Comedian Daniel Sloss on Rock Ness and the Fringe

Daniel Sloss, pictured in 2011. Picture: TSPL

The 22-year-old will be appearing in support of Dylan Moran and Jim Jeffries this weekend in a 3,000-capacity tent at the festival near Dores, but admits that uncertainty over the weather is causing him almost as much concern.

“I’ve been really nervously watching the forecasts for the last month,” he said. “It’s been amazing all week, and fingers crossed it should stay fine.

“Everyone’s so much happier when it’s sunny - I can see why people in other countries are so happy, because they don’t have to go anywhere else to get nice weather. They get to stay at home AND be happy.”

Sloss is appearing at Rock Ness for the third straight year, having performed in the festival’s dedicated comedy tent in 2011 and 2012. Sloss is a big fan of the comedy set-up at Rock Ness, and the level of dedication from some of the festival-goers.

He said: “What I love about it is that there are people who spend all day at the comedy tent. They’re just so into the comedy, they spend all day in the tent. And the tent finishes before all the main bands are on, so you can play the gig then go off and get drunk.”

Sloss says he plans to cut down on the festival fun somewhat this year, given the size of the crowd he expects to play in front of. “It’s 3,000 people,” he said, “so there’s some pressure, and I know I can’t get too drunk.”

He has begun work on new material for his shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, but says that the set won’t be previewed in full until July because, as he puts it, he’s “a real man, or unprofessional, one of the two.

“I might work some new stuff in, but there’s a big difference between making 160 students laugh on a Monday night in Edinburgh, and making 3,000 people at a music festival laugh.”

He says his goal is to “make the crowd forget everything they did the night before”. That, and to be invited back next year:

“Rock Ness take really good care of the comics, let us bring a few people along. So I have to put on a good show because I want to get invited back, forever and ever!”

• Daniel Sloss is appearing at Rock Ness, 7-9 Jun, and his Fringe show ‘Daniel Sloss: Stand-Up’ is at the EICC, 2-25 Aug (not 21) at 8:30pm, with extra shows on 9-10, 16-17, and 23-24.