Ep. 65 - Making it Punk (SLUGS)

Gabrielle Martin chats with S.E. Grummett and Sam Kruger about SLUGS, coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival! Show Notes Gabrielle S.E. and Sam discuss:  How did this piece start and develop into what it is today? What is your creation process like? How did you incorporate a dramaturg? How did you "make it punk enough"? What was the origin of Creepy Boys? How have your interests, creative approach and themes evolved? Your influences are wide and wild; what do these forms mean to you and how do they coexist in your world? How has your practice developed by touring your work around the world? What is the Fringe model and what draws you to it? About SLUGS It's about nothing. We promise. From the award-winning performance/comedy duo Creepy Boys (S.E. Grummett & Sam Kruger), this anarchic fever dream is a techno-punk concert, a play, a clown show, and a basement puppet nightmare all rolled into one. In a neon haze of chaos and charm, two performers attempt to make a show about nothing—until meaning starts leaking in through the cracks. SLUGS spirals from DIY absurdity into something strangely profound, fusing electronic comedy songs, trash puppetry and live camera magic into a meltdown of meaning. It's "brilliantly smart and beautifully stupid" (The Guardian), and it might be the most fun you'll have while the planet burns. For tonight, at least, we are free. About the Artists S.E. Grummett and Sam Kruger proudly make joyful, deliciously funny, big-hearted, queer comedy and theatre for the intrigued. Real-life lovers, the pair perform under the duo name CREEPY BOYS, recently nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award.  As CREEPY BOYS and with their own solo works, they have toured extensively around the world including across Canada (Buddies in Bad Times, Summerworks Festival), US (Twin Cities Horror Festival), UK (Soho Theatre, Latitude Festival, Edinburgh Fringe), Europe (Prague Quadrennial, LiteraturHaus Copenhagen) and Australia (Midsumma Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Fringe World). Their work has also been featured on the BBC Radio 4 and CBC Radio.  S.E. Grummett (they/them) is a queer, transgender theatre artist from Treaty 6 Territory. Over the past 5 years, Grumms has created a body of original queer work and toured it around the world, including Canada, US, UK, Europe and Australia. Their solo-show, "Something in the Water", which won Best Theatre at the Adelaide Fringe, has toured around the world to queer audiences young and old. Recently they created, "The Adventures of Young Turtle", a puppet musical for queer and trans youth created with indie music icon, Rae Spoon, which won 2 Sterling Awards in Edmonton for Outstanding TYA Production. Grumms is the recipient of the inaugural 2SLGBTQIA+ Multidisciplinary Artist Award presented by the Sask Foundation for the Arts and the 2022 RBC Outstanding Award in recognition for their contribution to the queer and trans community across Saskatchewan. Outside of self-creation, Grumms also works as a director, puppeteer & video artist.  Sam Kruger (he/him) is a performer, sound designer, and recent immigrant to Canada. His solo works "Fool Muun Komming! [BeBgWunderful/YEsyes/ 4sure.Hi5/TruLuv;Spank Spank:SOfun_Grate_Times", "Bat Brains or (let's explore mental illness with vampires)", and duo comedy Creepy Boys, have toured throughout Canada, the US, the UK, Europe, and Australia since 2018 to acclaim and various awards. Kruger's emphasis is in the creation of original theatre that draws on Lecoq-style physical theatre, Gaulier-esqe clown, performance art, and surrealism. Often exploring themes of isolation, loneliness, and the performativity of everyday life, Kruger's work is funny, physical, stupid, sincere, wiggly and proudly weird. He holds a BA from the University of Minnesota, and is a graduate of the Ecole Philippe Gaulier, in Étampes, France. Land Acknowledgement This conversation was recorded on the unceded, stolen and ancestral territories of the Coast Salish Peoples: the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), colonially known as Vancouver. S.E. and Sam joined the conversation from Copenhagen, Denmark. It is our duty to establish right relations with the people on whose territories we live and work, and with the land itself. Credits PuSh Play is produced by Ben Charland and Tricia Knowles. Original music by Joseph Hirabayashi. Show Transcript