Heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the very first time, Viv Ford is performing her show, New Kids on the Blockchain, sharing her experience working in the weird world of crypto in San Francisco.
Tell us about your show?
The show is a true story of when, at the age of 22, I landed in San Francisco for a job in tech and ended up moving into a house called the Crypto Castle. I was the only girl amongst 14 self-named, Crypto Bros. They all had one simple mindset: “bitcoin is the future”. This was 2015 so at the time, one bitcoin was worth $250. For context, today, one bitcoin is worth about $65,000.
The “bitcoin is the future” mindset seeped into every aspect of my flatmates lives. Ultimately, they wanted to advance the world to a state where bitcoin could succeed. But what does that even mean? Good question, I’m still figuring it out. You don’t need to know anything about crypto or bitcoin to enjoy the show, although I have a brief crypto 101 section to cover the basics – I promise it’s entertaining!
My flatmates had a deep love affair with tech but the opposite reaction towards humanity. To them, the ideal life was living forever with their artificially intelligent girlfriends surrounded by bitcoin. The complete opposite to me. When I arrived at the castle, I was completely new to that world and grew up with almost no digital technology. I was only allowed to watch one movie a week on Sundays, so, you can imagine how confused I was when I arrived, they seemed like aliens.
Instead of being repulsed or turned off by their mindset, I dove in completely, and then I found that with every month that passed, bitcoin’s price kept going up. Were these guys right about the future?! I wanted more of it, and I ended up living at Crypto Castle for four years.
As time went on, the Crypto Bros started acting out and getting involved in questionable activities. As the main tenant always told me, “wealth and fame make you more of who you already are.” Boy did I get to really see who these boys really were and just how far I would go in an attempt to fit in and get a piece of it all.
So join me as I bring the audience on this journey of navigating the highs and lows of the crypto craze, teach the audience about crypto, and question my beliefs about what truly matters in a world ruled by blockchain!
How does it feel to be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the first time?
It’s very exciting and scary! One thing I’ve really enjoyed is seeing the reach that the Fringe has and the variety of people it attracts. I’ve met people from all walks of life who go to the Fringe and it’s amazing to be part of something that so many people love.
My aunt also brought her solo show to the Fringe about ten years ago. She’s been giving me great tips about flyering and acting just crazy enough for people to be intrigued. So I’m very honoured and excited to be apart of the “Fringe world”.
Which funny women do you recommend seeing in Edinburgh this year?
Personally, I can’t wait to see Charlie George: Burning Down the House. Charlie is a hilarious comic who takes the audience on her adventures as an ex-Jehovah’s Witness escape artist and is a walking survival guide. It turns out humanity and the apocalypse have more in common than you’d think – terrible timing!
I also definitely want to catch Molly Brenner: Inhibited, which comes after Molly’s 2017 show about never having had an orgasm, then she had one. So now, she’s bringing her follow-up hour where she considers what is pleasure and what it means to be satisfied?
And finally ManUp which is a women-created news satire that stars comedian Maggie Metnick in drag as Chip Johnson, a red-blooded American male pundit on a mission to mansplain the news to women!
Viv Ford: New Kids on the Blockchain, 2-26 August at 8pm, at Just the Tonic (The Mash House). Book tickets here.
Photo credit: Brittany Anikka Liu
