Award-winning actor, writer, director and improviser Michael Kunze is back at the Fringe, performing as Hollywood film superstar Mitch Cooney: an enigma, a bullshitter and an idiot.

I wanted to find out more about the character and the show, ‘Infinity Mirror’, which is described as “a cautionary tale about celebrity, failure and a man who sold his soul for fame and found it wasn’t worth much to begin with”.

Michael is also a member of the Comedy Lab at the Torino Film Festival and co-founded Blue Heart Theatre, so there are lots of other things to find out about too. Which is why I arranged for an early-Fringe chat.

CM: Can you start by telling us about Mitch Cooney? Who is he and what are his defining characteristics?
MK: Mitch Cooney is an enigma. A bullshitter and a liar. He is a bad actor, a sandwich maker and a folksy homespun philosopher. Mostly he is an idiot.

CM: What happens in ‘Infinity Mirror’? Does it tell his story? What format does the show take?
MK: ‘Infinity Mirror’ tells the story of Mitch Cooney’s life: his rise and fall from humble beginnings to worldwide acclaim and back to nothing all over again, as he attempts to realise his dream of getting to the ultra-exclusive seventh VIP room at the Tom Hanks sex party.

It’s got everything: drama, redemption, horse stuff. It features sketch, musical comedy, characters and very bad dramatic monologues, taken from Mitch’s work on stage and screen, interspersed with commentary from the man himself.

CM: Where did he come from? What was the inspiration and motivation for creating this character?
MK: One day I was walking along the Thames listening to a podcast, one of those conversational long form interviews between the host and some celebrity.

The guest was telling this classic “I was about to give up, but then I had my big breakthrough” sob story, and I was bored, so I started responding to the questions the host was asking as if I was the interviewee. In that moment, Mitch was born.

CM: How do you go about putting a show like this together?
MK: With great pain and many false missteps. I did loads of previews and works in progress to test out different things, and tease out the story, to find the laughs and to find the heart of the character. I have a writer’s group in London, so I would constantly be trying stuff out week in and week out.

CM: So it’s not as simple as sitting down and writing the piece?
MK: I wish it were that easy! I’m an improviser and I like to interact with the audience, so oftentimes I’d throw something I had written out the window and just follow some thread to it’s conclusion. Then I’d watch it back and see if it was any good. Most of it wasn’t, but some of it stuck around.

CM: You’ve performed in Edinburgh before, of course – what made you want to come back this year?
MK: I was feeling like I had a bit too much money in my pocket and wanted to throw it all away again. Jokes aside, I love the Fringe, it’s full of some of the savviest audiences in the world, and it’s still a great place to build an audience and move forward in your career.

I’ve had some really great things come out of past Fringes, so I wanted to do it all over again and keep moving forward.

CM: What advice would you give to people performing at or attending the Fringe for the first time?
MK: To performers: try not to get caught up in the buzz of who’s doing what and who’s selling out. Focus on making your show as good as you can. This is advice I still give myself all the time.

As a punter: Run yourself ragged and take chances and see something that surprises you. There’s so much wonderful work put on at the Fringe, go see something you love, go see something you hate, go see something you know nothing about.

CM: What are your favourite and least favourite things about being in Edinburgh for the Festival?
MK: I love how the city turns into the world’s biggest college campus, where you’re constantly running into acquaintances and friends and even enemies. As a friend recently said, there’s lots of ghosts in Edinburgh, and I love to visit and be haunted by them all.

The least favourite thing is probably how far my flat is from everything and how somehow everything is uphill. I’m constantly in a state of having back sweat dry on my shirts.

CM: What do you do when you’re not performing? Will you go and see other people’s shows?
MK: I do try and go see other people’s shows, but I’ve gotten better about knowing where to draw the line and not burn myself out.

I also try not to plan out my schedule too much, because if I book a thing ahead of time and then on the day I’m not feeling it, I feel awful. I hate missing shows.

CM: Can we talk about your eclectic career for a bit? You do lots of different things – writing, improv, theatre, etc. Is any one thing more important to you than the others?
MK: Yeah! Too many hats, I know. I go through phases where I identify more as a performer or more as a writer.

Whatever I’m working on at the moment tends to feel like the most important thing for me. I love being on stage, but if I’m not able to be for some reason, writing just feels like a very pure expression of myself.

CM: Can you tell us about the Comedy Lab at Torino Film Festival? What exactly is that?
MK: The ComedyLab at Torino Film is this amazing new development lab for independent comedy feature scripts.

Scriptwriters and comedians are brought together to work on feature scripts over the course of a year, with weeklong modules in Italy and Portugal, and a final big showcase at the end of the year in Italy, where the projects are pitched to industry for funding opportunities.

Torino Film Lab is a very big deal in the world of independent arthouse European cinema, and this is their first ever comedy lab, which is a great sign of comedy being taken a bit more seriously in the film world.

CM: Can you also tell us more about Blue Heart Theatre?
MK: Blue Heart Theatre is a company I founded in Dublin along with Niamh Denyer, Sean Denyer and Brian Graham Higgins.

We’ve staged more than a dozen productions over the years in Ireland and the UK, and our work has won awards and been performed in places like the Southwark Playhouse in London. It’s great. Check us out.

CM: Is this what you always wanted to do? What steps did you take to begin a creative career?
MK: Funnily enough, my mom showed me a thing I did when I was ten years old about my favourite things, and what I wanted to be in the future. I wrote that I love rap music and comedy and wanted to be an actor. So I guess I did always know on some level. I like to think ten year old me would think my life is pretty dope.

I did a theatre degree in college and afterwards made shows in Ireland for a few years, which was a great place to experiment and try things. I also built a small career as a freelance computer programmer, which allowed me enough financial freedom to pursue my creative dreams for many more years than I would have otherwise. Gotta have a hustle.

CM: What have been the highlights of your artistic career thus far?
MK: I performed my show ‘Lil Saffron: Ragu To Riches’ at Soho Theatre in 2023, which was always a big dream of mine. When I first moved to London, I was in awe that a theatre existed that programmed all the sorts of stuff I love to watch, so to be on that stage was such a highlight. They’ve been a big supporter of my work.

CM: What aims and hopes do you have for the future?
MK: I hope to keep making things that I like and that other people like. I would really like to write for television and film, so I’m hoping that some of my irons in the fire will bear fruit – to mix metaphors!

I also really enjoy helping people with their shows, in a dramaturg / director role, so I hope when / if I age out of Edinburgh I’ll be able to still help other people realise their own ambitions for their shows.

CM: What’s coming up next for you after this?
MK: Next up I have the final showcase with the Torino Comedy Lab in November, which is very exciting.

Not only are the projects being presented, but the comedians are as well, so we need to figure out what exactly that entails, as well as help make sure the projects are on their best foot forward for their big industry presentation.

It’s been such a joy to work on the comedy features throughout the year, pitching ideas and doing improvisations, and I really hope that some of them find their way to receiving the funding they deserve.

Directly after Edinburgh I plan on sleeping. For a week.

‘Michael Kunze: Infinity Mirror’ was performed at Underbelly Cowgate at Edinburgh Festival 2024.

LINKS: michaeljkunze.com | instagram.com/mike.kunze510