Comedy
Interview
Rachel Galvo wants to star in a musical
Pains au chocolat and Catholic guilt – it all comes out as we get to know the Irish comedian ahead of the UK tour of The Shite Feminist
There’s a moment in Rachel Galvo’s debut show The Shite Feminist when the Dublin-born comedian contrasts the cutesy and coquettish giggles women often feel the need to perform in front of men to their full-bodied guffaws of genuine laughter around each other – snorts and all.
Men are, of course, also welcome to this hour in which Galvo unpicks her upbringing in a Catholic school in Ireland – one she only realised was not normal after moving to London to study musical theatre – but there is something safe and special for both crowd and comic that the laughs belting out in this show during the Edinburgh Fringe are the raw, unshackled kind she champions.
Galvo tested out The Shite Feminist last year, but it’s come a long way as it enjoys a hugely popular run at The Fringe this summer. “Last year my main goal was just try to make people laugh and I was just chasing after laughter,” she tells us on a sunny August afternoon in Edinburgh, “whereas this year I care a lot more about the message and the story I’m trying to tell, and bringing an audience with me. It’s a big feat to carry an audience in a hot room for 60 minutes and take 120 people with you.”
Even though The Shite Feminist is now as polished as it is raucous – expect plenty of shocks – performing it night after night at The Fringe is still vital for Galvo. “I think it’s really important for learning to not change your uniqueness. You could have an amazing gig and they love it, but you could do the exact same gig to a different audience, and they could be like, not for me. Before, if I was insecure in myself, I would have gone and rewritten the whole show for the next night. But now I’m like, okay, it’s fine, they weren’t my audience, but I’m gonna find my audience. Even if there are two people in that crowd that loved it and want to come back, at least I’m finding my niche.”
Galvo has certainly found her audience, who will be looking to join her for the ride as she takes The Shite Feminist on a UK tour in October and November 2025, visiting everywhere from Essex and Norwich to Glasgow and Bristol. But before all of that, it’s time to get to know Rachel Galvo a little better as we ask the questions that count.
Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?
Katherine Ryan. She’s so opinionated and sure of herself. I love her podcast, she’s hilarious and is a power woman who literally made it from the ground up. I’ve not met her, but it’s not completely out of the question, we’re a few degrees apart, but I think i’d be a geek.
You don’t play it cool when you meet people you admire then?
I’m learning very quickly that it’s not cool to approach people in a smoking area or green room and tell them you’re a massive fan when you’re supposed to be sort of colleagues. It doesn’t set up the right kind of power dynamic, so I’m trying to act cooler – and then I’ll go home and call my family and be like “You’ll never guess who I was just sharing a drink with…”
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
This is not unique but Elon Musk or Donald Trump, anyone who I couldn’t get out of the lift and get sent to jail for beating them up, like. The first guy I kissed?
What’s the weirdest interaction you’ve ever had with a famous person?
I guess there have been a few comedians who I’ve been a fan of for a while and I listen to their weekly podcasts, and then we’re in a conversation because we’re in some of the same circles now, and I’ll be like “Ah yeah you were saying, you know, that coffee was really bad” or something. Then they’ll be like, “I didn’t say that to you…”. I’ll blur the lines between listening to their podcasts and what they tell me in real life and then I think I know them on a personal level when I absolutely don’t. “How was your kid after they slipped?”, no that’s weird.
What was the last show you saw?
Alison Spittle’s Big. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Such a great example of what comedy can be, it doesn’t have to be all laughs. It was like theatre and was extremely moving. I think comedy is such a good space for people to view the world in different ways and be more open-minded; comedy works with a set-up and a punchline, and the punchline catches you by surprise and for a minute your brain is like, “I wasn’t expecting that.” I wrote my thesis on this, don’t include this – I mean you can, but it’s boring – but it’s a brief moment of a survival technique where your brain wasn’t ready for that, and you become more open-minded to receiving different ways of viewing the world, so that’s quite a good time to intercept with different ways of thinking.
What work of yours didn’t get the attention you think it deserved?
