries anyway?
I don’t know if I consider myself to be really that American, as I mainly grew up in Austria and Slovenia. So I’d say that I’m more of a European-American which sounds just as pretentious as it is. My mother is Slovenian/American and my father was Austrian and then I also went to an international school, just to explain to anyone reading.
As for how much of my American identity I’ve retained, I’d say mainly my positivity, much to the annoyance of some of my English friends! My accent is all over the place, but that’s probably from going to an international school and living in a melting pot city like London. I do occasionally find myself saying ‘jumper’ or ‘crisp’ and starting to vomit a little and actively avoid it. There’s some UK stuff that I think is great though, like the postcode system that’s pretty good, and some of the more London slang like ‘swear down’, ‘is it?’, and ‘what you sayin’?’ I also like gigging around the UK and hearing the variety of accents and words, I honestly never thought so many words could be pronounced in so many different variations (incorrectly, but not in a bad way). From a linguistical side of things, it always keeps me on my toes and I sometimes require promoters and audience members to repeat what they’re saying.
You started performing comedy in 2018 after you moved to the UK. What was the motivation for that? Was it an ambition you had had previously?
I’ve known that I wanted to be a comedian since I was 14 after watching it on TV, it was like an awakening watching it for the first time. When I moved to London in 2018 and started doing stand-up properly, I was hooked and the more I did the more I enjoyed doing it.
This is your debut Fringe show. What are your hopes and expectations for August?
Well of course my hope is to have the show of the festival, for everyone to adore me, and to sell out my run while gaining never-ending praise from my peers, the industry, and most importantly my family.
Fantasies aside, I’m not trying to expect too much from the things of the show I can’t control. All I’d really want is to sell a good number of tickets (sell-out really, in a monetary not creative sense) and really perform a show I love performing. A bit cheesy I know, but it’s also kind of true!
Besides ‘Daddy’s Home’, can we expect to see you performing elsewhere during August?
Yes you can, I’ll be hosting a late-night compilation show every day at 10:50 pm at the City Cafe called ‘Philipp and Phriends: A Late Night Comedy Show‘. I don’t know if you saw what I did there with the ‘Ph’ and ‘Friends’, but it’s pretty clever stuff. It’ll be a really fun late-night variety show where I’ll be introducing some of my favourite acts of the circuit. I’ll only be hosting it so none of the material in my main show will actually be in the compilation show.
Apart from your show, what else are you looking forward to (or even perhaps dreading) about the Fringe?
I’m really looking forward to getting sucked in at the Fringe, spending time with my friends on the comedy scene, seeing bigger comedian’s tour shows at half the price (hehe) and just really developing as a comedian and performer. I’m also excited to do my other show at the Fringe, ‘Philipp and Phriends’, as I don’t have to do any material and I can just have fun with the crowd. I think it’ll be a really fun break from my main show which should be great!
Are there any other acts at the Fringe that you would recommend audiences see?
Ohh yeah 100%, there’s Ian Smith, Krystal Evans, and Liam Withnail, who I think are all great. I’m also excited to see Drew Michael’s show this year.
‘Daddy’s Home’ runs from Wed 2 to Sun 27 Aug 2023 (except Mon 14th) at The Stand Comedy Club 2 at 16:00
‘Philipp and Phriends: A Late Night Comedy Show’ runs from Thu 3 to Sun 27 Aug 2023 at Laughing Horse @City Cafe – Hollywood at 22:50