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.
Daliso Chaponda
What is your Fringe show about?
My show about all the people who have been blacklisted because of criminal behaviour or stupid tweets over the last 2 years.
This includes politician, celebrities, my father, and maybe (almost) me? There is also a joke about a penguin.
How many times/many years have you appeared at the Fringe?
This will be my fourth appearance at the Fringe. I did the Big Value Show, followed by a one-man show.
I then didn’t return to the Fringe for years because that one-man show had left me thousands of pounds in debt. I considered selling an organ. Not my liver or kidney, rather I considered pillaging a local cathedral.
READ MORE: Helen Bauer wants to make a scene with first Fringe performance
After getting some TV and Radio success with Britains Got Talent and BBC radio 4, I returned last year. It was great fun. Plus… I actually had large audiences this time around!!
What’s your most memorable moment from the Fringe?
A man approached me after a show and gave me a balloon interpretation of one of my jokes. I kept that balloon animal for a few weeks. Then it popped.
What’s the worst thing about the Fringe?
Sometimes performers get petty and ambitious. I try not to get caught up in it, but occasionally succumb when I’m having a bad day. Schadenfreude, for instance… conversations beginning with “Did you see so and so’s bad review’.
Also, people at parties talking to you, but their eyes darting about in search of somebody more famous or important. The pettiness abounds, but it’s balanced by magnificent comedy.
If you were not a performer what would you be doing?
I would be a writer. I might be writing fiction, or journalism, or plans for world domination while sitting in a nuclear bunker and cackling.
How do you prepare for a performance?
I look at complex, colour coded mind maps with all jokes represented visually. For example for this year’s show, I have ‘Blah Blah Black list’ in the centre and branches radiating from it.
Favourite thing about being in Edinburgh?
I love doing an hour show every day. Doing 20-minute sets in comedy clubs is like flirting and then just as I’ve got the audience worked up, I have to go home.
I love performing for an hour. It’s how comedy is meant to be seen.
What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve ever done?
I danced joyously to “You take the High Road and I’ll take the Low Road” in a bar late at night.
Favourite Scottish food/drink?
I had a Haggis Burrito. It was a thing of beauty. Now I’m not sure that qualifies, but I’ve only found it in Edinburgh.
Sum up your show in three words
Chaos is Contagious.
Daliso Chaponda premieres his new stand up show ‘Blah Blah Blacklist’ at the Edinburgh Festival’s Gilded Balloon in August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com and then tours the UK for dates please go to www.dalisochaponda.com
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