ABOUT A TERRIBLE SHOW
A TERRIBLE SHOW FOR TERRIBLE PEOPLE is an award-winning 50-minute physical comedy show with only 1 performer and 2 spoken words.
When most people think about physical comedians, these greats come to mind: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Mr. Bean, Lucille Ball, Laurel & Hardy and Benny Hill. But the majority of that list is white, male and pretty dead. Creator and performer Bonnie He performs physical comedy from a non-traditional perspective rarely seen in the age-old artform: Asian American, female and mostly alive.
A TERRIBLE SHOW FOR TERRIBLE PEOPLE is a raunchy physical comedy romp with movement, dance, brief video clips, burlesque, some audience participation and some props. Prominent among the props are pickles. (You and Dr. Freud may make of that what you will.)
A TERRIBLE SHOW FOR TERRIBLE PEOPLE won Fringiest show at the 2023 Orlando Fringe Winter Mini-Fest, Best Comedy at the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival and the Craziest Solo Show award at the 2019 Crazy Woke Asians Solo Performance Festival. It has also toured nationally from Second City Hollywood's Diversity in Comedy Festival to The Brick's NY Clown Theatre Festival.
The show will be making it’s European debut at The 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
SOME TERRIBLE PEOPLE
Bonnie He is an Asian American actor, improvisor, award-winning physical comedian and clown, and Hello Kitty super fan. She was in the short film The New Empress with Maggie Gyllenhaal and was on a Second City Hollywood house improv team. She is a staple at Upright Citizen’s Brigade’s monthly show, Send in the Clowns.
Bonnie received the Maverick Award for her solo work from the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival in April 2023. The Maverick Award is “presented to an artist or individual whose work has set a high standard of individuality and self-styled creativity.”
Bonnie is the resident clowning instructor at Company of Angels, the oldest non-profit professional equity waiver theater in Los Angeles, and at East West Players, the nation’s premiere Asian American theatre company. When she’s not clowning, Bonnie is fervently growing her Hello Kitty collection.
The 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival will be Bonnie He’s international theatre debut with A TERRIBLE SHOW FOR TERRIBLE PEOPLE.
Follow Bonnie on Instagram @abonnielass and on Twitter @BonnieHe.
Bonnie He: creator, performer, producer
Bruce Allen is a director and designer with a proven track record of creating extremely weird stuff for TV and film.
Working with Sacha Baron Cohen, he created Kazakhstan's national anthem visuals for the original Borat, designed the titular character for The Dictator, and created character disguises and the Johnny the Monkey pornographic DVD cover for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
Bruce has also directed promos for Netflix's Bridgerton, designed the titles for a multitude of Marvel movies like Avengers: Endgame, and visual effects directed Daniel Radcliffe's acid trip sequence in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. His undisputed creative peak has been directing real cats wearing glasses and lab coats for a Purina Tidy Cats litter commercial.
He is excited to use all of this highly relevant experience to direct Bonnie He's A TERRIBLE SHOW FOR TERRIBLE PEOPLE at Underbelly Cowgate in Edinburgh.
Bruce Allen: director
James Carroll: producer
James Carroll is a producer, content director and supervisor who has worked in the U.S., U.K. and South Africa. He graduated from AFDA in 2005 on a merit-based bursary where he studied film and theatre production. His most notable projects were a run of David Mamet’s Edmond and the horror-comedy short Pinky Pinky.
James has worked in television, film and digital broadcast for fifteen years across a variety of formats, from feature films, news and commercials. He has produced content for international brands including CNN, the World Health Organization, Trevor Noah, MTV, Nike, Samsung, Sony Pictures, ESPN and the Oscar Pistorius Trial Channel. He was also one of the producers of the smash-hit teen comedy movie Bakgat! and its sequel.
As a self-identified terrible person, he is thrilled to be helping bring A TERRIBLE SHOW FOR TERRIBLE PEOPLE to a wider audience.