ALEX Salmond is set to rake in five figures from hosting a show on the Edinburgh fringe.
The former First Minister, who lost his job as MP for Gordon at the general election, is to front Alex Salmond Unleashed during the annual arts festival in August.
Billed as an “undoubtedly the most exciting event of this year’s festival”, the hour-long slot features Mr Salmond and friends in “chat, stories, a little bit of music and lots of fun”.
Standard tickets for the show at the Assembly Rooms are £22.50 and concessions £17.50.
As the 15 shows are scheduled for 400-seat capacity ballroom, a sell-out run could in theory generate £135,000 gross in ticket sales, or £9000 a day, suggesting Mr Salmond could be in for a healthy five-figure slice of the profit.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, a former Tory candidate who defected to the SNP as Mr Salmond’s protegee, is helping to stage the show after also losing her Westminster seat last month.
After the 2015 general election, Mr Salmond, 62, earned more than £160,000 from writing and broadcasting on top of his MP’s salary of £75,000.
He told the National newspaper: "I have always fancied a spot at the Edinburgh Fringe and this is going to be lots of fun. Obviously in the show there will be lots about politics but the emphasis will be very much on the lighter side.
"Among the invited guests there is already plenty of excitement and quite a few surprises. I suspect some people might be taken aback at the range of friends whom I invite along.
"I can confirm that the President of the United States will not be appearing in person but he may well feature in quite a few of the stories I tell about recent political events."
Mr Salmond is not the first political leader to turn to the Fringe after electoral defeat.
In 2007, former Scottish Socialist party and Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan appeared in the Tommy Sheridan Chat Show, a misfiring mixture of conversation and smutty jokes.
One reviewer noted it was sad to see the former firebrand reduced to “a force for blandness on the light-entertainment stage”.
Mr Salmond’s show is being produced by the Cahoots Theatre Company, whose previous productions include Dead Sheep, a show about the former Tory Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, and An Audience With Jimmy Savile.
It said Mr Salmond would offer “a bit of light hearted banter and a few behind the scenes revelations about his time in power”, and take questions from the audience.
Scottish Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Only Alex Salmond would have the ego to think he could be an attractive fixture at the world’s biggest comedy festival.
“The crowds will almost certainly be laughing at him rather than with him. And it seems he’s recruiting other ousted SNP MPs to help out. Next we’ll have Angus Robertson selling the half-time macaroon bars, and John Nicolson checking ticket stubs.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “If Alex Salmond really wants to have a Fringe crowd in tears of laughter, he should just stand up and read out his independence White Paper.
"His ego is clearly dented following his General Election defeat, and he's no doubt jealous that festival crowds across the UK are chanting Jeremy Corbyn's name, so wants to see his own name in lights at a festival."
The SNP said it did not know how much Mr Salmond would earn.
Alex Salmond Unleashed, Assembly Rooms, 1.45pm, August 13 to 27
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