Meet the comedian: Abby Wambaugh
5 essential questions to get to know Abby Wambaugh
Welcome to our weekly feature for premium subscribers, where we have a really quick chat with a comedian you might have come across in LMAOnaise before. We want you to get to know the people whose shows we recommend a little better, so we’ve had them answer five of the most pressing questions in culture at the moment.
What is the best thing you’ve witnessed this week?
Ticket controllers got on my bus yesterday and were checking that everyone had paid. Ticket controllers are notoriously tough in Copenhagen, because as a rule, Danish people love rules. There was an old lady who had not paid and twice, when the ticket checker passed her, instead of a ticket she showed him the barcode of her soda can to scan while she gave him a smile that was mischievous as hell. He averted his eyes completely both times and I was watching all coiled up, waiting for him to be a jerk about it, but instead he just scanned all the tickets around her and told his front-of-the-bus ticket-scanning buddy that everyone was good in the back. What a thrill to see that old lady and the ticket guy both doing their jobs right.
Title of your memoir?
Exactly What Got Me: 100 Explanations of Precisely Why I Was Moved to Tears
How do planes stay up?
I don’t think planes stay up, I think they are magic boxes like the ones where you cut a beautiful assistant in half at a magic show.
What is the best texture and why?
Thick carpet, the only time feet are being appreciated by the floor.
If you could design a theme park ride, what would it be?
Baby’s Day Out: You get pushed around in a giant buggy under a warm duvet while someone sings to you and sometimes strokes your cheek and brushes their thumb down your nose until you fall asleep.
Hilarious, layered, poignant and unique, Abby Wambaugh’s show at the Edinburgh Fringe was the official start to my festival experience, in that it was the first time I cried. I came out afterwards so overwhelmed with all kinds of emotions that I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to write about it. Obviously, I managed it (I’m a professional, of sorts). I was unsurprised and beyond thrilled when Abby was nominated for the best newcomer award.
I first came across Abby as a deserving finalist at the Funny Women Awards in 2021, at the time completely unaware of her – forgive me though, she did only start stand-up post-Covid and is Copenhagen-based! She competed in the year that Lara Ricote won, the start of a beautiful friendship that has led to Lara directing Abby’s debut. An inspired partnership. Abby has said that she “wanted to make a show that felt like my friendship with her, which is goofy and fun and warm and open and honest and like crying is a good thing.” Mission accomplished, ok?
For pod-heads, Abby is also co-host of Help Hole, a podcast with fellow Copenhagen comedian Sofie Hagen in which they read and talk about a lot of self-help books!
You can – and if you can, you should – see Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows at the Soho Theatre from January 9-18th, 7:15pm. Get your tickets here