My Festival: Michelle Brasier

Michelle Brasier: Legacy | Paul Jeffers

There are thousands of shows in Edinburgh this month. Please explain why we should come and see yours.

I’ve won lots of awards, which means kind of nothing, unless you care about that? I am having lots of fun with my show and my audience always line up after to say they feel energised and uplifted. Also, the seats are comfortable and there is no audience participation.

What will we learn from your show that we didn’t know before?

Why I got kicked out of a screening of The Passion of the Christ in 2005

Who or what was the biggest inspiration for your show?

I was handed an envelope with my name written on it, with ten dollars fifty in, mostly coins, that wasn’t for me, and I set out on an adventure to find the rightful owner. That was all the inspiration I needed, well, that and an enormous poodle I saw one time that looked like Jennifer Coolidge.

What’s the best review you’ve ever had, and the worst?

Oh reviews are so dangerous for the ego. I’ve had lots of four and five star reviews. The Sydney Morning Herald said I’d made ‘a miracle of a show’ but if I believe that, then I also have to believe the two stars from a woman who has a blog that said ‘it’s a shame the show doesn’t work’ of the exact same show. I think the best reviews you really get are the audience reactions. I have had a lot of people turn up with tattoos of me or references from my shows, nails painted with nail art specifically for the show. Things like that, things that say the show mattered to one person so much that they wanted to wear it, that’s what’s important to me - as well as all the fours and fives I pretend not to notice. 

Who or what are you most excited about seeing this year?

Oh honestly, all the dogs in the Meadows. I just want to meet all of your dogs, people of Edinburgh. I love a cheeky yellow curry at Ting Thai with friends I only see once a year. That’s my favourite thing to do. I’m also always excited to sit in a dark room, watch Rob Auton and cry. That’s an important yearly pilgrimage. 

Who do you most like spending time with in Edinburgh?

I love seeing the beautiful clowns from all over the world. I find it all so romantic that we are all artists meeting in one beautiful old city. I stay out far too late making new memories with old friends, but that’s what life’s for. 

Tell us something about you that would surprise people.

I love the Fast & Furious franchise so much. I love Vincent Diesel the way some people love their children. I think that something got mixed up biologically, and you know how some women turn 28 and their bodies scream “HAVE A BABY”, mine screamed “WATCH EVERY FAST AND FURIOUS FILM!”

What are the best and worst things that have happened to you at a festival?

I was here in 2015 when my brother passed away. It’s hard to beat the loss of that. But the same day was my highlight too. I was doing my show at Gilded Baloon and I had this bit in the show where I asked the audience if they had their snow globes - which they obviously didn’t - and then the night my brother died, Gilded Baloon bought the entire audience snow globes and snuck them to them, so as I asked the audience they all held a snow globe in the air. It was very, very kind. 

What’s the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?

I take an antibiotic that is honestly the most complicated scheduling I’ve ever experienced. It’s like don’t eat one hour before, two hours after, space evenly, don’t look at the ocean while you take it, but in between each pill ensure you touch a body of open water, but if you are blonde do NOT let it be salt water etc, etc. Then I get coffee into my system and go out searching for a dog to pat. My nights usually end at Reuben Kaye’s Kaye Hole after which I walk home and curse the stairs all the way up to the top floor apartment that I’m paying six million human dollars to stay in. 

Thanks for the interview! We’d like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking?

Ooh! How kind. We’re having a whisky at Salt Horse. 

Michelle Brasier: Legacy, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Doonstairs), 7pm, until 26 August