My Festival: Robin Ince
There are thousands of shows in Edinburgh this month. Please explain why we should come and see yours.
I think these two shows are my most invigorating and full of love that I have ever created. I am at maximum enthusing level. Plus you can come browsing with me afterwards and we’ll have an adventure.
What will we learn from your show that we didn’t know before?
You will learn the method I used to put out a fire with Eddie Izzard, how it was me, not Stewart Lee, who got Alexei Sayle back on the stand-up stage, and about the malevolent contents of a letter I found in a Barbara Cartland novel. And probably something about astronauts.
Who or what was the biggest inspiration for your show?
For one of them, Rik Mayall, for the other, my bibliomaniac dad.
What’s the best review you’ve ever had, and the worst?
The best was when the Times Literary Supplement described me as “a tonic”. The worst was a very snotty, but probably true, description of me by the Financial Times when I supported Ricky Gervais many years ago. Ian Shuttleworth dismissed me and made it clear that I had no future, and it made me deeply melancholy.
Who or what are you most excited about seeing this year?
I am always excited to see Gavin Webster and also Eleanor Morton, Lulu Popplewell, Laura Davis and also what rare books are in the glass cabinet of the Oxfam on Nicolson Street.
Who do you most like spending time with in Edinburgh?
I am planning on some picnics in the Meadows with any book lovers who want to talk about their favourite books after my Weapons of Empathy show, and I think that will be time well spent.
Tell us something about you that would surprise people.
I am big fan of Jason Statham.
What are the best and worst things that have happened to you at a festival?
I had my arm broken by Howard Read on day two in 1999, and in 2004 my home flooded with human sewage while I was away. The best things include watching PJ Harvey live (twice, once in the ‘90s once in 2019), being dumbstruck by Hannah Gadsby on the first night of Nanette, reading giant killer crab books out with Stewart Lee and Kevin Eldon while my friend Jo tap-danced.
What’s the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?
This year, the last thing I will do is check that my lilo is still fully inflated and the first thing in the morning will be to check that I have not slept through my first show
Thanks for the interview! We’d like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking?
A glass of red at the bar in the Cameo cinema please
Robin Ince – Weapons of Empathy, Gilded Balloon at the Museum, 1pm, until 27 August. Robin Ince – MELONS: A Love Letter to Stand-Up Comedy, The Stand’s New Town Theatre, 8:35pm, until 27 August.