INTERVIEW: Josh Glanc on Family Man’s road from Fringe to Soho
by Savannah Roberts
The lawyer-to-full-time performer pipeline isn’t a prominent one. Yet, Josh Glanc is so natural in his Family Man persona that you couldn’t quite imagine his comedy chops being confined to a corporate setting. I sat down with the Glanc ahead of his Soho Theatre run to talk all things Fringe, tour and the intricacies of his absurdly hilarious show.
After catching Glanc at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I was delighted to discover he’d be taking the vibrantly ludicrous and lively show to London. I was already ready to see it again. Just days before kicking off his string of shows at Soho Theatre (30 September to October 5), I had burning questions for the Australian comic.
First things first, we bonded over a shared love of spaghetti and tiramisu, and then I just had to talk about a central element of Family Man – the music.
"Writing more songs has been a direction I've been heading in. So it didn't start that way, but more and more I’m wanting to do that.”
He talked about the conceptual stages of his latest Fringe project, “A big part of the show was I want to do more songs. I was just writing tonnes of songs, testing them, realizing some don't work.”
Glanc spoke about the evolving nature of Family Man and how performing every day for a month helped shape its ever-changing form. And the work isn’t yet done, he continues to tailor his craft, “But yeah, I kind of want to have one more song in the show.”
Some of the greatest gags in Family Man were inspired by real-life events, for example ‘The Lanyard Song’ Glanc played off the coveted symbol of comedy importance… the Fringe lanyard.
“I was in the show once and someone had a lanyard, then off that show I was like… there's something funny about that.
“It was based on a real moment, and it clicked and that’s how a lot of clowning and stuff happens.”
He continued: "It's like something real will happen in the room and then we're like, this is really funny. Now our job is to work out how to repeat that so it feels real.”
We spoke about that unique electric atmosphere found at Fringe and how you never know who you’ll run into and who will be in the audience.
“I mean, that's the that's the great thing about Edinburgh. Someone told me Richard Curtis was in my show one time. There are always like big people that will see a bunch of shows, which is cool.”
I asked him if there’s been other moments that have rendered him starstruck: “Once Russell Tovey was in the audience, I didn’t know that but everyone just kept asking me afterwards.
Speaking of other creatives, I was keen to know more about Glanc’s inspirations – who has helped shape his unique brand of whimsy.
I asked if he had a dream guest he’d like to swing by Soho Theatre, he responds with a chuckle: “Probably Adam Sandler.
“There’s a special on Netflix called 100% Fresh and I love it, I really love it. I think my stand-up is quite similar to him, so are my songs.”
“Patti Harrison, she was at the Fringe, very influenced by her work. Someone else is – and we do very different stuff – Mike Birbiglia.”
With multiple tours, festival runs, projects and even a Channel 4 comedy short under his belt, I was curious to learn if Glanc had a moment where the leap from lawyer to comic felt like it had fully actualised. Did he have a ‘pinch-me, I made it moment’?
The short answer was: “No.” The long answer: “I mean, getting nominated for the award was a cool moment. That was really amazing.
He was among huge comedy names nominated for Don and Eleanor Taffner Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2024.
“That was the moment of like, ‘Oh the hard work’s paid off.’
“It's such a fine balance. Confidence is really important, you really need to be able to back yourself and you need to have confidence that you're good.
“But you also need to be thinking your shit as well,” he laughs off, “You just constantly kind of grapple with those two things.”
I shared my absolute favourite gag of Family Man with him – “I wonder if it's something I say every night?” – turns out it was not and that’s one of the best things about a Glanc performance. He’s constantly tailoring and calibrating to the live audience, an art and a science.
I asked Glanc if he had a moment he looked forward to delivering every night: “I love doing the Domino's Pizza bit, where I take the audience hostage. I like doing that because it tends to always work quite well. Whenever a comedian has a bit that they know is quite good, we like to do it. Like – ‘Great, I'll get the moment.’
“And I really like the opening number. I like the idea of coming out, just the idea of coming out singing.”
But he doesn’t play favourites, Family Man has clearly been a labour of love: “All aspects of the show I love. I love it.”
Glanc talks about building on the show, it seems he never has a shortage of ideas. He’s brewing up some magic behind the scenes and teases some things he’s working on but, of course, I’m sworn to secrecy. I’m eagerly waiting to see what he has up his sleeve for opening night.
I can’t stress enough, this show is funny. The type of funny words can’t do justice. The kind of jokes that are set up in such a hilariously nonsensical way that you’ll come home wanting to explain the gag to your housemates, but you won’t quite be able to. See for yourself and be recruited into Glanc’s faithful community of silly billies and cheeky monkies. You won’t regret it.