The Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018 runs from August 3 - 27. Today Beyond The Joke kicks off its annual season of interviews to get you all excited about the comedy in store. And we are starting off with a big name returning to the Fringe. I first saw Marcus Brigstocke so long ago I can't remember the venue. It may have been a wine bar just off Cowgate. I remember sitting on a stool at the back as he did a series of very funny beatbox-based noises. Since then Brigstocke has become a household name, doing everything from stand-up satire to starring in the West End in Spamalot to more personal shows about his fondness for cheese and much more. This year, perhaps unsurprisingly, there's a political edge. In Devil May Care he is trying to work out what is good and what is bad in an increasingly upside down world. If he going to put the make-up on to look as he does in the picture here every night the least you can do is stump up for a ticket.
Marcus Brigstocke: Devil May Care, Pleasance Courtyard, August 1 - 26. Buy tickets here.
1. 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 make a mental gratitude list. It makes it all more fun. The more fun I have the more the audience likes it. So I go through a gratitude list in my head. Like a prayer.
2. What irritates you?
Lack of curiosity.
3. What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
Try to explain to Brexiteers why facts matter.
4. What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
Try to explain to Brexiteers why facts matter on stage.
5. What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?
Those moments when a whole idea, perfectly formed, occurs to you on stage in one instant and you didn’t even know you were going to say it.
