British silent clown and visual comedian Darryl J Carrington brings ‘Tennish’ to the Edinburgh Fringe. The show will be at the Underbelly Bristo Square Clover for the month of August. It's playful, chaotic, visual and all about ambition, performance and failure.

For ‘Tennish’, Darryl wanted to place himself as a clown into a tennis world and play with the rules and expectations of that environment. His working-class father, a military officer, always wanted him to aspire to greatness, many violin lessons and tennis lessons were had. But it just wasn’t exciting enough as he wanted to hang out on the street corners with the punks even from a very young age. He was drawn to adrenaline and pushing the limits.... So, he swapped tennis for extreme sports and violin lessons for raves.

This show is about expectations and putting himself in a world where he just wanted to be a rock star instead of tennis star. With his cartoon-like mind he often daydreamed about scenarios that he brings to life on stage. He loves making ordinary objects do extraordinary things.

Expect audience participation, wigs, singing tennis balls, music video parodies, and an unlikely side kick, a dog called Flippy, that is his new muse! In addition, a banging soundtrack and lots of tech surprises. A world defined and then broken into chaos and silly ideas. All with no words being spoken!

His family friendly show ‘Out Of The Box’ is also back to the Fringe for the second year running at the Underbelly George Square Gardens Wee Coo. 

With over 20 years’ experience, Darryl is far more than a non-verbal clown. His style transcends language, making the show enjoyable for audiences regardless of their understanding of English.

Darryl J Carrington’s family show ‘Out Of The Box’ will be at the Underbelly – George Square Gardens – Wee Coo at 1.20pm. Buy Tickets here. His adults show ‘Tennish’ will be at the Underbelly – Bristo Square – Clover, at 10pm. Tickets here.

What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and/or check your knickers aren't sticking out of your skirt and check for spinach between your teeth) 

I actually have a little ritual that I do, where I stand backstage eyes closed, and tell the audience that I love them and thanks for coming and then I look and point up to the sky and tell my friends and family that aren’t here anymore that love them too.
 
What irritates you?   

Fly-tippers, dogs without recall, the price of trains, middle lane drivers, people who are rude to service staff, me and the noise of electric cars.
 
What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done? 

I used to be a tree surgeon and had multiple near death experiences.
The worst was when I was a groundsman , we had a new climber who was taking the top of a tree off. we asked how many needed on the rope to lower it, he said four. He did the cut, two of us flew into the air, we landed laughing the boss screamed, we looked up a log was coming our way, I somehow simultaneously threw my colleague over me and rolled out of the way as a 3 tonne top of a tree landed right where we were a second before.

 What is the most stupid thing you have ever done? 

I nearly drowned trying to swim out to a peninsular with a single tree on it in Gokana in India to share a cigarette with a friend, in shark-infested water. Waves were too big to get on land, kept getting held under. We had no option to swim back, after a 3hr swim we crawled up the beach, and I said to Wolfe, did you see the sharks below us, he said Ja, but I didn’t want to frighten you. I now very much fear and respect the sea!!!
 
What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy? 

The fact that its happening, I would have never imagined I could have a career in comedy without saying a single word on stage.
I’m from a circus background so I was totally used to that career and can’t quiet believe it happening tbh.
 
What do your parents/children (delete as applicable) think of your job?    

I've always been very driven and strong minded even as a kid, when I used to go hangout with the punks on the street corners rather than going for a shop in C&A.
So I think they always knew I would end up doing something weird, I've had many careers and jobs and comedy is the least dangerous so I think they’re happy about that. My parents love to host a good party, so the apple didn’t fall that far from the tree.     

What’s the worst thing about being a comedian? 

The perceived pressure to be on social media, I don’t love the socials. Mainly because I get sucked into consuming content I just don’t want to be. 
I wish it was just a place to share joy and love, but its designed to get you annoyed and therefore engaged. 
And due to the nature of my work where I use a lot of audience participation, I feel its breaking the trust if I then post that online. 
 
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 think i've spend the last 30 years making some wonderful mistakes and learning lots of different skills, and I'm now stoked that I've found the umbrella of comedian/clown in which I can play with all the things i've learned, with the common goal of getting a laugh.

I have a brain that daydreams in cartoons and I love that I get to bring those to life.

I think I'm good at bringing a room of strangers together to have a laugh, my work isn’t political or meaningful its just a bit of nonsense and I being a showman and putting on the best show I can.
 
How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn? 

I quit my day job in retail 4 years ago and I try to have 20% year on year growth in terms of wages, this last financial year I had nearly 50% growth so that was awesome!
Ive not got much interest in being rich, but being wealthy is very interesting, I don’t need a lot in life, i've got a great partner, dog and family and friends. So if I was able to make what im making now for the rest of mylife without having to use my labour again id be over the moon.
 
How important is luck in terms of career success – have you had lucky breaks? 

I'm a bit of a hippy and believe that if you are doing what you are meant to be doing then the world and nature tells you so. So I believe there is luck, but you have to acknowledge that you are in the right place at the right time and be grateful for it.
Sure I've had lucky breaks, I trained a discipline called cradle at circus school, agents told me we’d never work in the uk wit this skill, but we left circus school and auditioned for a show called Batman live where they needed three cradle duos, so we then did a world arena tour for two years. Im a lucky boy for sure.
 
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 treat comedy like a job, its the job I'm best at but it doesn’t define who I am, its a job. I love mountain biking, dog walks and cooking outside of comedy. For me its important that I remember its a job and to enjoy it but that I also need to clock off.
 
Who is your favourite person ever and why – not including family or friends or other comedians? 

I think all humans and animals are fascinating. There’s two, the guy from New York that told me the story of his father in the Apple Store. The little girl who gave me £10 when I was busking in Poole.
 
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). 

Yes, everything has to have a place otherwise its absolute chaos!! My rucksack is the same, everything has a place. But its hard for those things to find their place sometimes as their strewn all over the house!