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Where were you on 9/11? Sitting in school? Sitting on the toilet? Nowhere of note? Well, Sofia May, the other hand, was running—for her life— from the dust cloud and debris as the World Trade Center toppled next to her school in downtown Manhattan and now, as an adult, she's processed a lot of that trauma, continues to grieve, and is ready to get hilarious.

In this awarding-winning hour of stand-up, Sofia May takes the audience on a gruesome comedic journey of her experience as a tween survivor of the history's most outrageous terrorist attack.

"It’s the kind of story that, on paper, shouldn’t be funny and yet in Sofia’s hands, it absolutely is. Her delivery is fearless, and the material so far beyond the usual stand-up fare that it makes every “dating trauma” or “annoying in-law” anecdote feel laughably trivial." — The Nerd Party
"Sofia was a student at the school closest to the towers when they fell on 9/11 and has been in therapy ever since. But this isn’t one of those Edinburgh Fringe sob story shows; it’s an hour of engaging and wickedly dark humour that Sofia navigates with a Cheshire Cat-like grin" — European Comedy Review

News and Reviews for this Show

August 20, 2025  European Comedy Sofia May’s “9/11 Birds and the Bees” Edinburgh Fringe Review Sofia May’s favourite game is simple: “Where were you on 9/11?” Sofia stands behind the curtain to the side of the stage, her Converse shoes poking out at the bottom, and announces to her Edinburgh audience that the plane they’re on has been hijacked and they’ve got 60 minutes left to live. The West Port Oracle’s rows of airline seats and fake cabin walls make it the perfectly morbid setting for a show about being a 9/11 survivor and why she and everyone at her school in NYC (shoutout to I.S. 89) got screwed out of an HBO documentary. It’s a bold opener that sums up May’s style of comedy: dark, eccentric, but above all, very funny. She gives off the vibe that she’d give you a hug if you needed it, and while delivering said hug, stick a sign on your back that says a whole bunch of slurs. Sofia was a student at the school closest to the towers when they fell on 9/11 and has been in therapy ever since. But this isn’t one of those Edinburgh Fringe sob story shows; it’s an hour of engaging and wickedly dark humour that Sofia navigates with a Cheshire Cat-like grin, which appears just seconds after she senses she’s pushed the audience to a new point of tension. Throughout the show, Sofia jokes about tough topics, from sexual assault to disabilities. She delivers her material with such offbeat positivity that it transforms the darker notes into something more accessible and somehow, at times, uplifting. When randomly challenged by an audience member about the U.S. cutting foreign aid, Sofia is quick and replies with a wide eyed smile, “Do you think I care they did that?” Her ironic reply got a huge laugh from the audience before going back to her material without missing a beat. At least, I think she was being ironic? Sofia sticks the landing (I HAD TO!) at the end of the show. She reflects on European views of what happened on that day and how the 9/11 Memorial Museum is significant to her, bringing a quietly powerful moment to a show that is raw and uniquely her own. It’s an impressive debut hour from the proud New York-raised, Berlin-based comedian. Sofia May turns a world-famous tragedy into an Edinburgh Fringe comedy hour that is sharp, shocking, and genuinely hilarious. Click Here

April 8, 2025  The Nerd Party 9/11 Birds and the Bees - Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025 What do you do when you’re officially classed as a 9/11 survivor because your school that was just 400 metres from the collapsing World Trade Center was technically the closest... only for the media to crown the school a few metres further away as the real headline act? If you’re Sofia May, you wait nearly 25 years and turn that moment in history into a stand-up set and reclaim your survivor throne. Then, in a twist of cosmic irony, you perform it in the basement of a bar in Edinburgh that has been designed to look like the inside of a plane, complete with tray tables, overhead compartments, and thankfully, no Taliban suicide squad. With around 3,700 shows at the Fringe and many of them comedy it can be genuinely hard to know where to start. But 9/11 Birds and the Bees offers one of the most arresting hooks on the entire programme. Sofia May delivers a masterclass in pitch-black comedy, blending biting personal anecdotes from her time living in Germany and New York with a jaw-dropping account of her 9/11 experience and one that would trump almost anyone else’s in a game of “Where were you on 9/11?” It’s the kind of story that, on paper, shouldn’t be funny and yet in Sofia’s hands, it absolutely is. Her delivery is fearless, and the material so far beyond the usual stand-up fare that it makes every “dating trauma” or “annoying in-law” anecdote feel laughably trivial. To quote from Peep Show: “Ooh, the Italians might leave the Euro, big wow.” It’s not exactly planes smashing into buildings, is it? Unlike the Taliban learning to fly planes in Florida, Sofia May actually knows how to land this basement plane and a crowd loving every minute of her set! Lee Hutchison Click Here

January 9, 2025 European Comedy Announcing the Winners of the Second Annual European Comedy Award Sofia May — 9/11 Birds and The Bees (Best Performer) Taking the Best Performer award is the striking debut of Sofia May with 9/11 Birds and The Bees. This is a show that confronts weighty themes — grief, global trauma — but flips them into a daring, darkly funny, and ultimately life-affirming hour. Sofia’s performance is disarmingly honest and sharp. She navigates an emotional tightrope: exposing vulnerability while landing gut-punch jokes, veering into discomfort then yanking audiences back into laughter with deft comic timing. The result is a deeply personal piece that lands with resonance and wit. But perhaps what makes her win especially powerful is that this is her first hour ever, created and promoted entirely on her own — no PR team, no management. To accomplish this and deliver something this strong, this polished, this affecting — it’s nothing short of remarkable. Sofia May is a performer to watch, and it is with full pleasure we award her Best Performer 2025. Click Here

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