From T-Rexes to Tolkien: Recent Cutbacks Rule the Stage | Hold on to your Butts, Fly, You Fools

From New York to Edinburgh, comedy troupe Recent Cutbacks have stormed the Fringe with not one, but two epic parody productions: the Jurassic-sized Hold On to Your Butts and the fantasy-fuelled quest of Fly, You Fools.

Following its critically acclaimed UK Tour and West End debut, Hold On to Your Butts has returned as a full-blown Fringe 2024 smash hit. Two actors and a Foley artist recreate the greatest dinosaur film of all time shot-for-shot – an anarchic mix of comedy, physical theatre and live sound.

And in case that wasn’t enough, they’ve premiered Fly, You Fools, a riotous new parody of the most epic fantasy saga ever filmed, Lord of the Rings. With just three actors this show is a jaw-dropping feat of live performance.

I sat down with Nick from Recent Cutbacks at the Edinburgh Fringe to talk about the madness, magic and sheer stamina it takes to bring two hit shows across the Atlantic, the art of live parody, and why sometimes the smallest ensembles make the biggest impact.

TRANSCRIPT

(0:01 - 0:09)

Hello, I'm Ruth and I'm the Arts Business. I'm here with the cast of Fly You Fools and Hold On To Your Buts. So, let's get started.

(0:10 - 0:15)

As briefly as possible, tell us about the wonderful shows that you are producing here at the Fringe. Sure. So we're doing two shows.

(0:15 - 0:32)

The first is a shot-for-shot Jurassic Park parody with two actors and live sound and foley. So we do all the characters, all the dinosaurs in under an hour. And then the other one is a three-person shot-for-shot parody of the first Lord of the Rings movie with live sound and foley.

(0:32 - 0:38)

Amazing. And how's the response been to both of your shows so far? Great. We were here last year as well with Hold On To Your Buts.

(0:39 - 0:53)

And so it's nice to come back and already have that brand recognition. And people, you know, we're flyering people and they're like, saw it last year, I'm coming to your other show this year. Have you upgraded venues from last year? We're in the same venue for Hold On To Your Buts.

(0:54 - 0:58)

And then we're in a slightly bigger venue for Fly You Fools. Oh, nice. Going up in the walls.

(0:59 - 1:10)

Why did you decide to bring it to the Edinburgh Fringe? We made the show, we made Hold On To Your Buts in 2014. So we've been doing it for a long time. The pandemic kind of gave us a side, you know, adventure.

(1:11 - 1:26)

And then, you know, coming out of the pandemic, my colleague Kristen and I, she was just like, I think this is the year we've got to take it to Fringe. I think these shows would do really well. And so, yeah, so we came last year with just Hold On To Your Buts.

(1:26 - 1:34)

And then we just, it went very well. And so we decided to come back this year. So is Fly You Fools a new show or has that been in development? It's also, we made that in 2015.

(1:34 - 1:53)

So, yeah, so we're kind of slowly working through our canon. You know, we have some other shows that we may or may not bring next year. Awesome.

And where have you travelled from? From New York. Yeah, we're based in New York City. Perfect.

What do you and your team do for a living? Presumably actors? Actors, yes. Most of the time right now I'm a full-time dad. Oh, congrats.

(1:53 - 2:00)

I've got a three-year-old and an almost 11-month-old at home. That's a lot. Thanks, Mum.

I appreciate you. Yeah. Nice.

(2:01 - 2:19)

How did you fund or budget coming over here to do the show? So last year we did a bit of fundraising. We took out some loans and then we funded it with money from the company. So it was kind of a combination, a little bit of a patchwork last year.

(2:19 - 2:28)

And then we were able to kind of do it without actually fundraising this year, which was nice. Wow, that's really impressive. But, you know, we were kind of right on the edge.

(2:28 - 2:41)

You know, it's a lot of money up front, the fringe. And so now that the shows are running, you know, when they're selling well, we'll start to kind of recoup some of that money. But it is quite expensive, especially to bring two shows.

(2:41 - 2:53)

We were like, oh, wow, it's twice as expensive to bring two shows. Do the peasants do a deal for you if you've got two shows here? I don't know the answer to that question. Yes, I don't know.

(2:53 - 3:00)

Probably. They seem to like you and you sell very well. After last year, they were like, what other shows you got? You know, come on back.

(3:01 - 3:13)

What's been the hardest part of prepping for you? It's quite a physical show. So I did do a bit of exercising. I mean, I get a good workout as as New York City dad without a car.

