With nearly 1 million followers and over 400 million views online, musical comedian Anesti Danelis brings you his new comedy special. Feeling lost in life, he asked ChatGPT to write a show based on his life and this is what we got…
Would you mind giving us a brief insight into what your show is?
Artificially Intelligent is a musical comedy special that blends storytelling and technology and was inspired by the time I asked ChatGPT to write me a super hilarious musical comedy show, and got something pretty… unique.
Don’t judge me! Everyone is using AI these days. A majority of Inspirational quotes are all AI-generated, and even Hollywood is using AI to write scripts and make movies, so I thought, why am I working so hard when I can just be using AI?
Through catchy and relatable songs on guitar and piano about my Greek immigrant family, my queerness, and anxieties, I attempt to explain my identity to ChatGPT in hopes that it will generate a very nuanced and complex show based on my life, but the results are laughably terrible. Or are they? We’ll let the audience decide when I perform the song ChatGPT actually wrote for me.
It’s unique, engaging, and hilarious and is coming to Edinburgh straight from a completely sold-out and multi-award winning (The Second City’s Best Comedy award, & Patrons Pick audience choice award) run at the Toronto Fringe.
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
My creative team was Alia Rasul, ChatGPT, and Meeeeeeeeeeeee.
Alia Rasul is my director for this production. She is a comedian and writer who has also created smash hits with her all-Filipina sketch group The Tita Collective, as well as her own award-winning solo works, and CBC documentary “13 ways my dad almost died.” The process of working with Alia was very fun. She is one of my closest friends, so we naturally pull out the funniest and dumbest comedy bits from each other. She’s also a very smart comedian and writer, and she was able to take all of my ridiculous humour and wild thoughts on AI, technology, and identity and help find a cohesive and engaging narrative of it all.
I also had ChatGPT on the team. First I engaged with ChatGPT out of curiosity. I prompted it to write me a song based on my life, and after explaining my identity to this AI, it gave me a stereotypical and culturally flat version of who I am. I was then hooked to continue playing with this software, and the process became brainstorming sessions from which a lot of the material was born.
In my live show, I engage with a glowing orb with a HAL-type voice, meant to signify ChatGPT, and all of that dialogue I have with the orb is actual dialogue I had with ChatGPT. This AI even went as far as taking all of my material and creating the show’s running order. It explained where each song and standup should be placed, and why it placed it there, and it made some really good points.
How does it feel coming to the Fringe?
This will be my fifth time there, which is insane to think about, but I am excited to be returning to the fringe, especially knowing what the experience looks like. Though, I feel like I’ll still be surprised at the two-week mark when all the artists hit that existential crisis wall.
There are over 3,000 shows at the Fringe. So, what sets your show apart?
What sets my show apart is the blending of a comedy special with artificial intelligence. When audiences come to see the show, they will be able to see what comedy looks like from a comedian, what comedy looks like when it’s co-created with AI and then what comedy looks like when it’s just AI. I present my own material, I create an AI song for a couple of audience members, and I perform a real song (a terribly hilarious one) that ChatGPT wrote about my life. It’s a fun and interactive time where a human and robot share the stage.
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
I’m hoping that audiences will walk away feeling confident that AI will not take over the creative industry, and that the technology is not scary when used right. I hope it also scares them a little bit to see what a world that is just AI looks like.
Your ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t there…
My ideal audience is just Beyonce. I think she’d really enjoy the show. I sent her a DM so I think she’ll make some time to check it out.
Who isn’t in my audience is any of the robots from the movie “I, Robot.” I think they’d get mad at how I talk about AI and would heckle me.
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
I visit a Greek cafe called Greek Artisanal Pastries while I’m there. They make the best Greek coffees and tiropites. It’s my happy place and makes me feel like I’m back in Toronto.
I love absurd humour so I will try to check as much of that as possible. I’m more of a spontaneous fringe watcher. I want to walk into a show without knowing anything about it and see what happens, so I’ll be doing a lot of that too.
In your ideal world, how can we improve the Fringe, of performance, and the industry?
By making it accessible and affordable for artists to showcase their art.
Interested in being featured on our Have a Gander page? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’