Blissful Balamory days are a million Miles away

Published on Tuesday 14 August 2007 12:19

When award-winning stand-up MILES JUPP lived in Edinburgh, life was simple. Every year the Festival would come and go without the star of Balamory (he played Archie, the inventor) giving it any real thought.

"Iwas really nervous about this year's Fringe. Up until last year I lived in Edinburgh, so this is the first year that I've come to the Fringe feeling like an outsider. When I lived here, the Fringe was just a thing that came round once a year. Although it could be pretty hectic, it didn't make a great impact on my normal everyday life. I'd still see the same friends, still go to the same places and return to my flat every night.

This year, however, the thought of upping sticks for a month and coming here just to do two shows started to assume a great significance as far back as May, when I started having sleepless nights. I was also nervous about the fact that this year I am doing stand-up not as a character but as myself.

For six or seven years, I've performed in the guise of a tweed and corduroy clad aristocrat, desperately struggling to get to grips with the modern world. For a long time I felt more comfortable hiding behind a character when I was on stage, but more recently I started to become frustrated by his constraints - there was less scope for messing about and talking about any old nonsense if I felt so inclined.

In fact, I had stopped enjoying stand-up. After my last solo Edinburgh show in 2005, I didn't do another gig for more than eight months.

This time, to counter the nerves (and my misgivings about stand- up) I've set myself the target of really enjoying myself on stage. I'm doing a show in which I tell stories and generally try to horse about a bit. If I enjoy the show and the audience enjoy the show, then I'm really happy and I don't feel the need to get caught up worrying about reviews and the like.

So far this policy has paid dividends and I've been enjoying myself on stage in a way I've never experienced before. I've been doing little bits of banter, improvising stuff and have even jumped around in a semi-energetic manner. Something I had never contemplated before. Turns out it's quite tiring.

The other show I'm doing this year is a real thrill. It's a piece about Boswell and Johnson, that's been put together by the comedian and rock critic Stewart Lee.

It seems to involve the writer turning up with fresh script every day, discussing it with the cast and director and then coming back the next day with a new bit of script that incorporates any life problems that we might have discussed during the lunch break. It seems to be a good way of working, and the end result is a really quite strange and confusing hybrid of a play, a book launch and a stand-up show. The other actor is Simon Munnery, who is an incredibly inventive fellow with a phenomenal joi de vivre.

It's weird working with Stewart. I remember watching him on telly when I was a teenager, and here we are ten years on and I've had him playfully spank me with a rolled up newspaper. Isn't life amazing sometimes?"

• Miles Jupp: Everyday Rage and Dinner Party Chit Chat, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Bristo Square, 7.45pm, until August 26, 9-10, 0131-668 1633

• Johnson and Boswell, Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, 10.30pm, until August 26, 16, 0131-228 1404