Riki Lindhome - Dead Inside

Riki is a actress, comedian and musician, and best known as half of the duo Garfunkel and Oates. Following a successful run at the Edinbrugh Fringe festival, Riki brings her new musical comedy, Dead Inside, to the London stage.

Riki Lindholme will be performing Dead Inside at Soho Theatre from 31^st March – 18^th April. Tickets available HERE. 

We are very grateful to Riki for taking the time to answer a few of our questions before we see the show.

How would you describe the show in a few sentences, particularly for those that have not had to go through or be familiar with fertility treatment?

Dead Inside is a one-woman musical comedy about my experience trying to have a baby. You definitely don’t need to know anything about fertility treatment going in- honestly, I didn’t either when I started. It’s really about wanting something deeply, not being able to control the outcome, and trying to maintain a sense of humor through that. Even though the subject matter is specific, the emotional core is universal.

Described as your real-life fertility journey, what was the development process like for you? What were the highs and the lows?

It started in a very informal way. I was writing jokes and songs just to process what I was going through, without any real plan to turn it into a full show. Over time, I realized there was a larger story there, and then the process became about shaping that material into something cohesive and theatrical.

The highs were the moments where I felt like I had found a way to make something genuinely difficult feel funny and shareable. When something clicked and I could feel an audience connecting to it.

The lows were more internal. It was figuring out how honest I wanted to be, and what I was comfortable saying out loud. There were definitely moments where I thought, “Am I really going to say this out loud in front of a room full of people?” That part of the process took some time.

How did you go about navigating the sensitive nature of the topic?

I think the key was being honest about my own experience without trying to speak for anyone else’s. Fertility is such a personal and varied journey, so I didn’t want to generalize it. I just wanted to tell my version of it as truthfully as possible.

And then comedy does a lot of the work. Humor makes space for people to engage with something that might otherwise feel too heavy or uncomfortable.

What can people expect from the show?

People can expect something that feels very personal but also very relatable, even if they’ve never gone through fertility treatment themselves. It’s a mix of stand-up, storytelling, and music, with a lot of technical elements woven in. There are definitely laughs, but also quieter moments where the tone shifts. And ideally, they’ll leave feeling like they’ve experienced something honest, funny, and a little bit unexpected.