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Julia Masli
Estonian clown (born 1995/1996) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Julia Masli (born 1995 or 1996)[1] is an Estonian-born, London-based[2] clown who garnered wide attention and a number of awards at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe for her show ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.[1][3]
Early life
Masli was raised in Tallinn, Estonia. Her parents are lawyers. When she was 12, she was sent to a girls' boarding school in England. She did not speak fluent English at the time, leading her to often communicate by miming.[1]
Career
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As a teenager, Masli intended to become a dramatic actor and to perform tragedies on London stages. She auditioned for British drama schools, but failed to get in, which she has attributed to her strong accent.[1]
She then trained at the École Philippe Gaulier from 2014 to 2016.[1][4] After returning to London, Masli has said she struggled to succeed as a clown. She has said that for a time, she stopped performing for 18 months and was so depressed that she could not get out of bed.[1]
In 2019, she took a show, Legs, which featured Masli shaking hands with audience members using her feet, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The show won a comic innovation prize. After the success of Legs, she now tries to use legs in all her shows.[1]
In 2022, she returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with a solo show about a migrant's struggles in the United States called Choosh![1] In addition, Masli co-created Clownts, a competitive clown show, with John-Luke Roberts, Sami Abu Wardeh and Viggo Venn.[5]
In 2023, she brought her work in progress, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The reception was strong enough that Masli ended up extending the run at a 1:30 a.m. time slot. The show features Masli dressed in Victorian clothing with a mannequin's leg instead of a left arm. She approaches audience members and asks: "Problem?" From the answers given, she responds to them with "leftfield efforts" to try to solve them.[1][6] Her show Anna KareniNa Na Na with The Pushkinettes was nominated for an OffWestEnd Theatre Award. As well as developing her own work, Julia is currently working with Race Horse Company as a clown on their upcoming contemporary circus show.[7]
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Awards
Masli's 2023 show ha ha ha ha ha ha ha won for best show in the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards,[8] as well as the Comedians' Choice Award.[9] The show also won the Malcolm Hardee 'Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid' Award in 2023.[10]
In addition, she was nominated for the "Best Comedy Show" award in the 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Awards, the main comedy awards.[11][12][13]
Previously, Masli won the 2019 Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality, jointly with The Duncan Brothers, for Legs.[14]
Personal life
As of 2023, Masli's partner was the Norwegian comedian Viggo Venn, with whom she sometimes collaborates.[1] Julia Masli and Viggo Venn split up in October 2024, according to an interview with Viggo Venn in Norwegian daily Verdens Gang (VG) published in July 2025.[15]
References
External links
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