Thursday August 7th 2025
Su Mi: THISMOTHERPHUCKER. Photo by Paul Gilbey
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Award-winning stand-up and drag performance artist, Su Mi, has brought her debut show to this year’s Fringe, performing a unique and immersive show that discusses stereotypes and societal challenges as a manic and crude clown.
Described as an ‘anti-clown’, Su Mi’s debut show ‘THISMOTHERPHUCKER’ seaks to heal her inner child, resurrect nostalgia and destroy stereotypes whilst challenging the narrative of comedy.
From her messy (almost scary) clown makeup to her deranged mannerisms, Su Mi commanded the stage, creating a surreal immersive experience where you couldn’t guess what was coming next.
Through her clown act, she displayed a wide range of artistic skills from moments of song, mime, acting and stand-up, that all involved audience participation, getting members of the audience up on stage and walking into the crowd to make jokes at audience members.
This show isn’t for people who are weary of crowd participation with Su Mi making the audience feel like they are part of the show, demanding the crowd to shout, sing and laugh alongside her. Beginning the show behind a curtain, pretending to be a piece of art in a museum, she demanded an audience member to open the curtain, starting the show with instand crowd participation.
Often getting the crowd to stand up and join her in the middle of the room, the audience were as much a part of the show as Su Mi, acting out skits that demanded crowd participation.
Starting the show with classic clown tropes, Su Mi speaks through moans and mutters, until switching into her natural English accent, mixing her manic clown show with hilarious and creative stand-up.
Through the manic and deranged clown persona, Su Mi discusses stereotypes surrounding her Asian culture alongside navigating life as a pan-sexual woman, using nastalgia as a main theme often refering back to pop-culture moments in the 90’s and showing photos and videos of her childhood on a projector screen.
These serious undertones and themes turned the show from a classic strange clown act into an artistic expression of society. This, accompanied by her mix of artistic outputs, made for a creative show with no way of predicting what she was going to do next.
A shock in the show was her singing ability, presenting a calm and angelic voice that was opposite to the clown on stage.
With moments of laughter, sadness and mocking, Su Mi brought the crowd on a journey, with so many creative jokes throughout the hour-long show it is hard to pin-point the most effective.
It is evident when viewing her childhood videos that she always wanted to be a performer, so it is safe to say Su Mi has found her artistic expression, being a bizarre mix of comedy, acting and singing, portrayed through a manic and crazy clown.
This show is a must-see during this years festival if you are looking a unusual and unique twist on a classic clown show, with adult comedy through-out.
£11.50 full price, Underbelly Cowgate – Iron belly
5/5, creative and unique performance.
