Mark Nelson talks about his new show, Smiley Face.
1 Tell us about your Fringe show
My Fringe show this year is called Smiley Face and it is all about happiness and whether Social Media affects it. There is also a bit about gorillas.
2 Best thing about the Fringe?
I would like to say the best thing about the Fringe is the opportunity to experience the greatest and most varied Arts festival in the world but in reality the best thing is the late night drinking.
3 Worst thing about the Fringe?
The fact that the toilets at Waverley Station will probabaly make more money thatn most of the performers during the month.
4 How many years have you been coming to the Fringe?
This will be my sixth solo show at the Fringe.
5 Favourite Fringe venue?
The Gilded Balloon where I am obviously.
6 Best Fringe memory?
The first time I sold out a solo show. Incredible feeling.
7 Best heckle?
A once had a Belgian man yell out randomly that his country produced the best peadophiles. Very little you can say back to that.
8 Craziest on stage experience?
A man on the front row at The Stand pointing out half way through my set that my zip was undone and my penis had been poking out.
9 What’s on your rider?
Scarlett Johansson
10 How do you wind down after a show?
Drink
11 What do you love about Scotland?
The fact that is probably the most beautiful place in the world
12 What do you like about Edinburgh?
The fact that the most mental pub on Earth can be right next to the most hipster place you will ever see.
13 What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve done?
On a stag do I once accidentally urinated on a dwarf.
14 What kind of jokes do a Scottish crowd seem to respond to?
If you are funny and honest Scottish crowds will adore you like no other crowd. If you are not they will rip you apart.
15 Favourite joke?
Polish guy goes to the optician. Opticians says, "Can you read the chart?" Polish guy says, "Read it? I know the guy."
16 Favourite Scottish food/drink?
Tablet hands down.
Mark Nelson: Smiley Face is on at the Gilded Ballroom until August 28. For tickets visit www.edfringe.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here