COMEDIAN Rosalie Minnitt was a Durham University history graduate immersing herself in period dramas during the coronavirus lockdown when she came up with the character of Clementine, eponymous star of her 2022 hit Edinburgh Fringe show.
Taking elements of Jane Austen and adding a pinch of modernity, the show focused on Clementine’s fear of being left on the shelf.
Rosalie, who lives in London, says: “In the first show, she’s looking for a husband and if she doesn’t find a husband by her 27th birthday all hell will break loose…”
The comic, now (ahem) 28, says: “I was watching period dramas at the time and I just think it’s really funny the sort of language women use. It started off as this I guess meditation on period dramas and being single and all of the fun of those worlds mashing together.
“I studied history at uni so I also started thinking about the characters at a time when we were having loads of revival films and girlboss renditions of women in history.
“I just love the idea of there being someone who’s actually really uninspiring and she’s just completely trapped in her own patriarchy, as they would have been, which I just thought was kind of a funny twist.
“As I have continued doing it I have also drawn inspiration from other worlds. I’ve been working on a radio 4 pilot and someone said to me, ‘There’s something kind of Mitford Sisters about this girl’. There are these big houses where these mad families live and they never have any money — and posh people doing weird things has always made me laugh.”
Rosalie herself has an interesting heritage. “I’m from Belgium originally. My dad is from Manchester and my mum is from Bruges, she’s a proud Belgian, but I grew up mostly in Holland, oddly.
“I’m from a family that’s always trying to claim some kind of interesting lineage and I think the more we try and claim the further we seem to get.
“My mum’s last name is Van Vlaanderen, which means ‘of Flanders’, but in Belgium, if it’s a small ‘v’ it’s noble, but if it’s a big ‘V’ it’s not. Unfortunately, we are that [big] V which means we’re not noble, which I remember being absolutely devastated about because I was like, we’re called ‘of Flanders’, what more is there to know? We’ve got to be famous.”
For the Honk! night, Rosalie will be mixing old and new jokes, from “Clementine 3 The Rebellion On Ice Part 6”.
“I want to see in what other context she could be funny. I really want to take her to the city in a kind of Home Alone, Shrek 2-esque type deal and I want her to accidentally get embroiled in a revolution and for there to be a kind of ‘she’s the man’ twist where she has to pretend to be a guy to be in the revolution.
“I like the idea of her trying to be like a big player in history by any means necessary. That’s kind of my idea but I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to see that through yet.
“I also love it when you see films where the girl pretends to be a boy and the outfit is so unconvincing and you’re like, in what world is everyone buying this?”
Rosalie also created the podcast Freak of the Week with Sarah Roberts, who is on the same bill for the Relais Henley.
Sarah Roberts came to Edinburgh in 2024 with “Silkworm”, while Rob Copland’s 2024 Edinburgh show was called “Gimme (One With Everything)”.
Honk! Henley comedy night is at the Relais Henley on Thursday, January 29 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost from £12.62. For more information, visit linktr.ee/honkhot
