WANT to howl with laughter? See Hannah. She is a comedy goddess.”
So says Claudia Winkleman – or Winkie Claudieman as she’s known in our house – and as endorsements go for a comic, getting the nod from the nation’s favourite cackler is hard to beat.
When I was asked if I wanted to interview Hannah Byczkowski, co-winner of the very first series of the Winkleman-helmed phenomenon that is The Traitors, I said yes immediately as I’m a massive fan.
But then I remembered I hadn’t watched that first iteration as, to be honest, I wasn’t convinced of the concept.
“It’s a terrific show but I thought the same thing when we filmed it, to be honest, I thought it was going to be shit!” admits Hannah. “But that just shows what I know!
“We didn’t know how it was going to be received or if anybody would watch it, we were like, ‘Why would anyone want to watch us fanny about a castle for a few weeks?’.
“It’s got a bit camper now but initially there was no humour, there were just so many tears and you felt so vulnerable and started feeling betrayed in your real life by everyone!
“There’s no contact with family and friends so you kind of lose your mind a little bit and I don’t think I’ve been mentally well since but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Hannah obviously has a thing for turrets as that’s where the cloaked Traitors do their midnight plotting, and this year she’s making her Fringe comedy debut in the Gilded Balloon turret.
“I know! I must have some kind of weird attraction to them as ghosts are found in turrets as well, and I do the Ghost Hun podcast, too.
“If only I had actually gone to the turret in Traitors, that would have been my ideal situation. I absolutely wanted to be the villain and was furious when I was made a faithful!”
As well as turrets, Traitors is part of a dark theme where Hannah is concerned. There’s the aforementioned spooky comedy podcast and her show this year is called “Killer”, in which she explores all things morbid such as death, funeral faux pas and exactly how you want to die.
Being murdered, in her case, oddly enough, whereas I’d opt for being shot by a jealous husband aged 97…
“Nice!” laughs Hannah. “It’s the same kind of thing, I suppose, full of drama and excitement and not just dying in your sleep which, let’s face it, is pretty boring!
“If it was the 1700s I’d be drowned but I think women are getting into their morbid curiosities a bit more and I’m just like a little Wednesday Addams!
When you discover that Hannah’s background is in palliative care, when she was surrounded by death, that actually makes a lot of sense.
“To be honest, you can only be in care for so long until you shouldn’t do it any more. It’s got nothing to do with your compassion or lack thereof, you just become so desensitised to it.
“You start looking at death like, ‘Oh so what? Everyone does it, it’s not a big deal’ and then you realise perhaps you shouldn’t be supporting grieving family members!
“It doesn’t make you a bad person, just no one should be doing that job for too long.”
It’s Hannah’s Fringe comedy debut but not her first Fringe. As she explains: “I’ve done the Fringe in various different guises!
“Last year I did a ‘Work In Progress’ show and we did our podcast for a couple of weeks, too, so I’m no stranger to Edinburgh.”
Hannah co-presents the wildly popular Ghost Huns with Suzie Preece and it’s probably just as well they did it at that end of the M8 as the title could provoke the wrong sort of interaction with people of a more sectarian bent on the West Coast.
“My boyfriend has mentioned that! I’ve always enjoyed horror films, true crime, I find scary books really comforting but Ghost Huns is at heart a comedy podcast – with a few fun scares.
“The way the world is now, women are enjoying these things, just look at the appetite we have for true-crime podcasts like Drunk Women Solving Crime, RedHanded and Two Girls One Ghost.
“People are making hundreds of thousands of pounds – and we’d really like to get to that point!
“Comedy and horror just marry together so beautifully.”
Hannah Byczkowski: Killer, 17.10, The Gilded Balloon Turret from August 5-30 (not 18).
