There have been a few masters of musical comedy that have won my heart over the years and I love it so much when it hits right.

Edinburgh obviously attracts comedy acts of all kinds and so I get lots of opportunities to look for acts that will join the list of tuneful and funny favourites. 

One of the latest to catch my attention is Couplet, a recently married (to each other) duo from the US who’re headed to the Fringe this summer with their post-union show ‘Honey Honey Moon Moon’. 

The show is focused on the couple’s attempts to organise a simple wedding, and it is, of course, punctuated by a host of songs. To find about more about Couplet – aka Marnina Schon and Micah O’Konis – I spoke to them pre-edfringe. 

CM: Can you start by introducing yourselves? Who are you and where do you hail from?
MS+MO’K: Hi! We’re Marnina Schon and Micah O’Konis, we’re a couple and a comedy duo called Couplet – like Shakespeare, but worse. 

We got married this year in Los Angeles, where we live, and we’re having a super relaxing honeymoon – bringing our show to Edinburgh Fringe!

CM: Tell us a bit about what happens in ‘Honey Honey Moon Moon’? What can audiences expect from it? Do you tell a story?
MS+MO’K: ‘Honey Honey Moon Moon’ tells the true story of our quest to have a simple wedding – and all the things that complicated it.

Classic stuff, like fighting through heterosexual wedding norms, a judgmental couples’ therapist and our wedding venue burning down in the LA wildfires. 

But don’t worry, it’s packed with ten original funny songs that we accompany ourselves on violin and guitar. Audiences can expect to laugh, to sing and to believe in love.

CM: Do you aim to explore specific themes at all?
MS+MO’K: The New York Times wrote about our wedding and gave us the headline “There’s Nothing They Can’t Sing And Laugh Their Way Through”. The story of our show tests if we really can. 

It’s also about how everything is more complex than it seems. We think we know stuff but the world is full of much more not-knowing – even not-knowing things about ourselves and our loved ones. It turns out we’re queer! 

And we explore our Jewish tradition as it relates to weddings, gender and community. Like they sing in ‘Fiddler On The Roof’, “It takes a wedding to make us say, let’s live another day!”

CM: Tell us about the music – is it of a particular style or genre?
MS+MO’K: Since we play acoustic guitar and violin, most of the songs have a folk tilt, but we do some fun genre parody as well. There’s pop, rock, Broadway, a Sesame Street-like singalong and even a screamo heavy metal song.

We think we’re pretty hardcore but the audience weirdly keeps laughing at it??!

CM: I know people (but they’re not my friends, honest) who would say they don’t like musical comedy. What would you say to them, and how would you persuade them to come to your show?
MS+MO’K: We get it, but it’s kind of like saying you don’t like sandwiches. Every (sandwich) artist is going to have their own approach and ingredients.

You can have different tastes, but go to our socials and watch our biggest hits ‘Jacquelyn Denfark’ or ‘People Think We’re Straight’ and try to not have at least some rumble in your tummy for a Couplet sandwich.

CM: What made you decide to bring a show to Edinburgh this year?
MS+MO’K: We visited EdFringe two years ago and had the time of our lives seeing sixteen wildly different shows in three days. We decided on that trip to get married and to bring a show to Edinburgh, and both those things take some lead time. 

And then we figured, why not use the fact that it’s our honeymoon as a marketing ploy? People love to support a newlywed couple, right? Please?

CM: What are your expectations of the Festival as performers?
MS+MO’K: We loved our first Fringe as punters, and we know it’ll be much harder work as performers and producers.

But it’ll also be more fulfilling! We’re excited to make friends with lots of fellow artists and fill our eyes, ears and hearts with their inspiring performance art.

We’re looking forward to seeing our fellow queer artists specifically, as queer identities are so varied and personal, but they each point towards how all of us can find our own freedom of expression – queer or not.

CM: What plans do you have for when you are not performing?
MS+MO’K: We hope to explore beautiful Edinburgh and take advantage of the free museums. And we’ll day-trip up the coast to North Berwick to experience some non-Edinburgh Scotland as well. We will also eat lots of bread.

