Holmes' Guide to Curating Your Dream Festival

Words: Gina Tonic | Guide: Holmes | Lead image: Jamie Rice | Other photography: Ayden Mayeri & Holmes

After experiencing a profound period of depression last year, brought on by terrifying global and local news, amplified through her phone’s For You page, Holmes stopped being goofy. 

“I was getting to a place that was really hard for my friends and family to be around because I could only express how sad I felt. I asked my sister and mom last year, "Do you guys think I lost my goofiness?” Because I'm always, usually, very goofy, and they both in unison were like, "Yes”, and I was like, "This is horrible. This is so scary.” Holmes says.

“But then I had to have a lot of people remind me about how joy is such a huge part of the revolution and resistance,” the actor and comic continues. “And now I feel it's urgent for us to all remember our goof. We have the algorithm, our government, everyone possible very much attacking us and I'm like, I just want to laugh in a room and dance really hard.”

Revitalised, Holmes spent hours telling her close friends about how she felt and eventually, someone responded to tell the Overcompensating star that she should just go and make something happen. So she has. ABOUT TO BUST is a summer comedy festival hosting its inaugural event on 1st August - a day and night comedy party in Brooklyn with a lineup of only women and queer people, like Mary Beth Barone and Plasma. Below, Holmes fills us in on what it takes to turn rage into practical action for your community.

Make the space you want to see

I'll say I have the privilege of being in the alt comedy scene and being an actor too. A lot of comedians who are just comedians - who are incredible and way better at comedy than me - they have to do the club scene. And so many of those scenes are really riddled with creepy dudes. 

And sure, I believe in restorative justice - let's get the creepy dudes to be not creepy - but in the meantime, it's really a tough thing to be like, “I have to change my comedy to be in those spaces, and to make not funny, creepy boys laugh.” I can't get rid of all those spaces, but what I can do is create more spaces where you know that everyone on the lineup is going to be first off hilarious, but also like, isn't going to offend you in a really really deep way, and everyone in the audience is going to like want to laugh really hard and support them. 

Pull in favours! All of them!

My friends have this anecdote where one time my car broke down, and I walked five miles back and forth to get it fixed, but they all lived in that town, and they were like, "Why didn't you call us?” And I was like, "I don't know. I didn't want to bug you.”

When it comes to asking for help for something, it feels so vulnerable, but to have events like this, you have to. Through this, I have learned how much people want to do favours, and it's also like - I want to help with my friends' things too.

I think in late stage capitalism it is sometimes a little tougher to see everyone struggling and ask them to help, but then you realise they want to. I've actually been shocked about how it is often your friends who are struggling the most who are most down to help, because I think that they also know how necessary it is for us to gather. It feels so necessary to gather.

Follow your own taste

Being able to pick the lineup of all people who make me bust has been my favourite part of this. There are so many funny comedians among us, and so many of them are not platformed by the algorithm or by comedy communities - some of these people should be so famous, and so I think that that's really really fun. 

I wanted to have doors at 2pm, then shows at 3:30pm to around 9pm, and then we get to dance all night. But I needed it to be that all day, everyone is so funny from the very beginning to the very end. Announcing them has been so great too: We have Maddie Weiner just announced, who's so amazing. We have all these drag queens that no one knew about. We have the Good Time Girls, which is this incredible improv team. It's gonna be amazing.

Visualise it as often as you can

I've been doing this exercise where I picture it a bunch. Of course I'm planning it, but I also have been really picturing the day and sending the best energy to it too. It helps.

Buy tickets to ABOUT TO BUST here.