(3:13 - 3:24)

So so but yeah, it's it is quite physical. So just keeping healthy and, you know, keeping safe during the shows and kind of managing the energy throughout is brilliant. It's a lot.

(3:25 - 3:35)

What's your daily schedule look like during the fringe? Well, we flyer in the mornings before. So both of our shows are kind of earlier in the day. We have a twelve thirty and a three ten.

(3:36 - 3:50)

So the cast of hold on to your butts flyers before that show. And then the cast of fly fools comes out a little later and flyers for for that show, which, you know, but we are kind of both the flyers. It's the one on the front, one on the back.

(3:50 - 3:59)

So, you know, so now we're kind of pushing the double feature. It's nice to have two shows. You know, sometimes you're you're saying Jurassic Park and they're like Lord of the Rings.

(3:59 - 4:03)

They're like, oh, yeah, or vice versa. So, yeah. So it's it's.

(4:03 - 4:13)

And then after that, we have the rest of the day to see shows, which is great. So we are trying to see, you know, at least I've been trying to see one show a day. That's that's about what I think.

(4:13 - 4:20)

That's a solid aim. Yeah. How do you handle marketing? Like you've mentioned flyering that things like social media, PR, press coverage, stuff like that.

(4:21 - 4:28)

Yeah. So we we have hired a PR company that works here with a lot of people at the fringe. We're doing Mobius.

(4:29 - 4:36)

We're doing our own social media. You know, people are taking videos and tagging us and things. So that's always very helpful.

(4:37 - 4:43)

But yeah, mostly it's word of mouth. The social media and the PR is great. It's great to get great reviews.

(4:44 - 4:54)

But honestly, I feel like when people come to see it, they they tell people. And yeah, word of mouth is definitely the best way. Or, you know, it's nice having two shows this year doing hold on to your butts.

(4:54 - 5:07)

At the end of the show, you say, come see the other show. And that's that's you know, you can't really have any better marketing than right there in the moment to say, come see the other show that we're doing. Look at how much you enjoyed us.

Yeah. Yeah. Having done it last year.

(5:07 - 5:17)

Do you have any tips for managing burnouts during the fringe run? I was not actually here last year because my 11 month old was born right in September. Yeah, he was. Good dad.

(5:17 - 5:31)

Yeah, he was he was due like right after the festival. So I would have been a bit doped last year. Yeah.

So so we had never actually done it with other with other actors, but they crushed it. Yeah, we had a we had a London run and they're touring in Europe. They're on the West End currently.

(5:32 - 5:41)

So we have two two productions of hold on to your butts running currently in the UK. So so far so good. I feel like the first couple of days I was quite sore and tired.

(5:42 - 5:51)

But I feel like now I'm I'm feeling stronger. So we'll see how I look out for fringe flu in the middle. It comes to everybody that goes here.

(5:52 - 6:07)

What do you wish you'd known before coming? Oh, gosh. You know, I still have not mastered which side of the street they're driving on in New York. It's I just I I'm you know, you always have a swivel in New York.

(6:07 - 6:39)

But here I still have not quite looked the wrong way. Yeah, I feel you. I am in the middle of Washington, D.C. Yes, yes.

I did do one bit of driving. That was I only had to drive from our accommodation to Pleasant's one time. But I was like, what advice would you give to first timers wanting to come up next year? Oh, gosh.

Make sure to flyer. I feel like people sometimes people don't really want to like, I don't know. I'm not going to bother flyering like it's not really for me.

(6:39 - 6:51)

I'm doing the show, you know, but it's really it's a great way to get people in. Word of mouth is great, as I said, but I can't show as well. You're the best people.

Absolutely. People say, are you in it? You say yes. Oh, wow.

(6:51 - 7:10)

And, you know, so it's you're you're the best kind of spokesperson for your own show. So definitely flyer, flyer, flyer as much as you can. Obviously, take, you know, pace yourself.

But flyering is crucial. Yeah. Sum up your fringe experience in just one sentence for me.

(7:10 - 7:23)

It's been really fun. And finally, where can we find you and all of your shows? And what are your socials and how can we keep in touch? Yes, we are. Our company is called Recent Cutbacks and we are at Recent Cutbacks.

(7:23 - 7:38)

So you can follow us on on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok. And yeah, and and fly you fools. Yeah.

So the one show is called Hold Under Your Butts. Jurassic Park parody. Fly you fools.

Lord of the Rings parody. Both of which are at the Pleasance Courtyard. Yes.

Amazing. Thank you.