Spotlight on... Eleanor Morton

We catch up to talk gigs, heckles and enormous ducks...

Feature by Vonny Moyes | 05 Jun 2014

Deftly throwing  punchlines and ukulele licks like comedy shuriken, Eleanor Morton is eking out her niche in the Scottish comedy scene. Recently making it onto the Scotsman’s One to Watch 2014 and The List Top Five Up-and-Comers 2014 lists, things are clearly going well. Could this be the year the world takes notice?

With just eight weeks to go until her debut Edinburgh Fringe hour Lollipop at The Stand, we catch up with Eleanor Morton, to learn a little more about the comic everyone seems to be talking about.

Influences?

"Bill Bailey, Josie Long, Bo Burnham, Stewart Lee, Gavin Webster, Seymour Mace, Tom Lehrer, Maria Bamford, Armando Iannucci, Louis CK, Tony Law and Spike Milligan are all people I really admire. I like people who basically go ‘this is my stuff and I’m doing my stuff and I hope you like it, but if you don’t, I’m not changing my stuff.’"

First gig?

"The Beehive Inn, in the Grassmarket. I did really well, because the entire audience was made up of my friends."

 Worst gig?

"I had one last Christmas where a man kept telling me to fuck off. That wasn’t very nice. Any gig where people aren’t interested or they don’t want to listen is hard for me."

 Best gig?

"I’ve been lucky to have lots of really enjoyable gigs. I did one in Manchester once which was insanely good, to the point where I was starting to think the whole audience was mental."

Best heckle?

"As Mao Zedong once said ‘The best heckle is no heckle.’"

What would you be doing, if not comedy?

"Something creative I hope; either writing or performing. Or I’d go to law school to win back my ex-fiancee and then find out I’m really good at law and stuff and end up winning a trial and I’d have really good hair the whole time."

If you could have one day in the life of someone else, who would it be and how would you spend it?

"I’d be Michael Gove and I’d buy How To Be Secretary For Education For Dummies"

Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses?

"A hundred duck-sized horses. As long we’re talking average duck size, and not the Asian Peat-Billed Mallard, which is 14 foot tall. I’m not suicidal."

Scottish circuit favourites?

"Paul Sneddon, Mark Nelson, Keir McAllister, David Kay, Michael Redmond, Jo Caulfield, Frankie Boyle and Susan Morrison are all fantastic headliners and also really supportive people. I like too many people on my own level to name, but I will say I like Keiron Nicholson, because I owe him £8 and I hope the mention will cancel that out. We’re writing some stuff together at the moment."

Aspirations?

"It would be nice one day to get to a stage where enough people knew what sort of thing I do and say ‘Oh, let’s go and see that.’ Or have my own pilates DVD." 

 Bonus questions:

 Mary Bourke (comedian): What’s the joke you love most that the audience just don’t like/get?

"That’s a really good question.  On some nights, the audience don’t like or get anything. Overall, I’d say it’s bad when the audience don’t like/get my general style – if they find the awkwardness uncomfortable, or they think I’m really nervous, because then I’m in for a long night."

Allan J Park (comedian): During your rap battle with Gareth Waugh, why did you mention Chris Henry so often?

"The Wee Man said I’d be battling Chris Henry, so I wrote a bunch of stuff, but I ended up against Gareth Waugh instead. So it was less about a vendetta and more about me utilising old material."

Eleanor Morton: Lollipop, The Stand, 31 Jul-24 Aug, 12pm