The Herald is taking a look at some of the artists performing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival - and getting to know the people behind the magic.
Frisky and Mannish
What is your Fringe show about?
PopLab is a working research laboratory in which Frisky & Mannish dissect and restructure all of the major pop stars and their songs molecule by molecule, creating incredible alloys, reintroducing extinct species back into the wild, studying ancient fossils like Fleetwood Mac, finding a cure for the Tropical House Virus, distilling Ariana Grande down to her essential substance, and ignoring Coldplay. We're doing God's work, so make sure you concentrate.
How many times/many years have you appeared at the Fringe?
Fifteen, can you believe. That's how many years Laura and/or Matthew has been in Edinburgh on a stage during a grey August. Frisky & Mannish the double act first came to the Fringe in 2008 to stay above a funeral parlour in Leith and do guest spots in varied bills.
READ MORE: Why Alice Fraser swapped a career in corporate law to perform at Edinburgh Fringe Festival
2009 was the first proper show (cough, "undisputed hit of the Fringe" Herald) and we haven't looked back since then.
What’s your most memorable moment from the Fringe?
Towards the end of that 2009 run (cough, "pure exhilarating brilliance from start to finish" Chortle), Frisky came down with an unfortunate illness that was eventually identified as swine flu. With four or five sold-out shows left to go, the news was devastating.
The diagnosing doctor insisted that she should not interact with audiences for 5 days. The venue were reluctant to cancel even one performance. Stuck in the middle, we decided that if Frisky could vocally get through it, we wouldn't cancel the shows, so we went to the living room of our flat and sat at the piano to try a verse and chorus of a song.
Now, in that show we had a version of Girls Aloud's Sound of the Underground which used nursery rhyme lyrics. Mannish started up the sexy bassline, Frisky croaked out the first few seductive lines, limped up to the chorus, and then fully dissolved into tears while singing "The wheels on the bus go round..." Mannish trailed off on the keys, unable to look up.
READ MORE: Danny MacAskill to launch his own Edinburgh Fringe show
Obviously, it was a harrowing moment. It was also possibly the funniest scene in all of our Fringes. Imagine Kate Winslet having an emotional breakdown - it was that level of high drama. And we were singing Wheels on the Bus.
What’s the worst thing about the Fringe?
Walking up steep inclines. Seriously, for the love of God, can they relocate it to the Fens? It's not just Arthur's Seat - every single route seems to involve at some point scaling the side of a cliff edge.
A not particularly hefty gust of wind might blow us poor weary performers down a slope at any moment. Will somebody think of the hungover comedians? Level it all out, Nicola Sturgeon, come on.
If you were not a performer what would you be doing?
We'd either be M&M's new flavour taste testers, or baby oil administrators for the Magic Mike live show.
How do you prepare for a performance?
Water and steam are our friends. Putting makeup on is a good focusing ritual. Really the preparation needs to have happened earlier in the day, during tech rehearsal, so that in the lead up to the actual show you're focusing on nothing but being loose and relaxed.
Favourite Scottish food/drink?
The mini deep fried Mars Bar petits fours at Hotel du Vin, DAHling.
Sum up your show in three words
Pop made fun.
Frisky & Mannish’s Pop Lab will be at the Palais Du Variete at Assembly George Square Gardens for the month of August at 7pm for tickets go to www.edfringe.com
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