Given that her mother is acclaimed stand-up Janey Godley, there was always a chance that comedy would be Ashley Storrie’s calling, and over the past few years she has cemented her reputation on the Scottish comedy circuit and with a run of critically acclaimed, crowd-pleasing shows such as Morning Glory, Adulting and Hysterical.

When the pandemic hit in mid-March, while most comedians preparing for another hectic August in Edinburgh would have been working away on their upcoming hours (or continuing to stare at a blank page), Storrie had very different plans which were similarly scuppered.

“This was the first year I was going to enjoy the Fringe as a punter and not work, not flyer, not bartend, not do comedy nor run a show,” she says. “This was going to be my year to experience the Fringe like everyone else, to get drunk in a beer garden and not have to worry about reviewers or whether my flyerers are actually handing out my face or just putting it in the bin.”

2020 may have done its best to suck the comedic lifeforce from Storrie’s veins, but like many of her peers, she is determined to come back stronger than ever.

“Comedians survive: we survive being fleeced for thousands of pounds every summer at the Edinburgh Fringe; we survive clubs who owe us hundreds of pounds not paying up because they’ve gone into administration; we survive and, dare I say it, we flourish. I’m optimistic because great comedy is tragedy plus time. We’ve just lived through one of the worst tragedies, and now we all have a load of time to think about that.”

In the meantime, Storrie has put together this video for The Scotsman Sessions in which, with a little help from a familiar friend, she discusses Rishi’s retraining strategy and doing comedy on Zoom, while getting Bishopbriggs confused with Kirkintilloch.

For more on Ashley Storrie, visit www.ashleystorrie.com / For more on Janey Godley visit https://janeygodley.com/

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The Scotsman Sessions #122: Ashley Storrie and Janey Godley