CM: Are you planning to go to see other shows? Who do you want to see? Do you have any recommendations for us?
MS+MO’K: We can’t wait to see as much comedy, musicals and circus as our little hearts and littler wallets can take.

In the realm of musical comedy, we were so inspired by David O’Doherty when we saw him two years ago, and we’ll definitely be revisiting his show. We’re also excited to see Jordan Gray’s show which has a title that keeps making us laugh: ‘Is That A C*ck In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Here To Kill Me?’

Last but not least, our co-director Chris Grace is doing an insane show called ‘27 Hours’ where he’s writing and performing a new hour-long show every day of the Fringe – plus one extra on either end.

In anyone else’s hands this would be a terrible idea, but Chris is such a hilarious and steady performer that anything he puts together is worth your while. We’ll check in at least once a week to watch his sanity slowly degrade.

CM: Can you tell us a bit more about yourselves, now? How did you get into performing? What did you do to begin your careers in the arts?
MS+MO’K: We’re both classically trained musicians who were lucky enough to have parents who supported arts education. We have our specialties: Marnina is more of a performer-writer and Micah is more of a writer-performer. We both do both, but the difference strengthens our work as a duo.

Less than a year into dating, we boldly started improv class together at Upright Citizens Brigade, and collaborated on projects with other people involved, like Micah’s musical comedy about the NRA that ran at Second City for two years, starring Marnina.

But it took the pandemic for us to prioritise writing together more and putting it online. That got paused for a bit though as other commitments came back and Marnina had various acting gigs out of town.

But it’s been awesome to have this year’s Festival to push us to work together as Couplet over the past year.

CM: Can you tell us about the other things you do, when not performing as Couplet?
MS: I’ve been in shows on Netflix and Hulu, short films at Tribeca and other major festivals, countless plays and musicals, mostly of new works, and my violin playing was featured on multiple seasons of Dropout’s improvised musical show Play It By Ear – which our director Chris Grace also appeared on. 

Other favourite credits include starring in ‘Chanshi’ – featuring Henry Winkler – that made its US debut at Sundance, and my professional debut as a kid in Tony Kushner’s ‘Brundibar’ at Berkeley Rep.

MO’K: I write musicals! There’s a political comedy called ‘Good Guy With A Gun’ that I co-wrote and have spent ten years developing with songwriter Philip Labes. We’re planning to release it in 2026 as a concept album with a very exciting cast. 

I also have unfunny indie folk music out under the artist name Lookalike.

MS+MO’K: Both of us, and our director Eric Michaud, also write and perform with Quick & Funny Musicals – Upright Citizens Brigade’s longest-running musical offering – notable former members are Chris Grace and Rachel Bloom. We’ve also written and filmed silly videos that featured the likes of Josh Gad and Seth Rogen.

CM: What have been the highlights of your working lives thus far?
MS+MO’K: Releasing our songs as Couplet has been a major highlight of both our careers. The reaction online and to our live show has been explosive, like, above and beyond what either of us has done separately. And to top it all off, we each get to hang out with our favourite person.

CM: What aims and hopes do you have for the future?
MS+MO’K: The dream would be to record an album of the songs and to continue performing this show, thus extending our honeymoon forever. 

We have other ideas for shows and we keep falling into ridiculous situations that we simply have to turn into songs. And we could even see developing a TV show to really make our love eternally available to stream.

CM: What’s coming up next for you after this?
MS+MO’K: We have two shows in the Los Angeles area that came with the Hollywood Fringe awards we won!

One with the NAMBA Arts Festival this fall and the other in the spring as part of Joy Who Lived, this incredible theatre and comedy festival focused on trans and non-binary stories and artists. Both are incredible honours to be a part of. 

That’s all we have locked in for now, but there will certainly be more Couplet to come! We’re addicted.

Couplet performed ‘Honey Honey Moon Moon’ at The Assembly Rooms at Edinburgh Festival 2025.

LINKS: marninaschon.com | micahokonis.com | instagram.com/coupletcomedy

Photo: Jack Morris