Clare Plested discusses DVD extras, pretending to get married and office parties.
Tell us about your Fringe show
Clare Plested: The Essential Collection is a character comedy show featuring seven somewhat anarchic characters. After each character there’s a section called ‘comments my husband made during the making of this show’ - and you can hear the consistently horrendous feedback he gave me. Think of it like a DVD extra with some random prat. There are also some rather speedy costume changes.
Best thing about the Fringe?
The constant drinking.
Worst thing about the Fringe?
The constant drinking - because this year I will have my 2 and a half year old daughter in tow.
How many years have you been coming to the Fringe?
This will be my 8th year at the fringe. Holy. Cow.
Favourite Fringe venue?
Bedlam was the first venue I performed in back in 1999 and I still love it - has a great vibe and such good memories.
Best Fringe memory?
Being front page of the Scotsman in 2003 - my comedy partner Adam Brown and I pretended we were getting married at the top of the Royal Mile - our director was the vicar. It’s a fantastic pic - must have been a slow news day…
Best heckle?
‘You’re still drunk’
Craziest on stage experience?
Probably the whole time I was in ‘Office Party’ in 2008 - we actually got the audience and ourselves drunk throughout the course of the show - so a lot of random nudity occurred…
What’s on your rider?
Wish I was cool enough to have one.
How do you wind down after a show?
Used to be a little tipple but this year will probably be a visit to the park with my daughter.
What do you love about Scotland?
What’s not to love?! I did a Highlands tour with a show a few years ago - it was staggeringly beautiful. We then went on to tour New Zealand and all we could say is ‘this looks just like Scotland’.
What do you like about Edinburgh?
It’s history (I’m a boffin) and the cobbled streets - great for toning the legs whilst flyering
What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve done?
Sat in a highlands pub and sampled the majority of the regional scotch.
What kind of jokes do a Scottish crowd seem to respond to?
Er… anything that mentions Scotland.
Favourite joke?
An old Bob Monkhouse one - ‘A tomcat hijacked a plane, stuck a pistol into the pilot’s ribs and demanded: 'take me to the canaries.’
Clare Plested will perform at Ciao Roma on August 8-18 and 20-29.
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