What do your parents/children (delete as applicable) think of your job? 

My parents are incredibly supportive and also very insistent that I am responsible with money and decisions. They have no problem with me being a comedian or in the arts but they also encourage me to save and make smart decisions with money. I appreciate that because it can be challenging but it doesn’t have to be steady job or starving artist. You can be a moderately successful artist with a day job and that be very fulfilling.

What’s the worst thing about being a comedian? 

‘You’re a comedian? Tell me a joke?’ Oh ya? Why don’t you go jump off a fucking bridge 

‘You’re a comedian? You don’t seem very funny?’ Oh ya? You’re a doctor why don’t you have a stethoscope around your neck you prick

And If those are the worst things about being a comedian, it’s not so bad.

I think you are very good at what you do (that’s why I’m asking these questions). What do you think of you? 

I love having an outlet to tell stories and jokes on stage. I was always insecure because I have a hard time writing short jokes but when I found solo shows and Edinburgh Fringe I started to fall in love with the form and find my voice. So I really love telling stories for 60 minutes with a theme and an arc and I am pretty good at it. And I have a great moustache.

How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn? 

Right now I am running a business that in financial terms is ‘operating at a loss’. But the good news is…I am loving doing it. I have a day job to help fund my work. And I think as some point comedy will pay the bills and until then teaching chess and music is a very fulfilling day job.

How important is luck in terms of career success – have you had lucky breaks? 

As I say when I am teaching games of chance, like backgammon that involves dice. There is not luck, there is chance and probability. There is a lot of that in entertainment, it may seem like luck but it’s actually all chance. The good news about chance is it’s not random and you can increase your odds. The big opportunities I have had were through being out, performing, meeting people, connecting with friends and people that enjoy what I do. Some big breaks, but they are more big moments of chance than luck.

Alan Davies has said that comedians fall into two categories - golfers and self-harmers. The former just get on with life, the latter are tortured artists. Which are you – or do you think you fit into third category? 

I use my work as a way to work through weird, difficult, challenging things in my life. And by the time the shows are done a lot of people relate to them and it makes the stories that I lived through less sad and more funny and I feel more connected to other humans through it. So I think I go through the process of being a tortured artist to a golfer at the beginning to end of each show I work on. I am one half of each I’d say. Also, Alan Davies needs to expand his definition of what comedians do and why, every person contains multitudes, c’mon Alan, open up your mind!

Who is your favourite person ever and why – not including family or friends or other comedians? 

I think I would say Tom Waits. When I first heard Tom Waits music it was like a bomb went off, he is so uniquely human and himself. No one can copy him, no one can even imitate him. I also love that when he got sober his music got weirder and darker. I saw him live 3 times and I don’t think I will ever see a better live performance than that.

Do you keep your drawers tidy and if not why not? (please think long and hard about this question, it's to settle an argument with my girlfriend. The future of our relationship could depend on your response). 

I keep my drawers tidy. I keep my bedroom tidy. I keep my kitchen tidy. But my brain is an absolute mess.

Kevin James Doyle’s ‘After Endgame’ is at Just The Tonic Just Up The Stairs @ 5.05pm for tickets go to www.edfringe.com

PHOTO CREDIT - JOSH GOLEMAN

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