Colin Cloud talks about his new show, Exposé.
1 Tell us about your Fringe show
It's a combination of all of my Sherlock Holmes-esque skills and abilities. This year, my new show: Exposé, it's all about the audience. Their lives, their thoughts and their secrets. Oh, and I'll be staging an attempt to survive a potentially lethal injection every night. The antidote will be hidden somewhere in Edinburgh. Fun, right?
2 Best thing about the Fringe?
I don't need to fly for 13 hours to get to the stage. It's my home city. This is my favourite time!
3 Worst thing about the Fringe?
It's my home city, so all my friends always want to crash at my place. If they're reading this, I've moved.
Not really, with my skills, I don't have friends.
4 How many years have you been coming to the Fringe?
I've been addicted to the Fringe ever since I was a kid. Just watching, enjoying the sensory experience. I've been performing here since 2010. Just low key at first, feeling the vibe and gauging the response to what I do. Then two years ago, it all started going into this free fall of craziness.
5 Favourite Fringe venue?
The 'Big Cave' will always hold special memories, that's really where it all began.
6 Best Fringe memory?
Utterly honoured, delighted and relieved to have completely sold out every single night for the past two years. To know that your artistic vision is enjoyed and shared by so many people is the most valuable reward for doing this.
7 Best heckle?
Someone reading this just thought to themselves "Oi mate, did you just use 'artistic vision’ in a sentence?!?” Mind. Reader.
8 Craziest on stage experience?
In last year’s show: KILLS, the penultimate act. Each night live on stage, I would kill a member of the audience chosen at random.That was a pretty insane, dark concept, exploring the frailty of our existence, death and rebirth. Every night was a new and strangely different experience for me and the audience.Technically, I've now committed 68 murders.
9 What’s on your rider?
Please rebook me. Oh and Minstrels.
10 How do you wind down after a show?
I go right back to my notebooks and critique, edit, rewrite and aim to improve. Whilst two cats are climbing all over me trying to join in. I don't even own cats. Weird.
11 What do you love about Scotland?
People complaining about the weather. I kinda always feel that if the only thing you haveto complain about is the weather, your life must be pretty awesome. And of course it is, you live in Scotland!
12 What do you like about Edinburgh?
A Select Society. It's ancient and powerful. The source of this wonderful path I’m on. Without Edinburgh, I wouldn't be touring the world, performing on TV or starring in shows on the West End. I could've just said the first bit, but my publicist told me to go for the hard sell. #Pressure.
14 What kind of jokes do a Scottish crowd seem to respond to?Obviously, what I'm doing is more like mind reading but people really crease themselves when I'm exposing someone’s naughty memories, or teaching them how to tell when their partner is lying to them. Sometimes those things coexist.
15 Favourite joke?
That thing I wrote above about not having friends was pretty witty for me, given that I'm jet lagged.
16 Favourite Scottish food/drink?
Diet Irn Bru (it absolutely tastes WAY better than regular Irn Bru ... And pretty much any other drink!). And food wise ... I'm really into dim sum right now, but I'm pretty sure that's not very Scottish. Do you want me to say haggis? Should I go haggis? I'll go haggis. Totally felt like a free choice. Haggis, final answer.
Just to clarify, I do own two cats. It's a different two cats though. Weirder.
Colin Cloud: Exposé is on at Underbelly Med Quad until August 28.
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