'Not just funny, but hopeful and generous too'

Abby Wambaugh picks her comedy favourites

Abby Wambaugh is back at the Edinburgh Fringe reprising The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows, the show that earned her a nomination for best newcomer at last year's festival. Here she picks her Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites.

Dolly Parton’s Greatest Hits

When I was growing up in suburban Pennsylvania I was very aware of the rules. I was also aware that some famous people were breaking them: Eddie Izzard (wearing heels and lipstick), Richard Pryor (drugs), George Carlin (cursing/ponytail), Dolly Parton (bejeweled big boobs). These rule-breakers were beloved in my family, and that was because they were funny.

I was surrounded by Dolly Parton songs and loved the cleverness in them. I knew that people made fun of the way she looked, but it didn’t matter because she was sharper and funnier than them about it, and somehow she still seemed warm and open.

I was 12 when I first tried this tactic for myself. I was generally disliked in school. The disdain was mainly on account of my being insufferably righteous.

In class I pretended to read various religious texts with Archie comics stuffed inside them because religious texts were against the school rules and I thought that was wrong.

I called class meetings on bullies and asked them, in front of all their friends, if they got bullied at home. I wore either my brother’s hand-me-downs or a traditional Somalian hat and matching waistcoat that I bought at (Ethical! Hand-crafted! Shop in a church basement!) Ten Thousand Villages. I was right about a lot of things (maybe not the hat) but it turns out being right does not make you likeable.

That year I played both parts in a presentation for geometry class where I, as veteran interviewer Barbara Walters, quizzed a paper cube puppet that I played as Dolly Parton.

The whole class laughed and clapped and some of them came up to me at lunch and asked me to do it again. I remember it felt like slow-motion, watching them throw their heads back and laugh again, and actually ask to sit at my table, and I thought, is this really all it takes to get them to like you? And it kind of is.

Garry Gulman’s State Abbreviations Bit

If I could cast someone as my cool older cousin in life, it would be Gary Gulman. This joke about how the US states got their postal abbreviations is the first joke that ever stuck in my head.

To watch an audience gleefully come along with him while he described a made-up meeting for six minutes was so exciting, it really felt like playing.

Now I have a joke where I do a long impression of the number 9 and I am pretty sure my subconscious wrote it as an ode to the state abbreviation joke.

Gulman also has this joke: ‘I have this carnival trick. If you tell me your high school free throw percentage, I’ll tell you what time your single mother got home from work,’ and when I heard that I felt like he wrote it just for me.

Besides being so, so funny, Gary Gulman is hopeful and generous. He has written two lists I’ve read thoroughly and shared widely: '100 things I did to get out of the worst, longest depression of my life' (handwritten on his Instagram) and 366 Comedy Tips, assembled here by Vulture. When I started comedy I was so grateful for free comedy advice from someone whose work I really admired.

Rhythm and Flow Season 2

Season 2!!! This is important, I also watched Season 1 but you don’t have to. In season two the judges are Ludacris and Lato (and DJ Khaled but I’m not convinced he had to be there) and I was moved so consistently by their feedback.

Before watching, I would have been surprised if you told me I was going to cry a little every time the man behind the line ‘I wanna, li-li-li-lick you from your head to your toes’ gave a pep talk, but I was inspired as hell.

A lot has been said about the similarities between music and comedy by people who know a lot more about it than me, but there is something these art forms have in common where you are lent strength by honesty, brevity, clarity, and – dare I say it – rhythm and flow.

It was really satisfying to watch people compete in something that I can’t do, but I felt so many of the lessons and skills were directly relatable. I think I could absorb more wisdom and energy from this show than I could have if they were giving feedback directly about stand-up. Also, the best rappers really are great joke writers.

Bluey

Tell me another show that makes my entire family laugh and cry during every 11-minute episode.

Please, please, if you know one, tell me, because we have already watched all the Blueys.

In my house, I usually leave the room when cartoons come on because I've been a kid and then a babysitter and then a teacher and then a parent my whole damn life, and at this point I just want my entertainment with real faces or to take a nap.

But Bluey gets me every time and is the most wholesome I can feel in front of a screen. My deepest entertainment wish is to make something as funny and good and moving as Bluey.

The West Wing

Say whatever you want about Aaron Sorkin and his too-snappy one-tone hall-walkin’ bleeding-heart dialogue (oh is that what you were gunna say?) but The West Wing stopped my mom from being a Republican so I remain in its debt. (My mom would say this is a gross oversimplification of this transition, but then I would play the theme song and watch her tear up.) Also I loved it too, okay.

There is a Danish show, Borgen, that also did an incredible job explaining Danish politics to me, and neither of these shows could have sustained my interest if they weren’t also funny.

I am delighted when things are funny while they are doing something else. It’s like how even napping on a train is productive because you’re also going somewhere right now.

Jaqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees

Look, a real stand-up comedy special!

I have friends that point out that often when I find a stand-up show that I like, it's not actually stand-up (Julio Torres, Hannah Einbender, Courtney Pauroso).

Well, I loved this one and I think it is definitely stand-up but, yes, it’s also poetry. I watched this with my mouth hanging open, which is pretty appropriate for its subject matter.

If you haven’t seen it, and I actually cannot believe how many (male) comedians haven’t seen it, this is a beautifully written and breathlessly performed hour about the humble BJ. It’s a work of art and, for me, a reminder that comedy can be anything.

I think comedy is a promise to the audience about where you will land, but while you are up in the air you can go anywhere, you can do anything, so why don’t you? Why don’t I?!!