Irishman Aidan Greene returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with his tenth solo show. ‘Stuttermilk Pancakes’ will be at the Underbelly Bristo Square Dexter for the month of August. A big-hearted show, with a unique multi-media approach, about embracing what makes you different and having serious craic along the way.
For years Irishman Aidan Greene has been told not to let his stutter define him. Well...too late... For some reason people think he’s faking it, but why? For him its more of a benefit than a curse. This show follows the trials and tribulations of his condition. He was once even mocked for his stutter in a restaurant, in fact, it turned out he was choking.
Aged 12, he reached a turning point when he played Prince Charming in his school’s production of Cinderella. Up until this, he had been the lead in every school play and assumed someday he would become a famous actor. He was then shown a video of the play and saw how at the end, he walked off without performing his final lines, leaving a bunch of confused school kids onstage. After spending his life thinking he was normal the penny dropped and he began to see negative media representations of stammering. From here his life changed.
Aidan never thought stammering was bad. In fact, it inspired him. In 2025 he wrote and starred in a short film ‘Stutterbug’ with another stammering actor Scroobius Pip. The film is all about letting your stutter define you, it has since been screened at film festivals around the world.
Aiden is a regular headliner in Irish comedy clubs and has performed to acclaim in Dublin, Galway, Albuquerque, and Montreal.
He is also an accomplished storyteller. In 2016 he was runner up in the Moth Grand Slam in Dublin. His story The Early Days of Stammer was featured on the Moth Radio Hour and was broadcast on over 400 radio stations globally, to over 30 million listeners.
He has a master’s degree in Screenwriting and a bachelor’s in software engineering and uses both for comedy. He has even made a comedy application tracking and rating every show and joke he does.
Aidan Greene: Stuttermilk Pancakes Underbelly Bristo Square: Dexter 5.45pm, 5th – 31st August (not 18th). Tickets here.
What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and/or check your knickers aren't sticking out of your skirt and check for spinach between your teeth)
Even though I peed 10 minutes ago, I will go to pee again, just in case that water I drank four hours ago decides it's time to leave. Since I snuck out without telling anyone, the venue staff will be in a state of panic because as far as they know I've vanished. I'll arrive back just as the front-of-house staff are about to call my next of kin. Then I'll slap myself in the face a few times, pace the corridor and consider taking another pee. Finally, as I'm introduced on stage, I'll remind myself that this is the audience's first time seeing the show so I need to give them the show they deserve. I then walk on stage and think: I definitely should have peed again.
What irritates you?
People finishing my sentences. This is definitely a stammering-specific complaint. But when you have a stammer, people think that every sentence you say is a choose-your-own-adventure. Suddenly when you speak, everyone turns into Mystic Meg. I purposely change what I'm saying so that they are wrong. You think I was trying to say "I love you". Nope! I was actually saying "I love Ewan McGregor in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones."
What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
Logged into my cousin's chatroom account when I was a child. I thought it would be fun to workshop some ideas for Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes in the chat room by pretending to be Angel from the show. I was technically catfishing people as a 200-year-old vampire with a soul, but instead of asking for money, I was asking for feedback on my story arc choices. I wasn't allowed near the computer for a while after that.
What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
I tried to hide my stammer. I used to do this a lot. I thought that stammering was bad so I would hide it. It turns out that pretending to not remember your name makes you appear much stupider than just not being able to say it.
What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?
What's surprised me most is how universal the feelings of having a stammer can be. I talk a lot about having a stammer in my act and am always shocked by how many people tell me they can relate to the content of my show. I genuinely thought my audience would only be other stammerers and my childhood speech therapist Claire.
What do your parents think of your job?
They both love it. Mainly because when I was a teenager, I was so ashamed of my stammer I refused to leave the house. If you went back in time and told them that in the future I was a comedian, they would have questioned whether by telling them this you had created some sort of paradox and messed with the timeline.
What’s the worst thing about being a comedian?
The unsociable hours. Is your friend having birthday drinks? Sorry, you've got a gig down the country. It's sunny out, want to go hang in the park? No, you need to sit inside like a mole honing your new material. There's a surprise 90th for your nan? Oh, that clashes with an open spot you booked months ago!
I think you are very good at what you do (that’s why I’m asking these questions). What do you think of you?
My thoughts on myself very much fall into the rule of thirds. One third of the time I feel like I'm great. Another third I think I'm okay. Then in the final third I think I should be tried in the Hague for my crimes against comedy. But I do think that I'm always improving. I recently listened back to one of my first ever Fringe shows and I was shocked at how much I've improved.
How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn?
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me this question, it would actually be really helpful for my financial situation. I want to earn enough to be comfortable and have the freedom to be more creative. I don't want to be a billionaire or anything. Billionaire money melts people's brains and makes them ruin social media platforms.
How important is luck in terms of career success – have you had lucky breaks?
"This is ten percent luck. Twenty percent skill." – Remember the Name by Fort Minor.
Actually it's 50% luck. You never know who will be in the audience of a show or on a line-up with you. I've gotten to support some incredible acts because they've seen me at a show. The main thing is being ready when the luck hits. I've seen a lot of people get lucky but not be prepared to capitalise on it.
Alan Davies has said that comedians fall into two categories - golfers and self-harmers. The former just get on with life, the latter are tortured artists. Which are you – or do you think you fit into third category?
I'm somewhere in between. I'm a perfectionist but also a goldfish. I am very hard on myself but I'm also great at moving on. I'm definitely tortured enough to be driven but not enough to make it everyone else's problem.
Who is your favourite person ever and why – not including family or friends or other comedians?
Scatman John. He's the greatest stammerer of all time. He embraced his stammer and used it to create one of the greatest songs of all time.
Do you keep your drawers tidy and if not why not? (please think long and hard about this question, it's to settle an argument with my girlfriend. The future of our relationship could depend on your response).
I took the KonMari Method from Marie Kondo and ran with it. Not only are my drawers tidy, but I have a strict rotation system. Clean clothes go to the back/bottom, and when I'm dressing, I take from the top. I have been accused of being a serial killer more than once because of my strictly regimented organisation.
Why do you do comedy?
When I was 20, my housemate told me I could never be a comedian because I have a stammer. I got so annoyed that I made it my career just to prove him wrong. Nothing drives me like pure, stubborn begrudgery. The funny thing is, he doesn’t even remember saying it.
Aidan Greene: Stuttermilk Pancakes Underbelly Bristo Square: Dexter 5.45pm, 5th – 31st August (not 18th). Tickets here.
PHOTO CREDIT – STEVE ULLATHORNE
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