First Person: Due North

For those heading to Edinburgh this month to soak up the best in comedy, spare a thought for those going with high hopes and fanciful dreams to perform there. Below gather three such brave souls, who all hope to make a big impact at this year's festival/tournament/death match. We’ll be checking back in with them after August to see if they’re still standing… up.

Mark Davison a.k.a Mr Susie (@MrSusieComed)

"I was still new to stand-up in 2010 when I went to a weird night in a cellar run by the amazing Doctor Brown. He encouraged me to go onstage without a single idea in my head to see what happened, and my character – Mr Susie – was born. He’s an alien, far away from home, wide-eyed and innocent, eager to help but pretty clueless about everything. 

"I am introducing a new character in Edinburgh this year. The show is still 75% Mr Susie, but he meets Ricky Tin, an old man who lives in a bin and who thinks he's street. I'm also playing with story, music and emotion more in 2013, which I'm very excited about. 

"I've only done one preview in London so far and it was so hot that 30 people LITERALLY melted and I went on fire. But I’ll be ready for the Festival!"

Mr Susie’s To Earth With Love, Just The Tonic at The Caves, 1-25 Aug, 2.40pm

Kiri Pritchard-Mclean (@kiripritchardmc)

"I'm a Welsh, Manchester-based comic and I've been regularly performing stand-up for three and a half years now. I've done about ten previews so far and, touch wood, they've been OK. (Well, they've ranged from lukewarm to brilliant fun.) I'm splitting an hour with Pete Otway so half an hour is really just an extended set, but I'm keen for it to be something I'm proud of, for it to flow and not just be disparate 'bits'. I’ll be up in Edinburgh working as a producer (of over 11 shows), so this show will help give me a little 'me time' away from my full-time job. I’ve never performed for the whole month before.

"I'm hoping it'll be a brilliant learning experience for me. In previous years I've not been up or I've not gigged very much and I've watched my contemporaries come back unbelievably match fit and I've been a bit jealous. This year I'm going to be performing 25 times in as many days so I should see a difference in myself over that time."

Kiri Pritchard-Mclean & Pete Otway, Laughing Horse at The Newsroom, 1-25 Aug, 1.15pm, Free

Brennan Reece (@BrennanReece)

"So this year at Edinburgh I am doing two things. I am doing straight stand-up in CKP's package show The Lunchtime Special. My stand up is energetically awkward stories with a bit of an odd take on the world. It is basically like seeing the world from an innocent eye...s...eyes. The other thing I am doing is a double act – Ellis & Reece Do a Show.

"This is the first time I have ever taken part in one, written one, thought about one. Me and my friend Hayley Ellis just thought, we should do something different, surely that is what the festival should be about... risk? Prep shows have been mostly helpful and fun, but at one we performed to nine people and one fell asleep. A ninth of the audience.

"I want to immerse myself in the world’s biggest arts festival, and find out how far I can push the boundaries... and then if it is shit, who cares, nobody knows who I am."

Brennan Reece, The Lunchtime Special at The Tron, 1-5 Aug, 12.30pm; Ellis & Reece Do a Show, Espionage, 1-13 Aug, 12pm, Free