For the past few years, Brooklyn-based comedian, Sophie Zucker has been plagued by one very important question: ‘Why do women with savings accounts cry over men without bed frames?’
In her new show, Taste, which she’ll be bringing to the Edinburgh Fringe this August, she attempts to answer this and many other pressing questions about the nature of relationships and the dynamics of men and women.
In Taste, Zucker fantasises about locking a fictionalised ex-boyfriend in her apartment and interrogating them, asking them all the questions she wished she’d have asked while they were dating.
“It’s about the sort of guy that you see a lot online these days, who has a podcast that’s so woke that it almost goes back on itself and becomes offensive.”
Zucker is no stranger to the Edinburgh Fringe, as she brought her one woman musical show, Sophie Sucks Face, to Edinburgh back in 2023. Does she find there are any differences between an Edinburgh audience and a New York audience?
“You know what? I haven’t really found that there’s much difference between the audiences at all. When I did my last show at the Fringe, which was a very Jewish show with a lot of specific references, I was a little worried that some of the jokes wouldn’t land, but I found that they totally got it.”
Even as a child, Sophie was eager to perform, but when did she first get the drive to be a comedian?
“I was out with my friends at a karaoke bar one night, and I got up and did a quite earnest rendition of a Britney Spears song, and afterwards I had this girl come up to me like ‘Oh my God! That was so funny!’ And, you know, I was like, I was really trying to sing. It wasn’t meant to be funny. So yeah, that was a moment where I thought that this might be something I was meant to do.”
Citing Bo Burnham as one of her influences, Zucker is similarly multi-talented and has found success in everything she has tried her hand at so far. As well as performing stand up comedy, she also has a number of impressive acting credits to her name, is part of an experimental improv troupe called Ladies Who Ranch, and is part of the Emmy nominated writing team for The Daily Show.
How did she end up writing for The Daily Show?
“That’s a question I ask myself all the time,” she laughs. “I don’t know! What’s great about that show is that they accept submissions from anybody. They’re open to submissions. At the time I was writing more topical news-based jokes, so I submitted something to them and luckily it fit what they were looking for.”
Zucker clearly has immense drive and ambition, but where does she find the time to focus on so many projects?
“I actually don’t consider myself to be that disciplined. It’s just if I get the opportunities to do things like this, I’m not exactly gonna turn them down. I’m shooting something at the moment and on my break I was writing something else, another project. Somebody once told me that I should focus on one thing if I want to have a stronger brand, but I don’t agree. It all comes from me. This is my brand. This is what I want to be doing. I’m operating on about four hours of sleep right now, so it can be done. On the other hand, my house is a mess. So…”
She also draws on the New York comedy circuit as a source of inspiration and credits it with contributing to her creative drive. Who are some of her other influences?
“I love Linda Cardellini. I follow her career. If you watch her, she’s funny, but there’s a subtlety to her performance. People like Lena Dunham and Mindy Kalig are so influential that I almost don’t need to mention them because they’re so obvious.
These women who make their own shows, write their own shows and star in their own shows. That’s what I want to be doing, and it’s what I’m trying to do now.”
Sophie Zucker will be performing her show Taste at the Edinburgh Fringe from 30th July – 20th August 2025.
Interview by Danny Lamb
