Iain Stirling: Happy To Be The Clown?

It’s your debut full Fringe Show – what’s it all about?
It’s sort of about how we perceive ourselves and each other but mainly it’s my favourite stand up shoe-horned into an hour show. It starts in a £1 shop and heavily features a Cliff Richard calendar. Do come to it!

How are you going to keep it fresh for the full three weeks?
Well the Cliff Richard calendar has been keeping me laughing since Feb so hopefully won’t get old too soon. I also chat to people a bit which is fun. I do it in a nice way though. Honestly.

Do you have a guaranteed, surefire flyering technique?
Sean McLoughlin and myself did a show last year and his flyering technique was screaming “wagon wheel” whilst spinning around in the middle of the Royal Mile. Flyering is boring.

And being a former resident of Edinburgh, do you have a guaranteed, surefire flyerer avoidance technique?
The best is to accept the first few flyers then walk up the mile giving them away. People think you’re also a flyerer and leave you alone!

Last year’s Fringe was all about the London riots. What major news event do you think will force you to hurriedly rewrite your 2012 show?
Any significant event involving Cliff Richard…

What was your favourite joke when you were a kid?
Dave Benson Phillips.

Who else are you hoping to see while you’re in Edinburgh?
Sketch: Sheeps and WitTank
Stand up: Daniel Kitson (it’s the law), Peacock and Gamble, Tom Deacon, Mark Nelson (it’s the law… in Scotland), David O’Doherty.