Adrienne Truscott and Kyle Kinane: Fun is the theme for American comedians

Kyle Kinane's success in his home country means the American stand-up arrives for his Edinburgh debut with a level of star status many could only dream of at the Fringe. When Kinane says, "I still haven't wrapped my head round the idea that I'm allowed to do comedy," it is tempting to think it false modesty. 

But Kinane's down-to-earth attitude seems deeply ingrained. Whether he's talking about how he started simply by "bullshitting in bars" or when expressing a certain wonder for the lifestyle comedy brings – "every new stamp on the passport is a privilege" – Kinane has a strong gratitude for being a comedian. As a straight, white, middle-class, bearded American Kinane believes it'd be "disingenuous" for his comedy shows to have a bleak outlook: "Comedy can also be positive".

Meanwhile, fellow American Adrienne Truscott returns to Edinburgh with a different type of renown, having already conquered Edinburgh with her panel prize win in 2013. Her comedic case history though stems more from a vaudeville tradition and dancing round her living-room as a girl than it does bullshitting in bars. In fact, it wasn't long ago that Truscott was more at home in a circus than she was alone on stage. Moreover, she is still part of the bawdy double act the Wau-Wau Sisters. But after a comedian once said to her, "I love what you do on the trapeze, I only use my mouth," Truscott felt comedy might be for her and could push her as an artist. 

For Truscott, using just her mouth was more of a challenge than acrobatics or walking a tightrope. Or as Kinane puts it: "It's easy to get comfortable, and comfortable is usually the end of creativity." This is one of the benefits of playing the Fringe: "I don't think Edinburgh is going to be comfortable at all."

Kinane admits to being a little "bristly" and resistant to describing his work in a way to fit with any expectations of an 'Edinburgh show'. "As for having a theme," he adds, "I just want to say, 'It's a comedy show, come and laugh at it.'

"Comedy-wise it's going to be interesting. The thought of going up every night in the same place for an hour. I'm curious to see how it evolves or devolves by the end of the month." 

Kinane is aware that thinking he has a solid hour of material could wrongfoot him: "There's sometimes an incorrect view on it. I mean, my mother can talk for an hour but it doesn't mean it's comedy material. There should always be an element of 'I could have done this differently.'"

It's a statement that implies the slightly more anarchic nature of comedy as opposed to more scripted forms. He continues: "It is more engaging when you see somebody with an hour that is more theatrical, and there is a theme and the through-line. I don't have that necessarily but there is an attitude. And I'm going to forever tinker with that hour."

There are no sacred cows in Kinane's material. What's more, this even includes his title: "Ghost Pizza Party comes from an anecdote I'm not even sure I'm going to use."

However, when Truscott debuted in Edinburgh two years ago, she arguably bypassed 'theme' altogether and went straight to full-frontal statement. Yet despite her pride in Asking For It: A One-Lady Rape About Comedy Starring Her Pussy and Little Else! and its continual success, she also bristles a little, remembering the constant description of her as a 'feminist performance artist' that year instead of as a comedian: "I thought, 'hang on, I just stood up for an hour telling jokes. Doesn't that make me a comedian?'

"I am overstating a little bit because I am a feminist-performance artist," she laughs, "and I was well aware that I was taking a show that had a point to make. So I wasn't really surprised." 

For Truscott, this year's One Trick Pony is a much more personal show, much of which revolves around her comedy hero Andy Kauffman (a performance artist who was always considered a comedian). She also wants to wrestle with her performance art tendencies. "In theory, I should put my pussy away once and for all and get on with the jokes," she says, as only Truscott could. But her aim is more of the 'come and laugh at it' variety: "With this show I want people to have a really good fucking time," she says.

And this could have been said by either one of them.