A comedian from Northern Ireland has described performing her first show at the Edinburgh Fringe as a "dream come true."
Caroline McEvoy, 29, is originally from Bangor but moved to London a few years ago. In 2019, she started doing stand-up for a bit of fun and she hasn't looked back.
She's since performed throughout the UK and now hosts her own comedy night in London called Comedy Bandits.
Read more: Culture Night Belfast event cancelled this year as 'complete rethink' needed
The Bangor woman is currently in Edinburgh for her first performances at the world-renowned Fringe Festival, a moment she has been dreaming of since she was a teenager.
"I'm really excited. It's something I've been wanting to do since I was a teenager and went to the Fringe with my family, and I remember thinking it was amazing," Caroline told Belfast Live.
"It's a dream come true. I feel like I've had to wait so long, we originally planned to do this show in 2020 so now two years later I'm finally here and doing it which feels nice.
"I started doing stand-up just for fun, I did a beginners course at Angel Comedy in London where they show you how to write your first five minute set. I did it for a bit of a laugh, thinking it'd be a fun thing to do and a good way to meet people as I was quite new to London at that time.
"I always loved comedy. It never crossed my mind you could just do stand-up, then a friend did a gig and I was like 'oh, you can just get up and do it.' It just changed things for me.
"Then I just completely fell in love with it. Since then, I've been going out and around different parts of the UK gigging regularly, now I'm doing it several times a week. Since then, I've also started my own comedy night in London so I now run stand-up events every week and every month. So I'm busy, but I'm loving it."
Caroline's show at the Fringe is a split-set with friend and fellow comedian Farah Sharp called '60 Minutes to Self-Destruct', which runs from August 6 to 14.
She added: "We're both doing 30 mins of stand-up each, it's kind of like a showcase of some of our best jokes, as we're getting ready to take our solo shows up to the Fringe next year. We're different, but we both go into storytelling, observation, a mix of different things.
"She's from an Egyptian background so she talks about that, and obviously being from Northern Ireland I talk about that in my set. I talk about growing up in Northern Ireland, specifically I'm from Bangor so I talk a bit about that. I talk about ex-boyfriends, my pet cat, drugs, and Disney princesses. So, a whole range of stuff, hitting all the good things.
"I feel like because I'm young and I'm presented as kind of like a nice young woman, when I start making dark jokes people can't believe it. It's worked in my advantage I think, as people aren't expecting it."
You can find out more about Caroline's debut Fringe show and buy tickets by clicking here.
READ NEXT:
-
Watch: Belfast community out in force for hilarious 'Wheelie Bin Race'
-
Acclaimed artist brings "impactful and unforgettable" hyperreal sculptures to NI
-
One-of-a-kind immersive light and sound experience opens in Belfast
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here
