We’ve previously described Juliette Burton as ‘huge nerd’, which from us is one of the highest compliments you can get. Juliette is an award-winning comedian, speaker and actor who is known for their geek-friendly comedy which covers mental health and super nerdy/geeky issues. They have multiple shows at 2025′s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Rogue Knights, Going Rogue and Best of Burton, the latter being a collection of ‘best bits’ from previous acts. We caught up with her to find out more.
How would you pitch Going Rogue and Rogue Knights to someone who stopped reading comic books a while ago?
Going Rogue is a gamified comedy where you the audience are in control of the outcome! It is evolving into different versions year on year. This year it’s a comedy show about how cosplay gave me confidence – I talk you through 6 comic book characters/feminist icons who helped me understand who I truly was,but because hearing comedians tell jokes about their struggles can get a bit dull sometimes, and also because I am so neurodivergent even I need new reasons to stay interested in my own shows, you get to play a video game throughout! It reaches a Street Fighter style climax where you guys battle it out to determine the winning character of each show! Women vs women… given society in general right now, think of this as a metaphor. An award-winning (tbc) metaphor.
Rogue Knights is a ‘werk’ in progress comedy confessional where my rogues and knights battle against the true dragons – inequality, sexism and bad sex lives. Less Dungeons and Dragons and more Fandoms and Feminism with a healthy dose of sex-positivity thrown in.
If you’ve never read a comic book, come for the comedy. If you are a nerd, this is your paradise. There are references more deep than the crater gambit ended up in during episode 5 of X-Men 97. But also, y’know, a video game to keep us all happy. Competitively happy.
And how would you pitch Best of Burton to someone who’s new to stand-up?
Genuinely friendly, safe, chilled! I tried so hard to be accepted by the stand up community that I basically did my own thing for 10 years; so if you’re new to stand up, relax! Come be with a someone who’s been professional yet felt like a newbie/outsider for years!
10 years of Edinburgh Fringe shows, 5 sold out seasons, 1 passionately unhinged comedian… and YOU! I bring my best bits of my past decade of shows I’ve brought to the Gilded Balloon and Edinburgh Fringe and cram them all into on joy-filled hour. Expect emotional availability, comedic hilarity and a fringe veteran who is happiest on the fringes of life.
And how would you pitch any of those shows to someone who is into Disney movies?
Best of Burton is like; think the nerdiness of Jane and the feeling of not fitting In of Tarzan, the wanderlust of Belle and the humility of the Beast, the queer yearning (look it up, the composer was queer and its an allegory) of Ariel willing to sell her voice to belong but instead she rejects being a part of the human world and instead grabs a mic and hilariously comments on how messed up humanity can be. Less stand up more Fin up.
Going Rogue is like when you’re searching for the perfect Disney movie on Disney Plus but find XMen 97 and all the Marvel series and then the behind the scenes footage and then the youtube analysis and then the video game spin offs.
Rogue Knights is like when Disney tries to sell a Tim Burton film as a children’s movie.
Should we still be using the term guilty pleasure to describe fun thing?
If guilt is your kink then, sure! You do you. Otherwise, why waste time in shame? It’s just a societal construct holding us all imprisoned in shackles preventing us from reaching our ultimate power, levelling up, higher form. Whether its Pokemon, comic books, Disney movies, a subculture movement or a feel-good comedy show – cringe and guilt is invented to control us and prevent us from enjoying who we truly are.
As my therapist says – stand by your ‘yes’ses and stand by your ‘no’s – enjoy your joy unhibited and if you don’t enjoy something, make it clear. I think most audiences do that pretty well at my shows.
What one thing would you tell a younger version of yourself?
Continue reading comics, being a nerd is the most beautiful thing you can be and it will lead you to your people, and don’t give up with Donkey Kong 3. Dixie Kong will have her moment one day. I believe it.
Will we ever stop making fantasy or sci-fi?
Never. Reality is second rate. Fantasy and sci-fi show us what we can be.
As Jim Henson said “teach a child imagination and they can imagine a better world”. As Einstein said “imagination is everything; it is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” As I say “I probably misattributed those quotes and for which I apologise”.
The moral is, we’ll stop making fantasy and sci-fi when fantasy and sci-fi stop making us.