I think I’m still very bitter about not being in a musical. I trained my whole life to be in a musical on the West End, I went to a college of musical theatre, and I’ve been singing and tap dancing around my house since I was two years old. It’s not out of the question, I’m only 25, so there’s time. The more popular I get in comedy the more music I’ll put in my shows, and soon people will think they’re coming to a comedy show but it’s just a one-woman music, you know?
What’s your dream musical theatre role?
Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Even when I was like 12, I always imagined myself playing older roles. I’d love to play Donna in Mamma Mia!, but I’m probably not going to get that at 25, so yeah, I’ll ride the comedy wave and then pop out some children and then go onto the West End.
It’s funny you mention being 12-years-old, because…
What did 12-year-old you think you’d be doing now?
Starring in a musical, yeah. There were a few years where I studied business at Trinity and tried to get very serious corporate jobs, because I was like, gosh, the world is not as exciting as I imagined. But it’s so funny that you ask about being a 12-year-old, you’ll see it in my show but I feel like I’m finally back to my 12-year-old self, skipping around the garden in my Jean Valjean costume.
But I was always cast in the comedic roles. I had nodules on my vocal cords because I used to scream and sing so much, so I had a very low and husky voice and I was quite overweight, so I always got cast as the boys parts, even over the boys. So I played the Warthog in The Lion King, for example, even when there were lots of boys they could have chosen from, and I played it so well, it was a hilarious part, but that was probably my first taste of you know, I can really make people laugh and I love this.
What’s the worst advice you ever received?
That you have to make fun of yourself to make people laugh. That the audience will like you more if you’re self-deprecating. It’s very common amongst women, I think we do it way too much. I still do it, because it’s easy, but Steve Bennet in my Chortle review said I use it now as a “weapon”, which I find quite cool, taking ownership back of it. I’m quite passionate about calling ourselves out as women and being aware of how much we put ourselves down.
In the right amount, or done in the right way, it can have some value in helping to prop someone else up too, though, right?
Yeah! I think there’s a fine line between not using yourself as a punching bag for the audience and keeping your ego still in check.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
I’ve had so many bar staff and waitressing jobs. I had one in a particular restaurant in Dublin, which I thought was a very posh, lovely place because my granny liked going there. You know, a proper establishment. But then I realised that everyone was shagging everyone in the kitchen and there were all sorts of substances. It was like wow, I think I’m too innocent for this. People were mean, people like my granny’s friends. Being a waitress is one of the hardest jobs, people can be so nasty, and for such little reward.
If you had to have a song playing every time you walked into a room, what would it be?
I have Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ when I come on for this show because it’s all about going to a Catholic school. And there are lots of sexual innuendos in there as well – which is very unique in comedy, haha. I had ‘Man Eater’ on my last tour. But what else? I honestly just look up ‘power girl boss bitch ass’, any of those words in Spotify haha!
What’s the skill that no one else knows that you’re great at?
Eehhhh! God I feel like I’m annoyingly “Everybody look at me!” but… I’m quite a good baker. I ran a little bakery when I was in college during Covid. Instead of doing my study abroad, which was cancelled, I ran a little bakery delivery service. If I ever have a day off I treat myself to a full day baking course in London.
I’m partial to a pain au chocolat myself…
That is my favourite pastry! Ugh! But I was at a bakery yesterday and they used this really expensive, dark, dark chocolate. I’m like, no, no, no, I want that cheapy…
Cooking chocolate!
A big slab of cooking chocolate!
What’s your controversial food opinion?
Avocados aren’t that great… everybody needs to chill out on the avocados. I don’t like pasta and pizza.
You don’t like pizza?
I don’t think pizza is a meal. I just think it’s bread with cheese on top. Oh god, sorry that is such a teenage eating disorder comment isn’t it – It’s just like sooo many fucking calories. But no, I think avocado’s hype is done.
Do you have any superstitions?
Yeah. Well I have quite bad OCD, so I do have a number of tap things I have to do. I’m not religious, but I do have a pattern of prayers I have to do just because that’s what I grew up with, and I know I don’t believe but… just incase? That’s a weird answer.
Oh no, don’t worry, when I was younger I had to say X amount of Hail Mary’s otherwise I thought my family would die.
Oh I think you might enjoy my show. I think we’re both fucked.
