What are you doing at this year’s festival?

I am doing my show Hot Mess at the Pleasance cabaret bar. I am so excited because, as a punter, the cabaret bar has always been my favourite room, so to get to be on that stage every night is a bloody dream come true. It’s a show that has morphed from being about one thing into quite something else, and it has a story that I think Fringe audiences will really relate to. I don’t want to give too much away, but I am really proud of this show and it means a lot to me that I get to do it here every night. I know that’s a corny answer to this question – but there it is.

What do you most want to see this year and why?

Oh so much! And there are so many great looking shows that clash with mine, which is really frustrating. The first Fringe ticket I always book is Mat Ewins, his shows are so gloriously nuts, and so different to what anyone else is doing. It’s one of those shows where when things go wrong, it only makes it better, so you can’t fail to have a good night watching it. Abigoliah Schamaun’s show is a must see, because I know the story and am a tiny bit involved in it and she’s such a captivating and funny storyteller. And Paul Sinha because when I’ve seen him recently he has been on great form. I know he’s really having fun with his show this year, with music and songs added to his brilliant stand up and I just love how he is sticking it to Parkinson’s by being as brilliant, if not more brilliant as he has always been.

What’s your favourite place in the city and why?

The Royal Commonwealth pool provides me with a sanctuary every Fringe to clear my head. The Commie combines my favourite things: 50-metre swimming pools, modernist architecture and being surprised by occasional used Elastoplasts.

Who do you most like spending time with at the festival?

This year, brilliant American comedian Abigoliah Schamaun has been my Fringe saviour. It can be lonely up here and I’m not a natural socialiser. Everyone is busy and in their heads about their own shows. Every time you bump into someone you say “let’s catch up over a drink” and you never do. But Abigoliah has been my consistent confidante – largely due to our mutual addiction to the cinnamon buns at Söderberg.

What do you remember about your first ever Edinburgh festival appearance?

My first ever Edinburgh Fringe appearance was in 1995, playing an Enid Blyton-inspired schoolgirl in a student theatre production of The Beast of Penprivvy by Christopher W Hill. I was 18 and completely giddy to be here. My memories are quite vague because I was an 18-year-old from Kent suddenly introduced to Edinburgh’s 5am licensing laws. I do remember about 12 of us staying in a two bed apartment in the New Town, and I was banished to sleep in the hallway because I snored. Every night I dreamt I was being chased by a huge stag and it took me a fortnight to realise it’s because I drifted off every night looking at a coat stand with a bowler hat on it… happy days. I also remember a review of the show that said “Angela Barnes exudes gymslip earnestness”. I should probably still whack that on my flyers.

What are the best and worst things that have happened to you in Edinburgh?

Oh goodness me, that’s hard. I think the best thing was getting the Panel Prize in 2018 for the Home Safe Collective project. After comedian Eurydice Dixon was murdered making her way home from a gig in Melbourne, a group of us female/female-identifying comics were talking about how often in our careers we’ve had to make late night journeys that don’t always feel safe. We realised that in Edinburgh, with so many comics and so many shows, that concern is really concentrated, and there was something we could do. So, we started a kitty to raise funds to pay for an emergency taxi service. Female/female-identifying/non-binary/vulnerable performers can register with the service and get access to a City Cabs account if they find themselves without a safe way to get back to their digs late at night.

The worst thing was probably a mixed bill show I did in 2012 with Romesh Ranganathan, Ellie Taylor, Matt Richardson, Paul Sweeney and Patrick Morris called Late Night Laughs. It was on in a much too big room, much too late. We had an average of about 12 people every night, and the punters we did get thought they were getting Late N Live, when actually they were getting a bunch of not very experienced new comedians who wanted to be literally anywhere else in that moment. Live and learn, eh?

How was lockdown for you? Did it change you, and if so how?

It was a strange time to be a stand up comedian but I was one of the lucky ones. I have a husband with a proper job, and I had radio work that I could do online. I mean, sure, when I got my dream job of hosting the News Quiz on BBC Radio 4, I hadn’t envisaged it happening from under a duvet alone in my living room with no audience, but them’s the breaks. In my personal life it was quite a fruitful time. My now husband proposed to me in week one of lockdown one, which was brave (or stupid). And, largely thanks to lockdown, I finally got diagnosed with ADHD. The clues were there when by the second week of lockdown one I’d bought a sewing machine, boxing gloves and a pair of roller boots…

Tell us something about you that would surprise people.

I have grade 9 in Figure Skating – I mean, I haven’t skated properly since I was about 14. But I strapped on some ice skates last summer, and went down to Ally Pally for a go. Some of the old muscle memory was still there, but I don’t think I’ll be doing any double salchows any time soon..

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Wonder why my husband hasn’t brought me a coffee in bed and then remember I am in Edinburgh and he isn’t. Spoilt much?

And what’s the last thing you do before you go to bed at night?

It’s genuinely have a Horlicks, the chocolatey flavoured one, I’m not a monster. The Fringe is not like it was in the 90s, it’s more like I’m in my 90s.

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

Well, if it’s during the Fringe I’ll be having an alcohol-free beer or a ginger beer, because I can’t drink and do my show justice the next day. Hangovers in your 40s are miserable affairs, and they don’t go away after a Kit Kat and a coke. But if it’s after my last show, then mine’s a pint of ale please. We'll drink in the Pleasance Courtyard because it’s my happy place. I like the buzz, and all of my solo shows have been in the Courtyard so it feels like home. I tend not to go to the industry bars these days, not just because I feel so old, but because I'm also incredibly boring and awkward so I either look like I’m there to pick up my kids, or an undercover police officer.

Angela Barnes: Hot Mess, Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Pleasance Courtyard, 7pm until 28 August

My Festival: Angela Barnes