What’s the most demanding part of the show?
For Best of Burton – the existential crisis of trying to be held accountable for the last 10 years of shows and realise simultaneously that I’ve wasted my life and had the best decade in anybody’s life ever.
For Going Rogue – the tech. And assessing each day who is more or less of a nerd. But whether people can join the wifi matters a considerable amount for the game element, I’m not gonna lie.
For Rogue Knights – the confessional nature of it all. Taking more risks here than in any other show. And it shows. I’m ready to level up, are you?
What’s the zaniest thing you’ve done to get this show made?
Best of Burton – devote the last decade of my life to comedy. Imagine someone devoting 10 years of their time on earth to bring you one hour of comedy! What a loser… who could become a winner surrounded by winners when you show up!
Going Rogue – created an actual video game with Alastair Haig with personalised avatars so every audience member knows what a special individual and deeply appreciated nerd they are… and cramming my lifelong love of dressing up into a show where I have no costume changes.
Rogue Knights – tried to talk about the darkest stuff in my sex life on stage.
Why the Edinburgh Fringe?
Where else can I find my tribe?! Creative, nerdy, weird insatiable, displaced, progressive, outspoken, introverted weirdos. Yeah Comic Con doesn’t happen in the UK in Auguust.
How similar is this to other projects you’ve worked on?
Best of Burton – it definitely bares a resembleance to my past 10 years of work because it’s MY favourite bits from all those projects! But that’s 7 hour-long shows in 1 hour long show… you’re getting the proper distillation – if those other shows were spirit and mixers, the Best of Burton is taking a straight shot!
Going Rogue is unlike anything else I’ve ever done. And that’s the point. Best of Burton says goodbye to a me I was before now. It’s the last chance to catch that ‘good girl’ you know and love. Or have never heard of and might miss…
Rogue Knights is like an alien version of me landed and decided to not assimilate themselves into earth culture but just exist purely as themselves, uninhibited.
What is your favourite moment in the show?
Best of Burton – The first 40 mins fly by and I feel like I’m on cloud 9, then there’s a costume change. I love me a costume change. Mainly because it gets hot onstage… then things get sparkly.
Going Rogue – The street fighter style climax is a point where I just melt into a puddle of childlike elation. Gotta be seen to be believed.
Rogue Knights – There is a game involving grunts… that’s all I’m willing to say at this point.
Where else can we see you? What are your future plans (for the show)?
After Edinburgh Fringe, Best of Burton will be at Guildford Fringe, Cheltenham and Gloucester Fringe in September and then Nottingham Comedy Festival.
I’ll be doing work on a NEW show called Experimental, funded by the Arts Council, also at the above festivals and in Leicester in the Autumn.
Going Rogue and Rogue Knights – I’m waiting to hear about funding but hopefully there’s BIG plans for them in 2026… big international plans that would return to Edfringe 2026 in a bigger boss level iteration. Imagine all the above but in a multiversal level where the audience control every step of the show.
Kirk or Picard?
Kirk – action-driven, emotional rule-breaker. Just like me!
Leia or Rey?
I’ve cosplayed as Rey; challenges status quo, toughened by life on a harsh planet, sees that things are not light or dark but grey. But how can anybody not choose Leia and Carrie Fisher? The OG feminist badass. So I’ll embody Rey but I’ll choose leia to walk by my side.
Dungeons or Dragons?
Certain dungeons can be very freeing but I’ve worked hard to free myself from metaphorical shackles so I’ll choose Dragons, because everyone needs a familiar.
Simpsons or Futurama?
Futurama. ‘Found family’ every time.
Truth or Beauty?
Beauty. Both are subjective and arguable. Beauty is a construct and a commodified trend… and yet so much more. Truth is down to the storyteller. Shadows cast on a cave wall. Whether a story is true or not matters less than what you take away from it. If what you take away from it is a beautiful message then that might create a more beautiful world. Beauty in my eyes isn’t symmetry or a visual equation… but how we treat people, how we move people from one position to another, beauty is difference.
You can book tickets for Juliette’s shows here.
Check out our features on 2025’s Top Returning shows, and our keenly anticipated picks of new shows.
