A STAND-UP comedian is appearing at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe in a show about her life as a bisexual Christian.

A freelance educator by day, Dr Carol Joyner – stage name Binocchio – spends her spare time writing comedy sketches and church sermons.

She said that, following years of being told she should be on the stage, she got guitar lessons and applied for the 2024 Fringe, bagging an eight-day stint at Paradise Green at Augustine – in one of the offices at the church she attends on a Sunday.

A published academic and LGBT Christian rights activist, she is starring in her show Binocchio the Bisexual Liar at the church, Fringe venue 152, at 43 George IV Bridge.

Influenced by the humour of Billy Connolly and Sarah Millican, as well as a childhood spent in South Wales, she said she uses stand-up as a vehicle for “fusing her love of providing joy and laughter whilst spreading a message of politically edged progressive Christianity.”

She added: “I’ve had a combination of quiet and busy nights but importantly people are laughing and enjoying the show. I’ve had tears of laughter and tears of empathy when I’ve talked about my difficult intersectional identity as a bisexual Christian.”

'Queer and Christian'

Carol, who lives in Old Craighall, added: “It’s a 45-minute, one-woman stand-up comedy show with a more reflective section in the middle where I perform some original songs on guitar about growing up queer and Christian in the 1980s.”

She has lived in the Musselburgh area since 2021 but her family are originally from Edinburgh before moving to South Wales when she was a child.

“I decided to return to the area in 2021, as I met my now wife, who works at Queen Margaret University,” she said.

Carol, who has three adult children by her first marriage, said: “Binocchio refers to the fact that I identify as bisexual and lots of people think bisexuality doesn’t exist, that people are just lying and are really gay/lesbian but too scared to come out, the so-called ‘Bi Now Gay Later’ effect. It’s a stage name.

“For my day job, I work as an academic tutor with students and as an adult education lecturer for Edinburgh City Council (Social Sciences).”

The show runs until Saturday. Tickets are available at tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/binocchio-the-bisexual-liar or on the door.