Laurence Clark’s new comedy show, An Irresponsible Fathers Guide to Parenting, will be on at the Assembly George Square, The Box, during August.
- What is your Fringe show about?
Growing up, I never really thought about becoming a father. I never saw any dads with cerebral palsy; which made him think I’d never be one. Besides, my younger self was way too selfish to take care of another human being. The most he’d ever managed was a cactus, and even that died from lack of water. He was far too in love with having a disposable income and going for a poo with no children watching.
But when I meet my wife-to-be, she states I’d better be prepared for the fact she wants babies… which is a pretty strong opening line for a first date! What follows is the hilarious, honest, warm story of two people with cerebral palsy traversing the ups and downs of parenthood.
If I was irresponsible to have kids – which was one of many accusations levelled at me from social media when a documentary about me and my family was put on Youtube – then it’s nothing to do with being disabled! In fact it’s probably more to do with things like balancing his wife's crutches on his son’s baby walker to make him look like a Dalek!
- How many times/many years have you appeared at the Fringe?
Ten times over the last 15 years.
- What’s your most memorable moment from the Fringe?
In 2012 I was in the finals of the Amused Moose Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Because the stage wasn’t wheelchair accessible, it was agreed that I would get lifted onto it before the audience came in and would then simply hide behind the back curtain until it was my turn to go on. Unfortunately nobody told the compere, Rob Beckett that he had to let me out after introducing me, and because there was a large projector screen in front of the curtain I couldn't let myself out without knocking it over. So after I was introduced there was an uncomfortable 30 seconds of silence before the technician realised what had happened and ran over to release me.
- What’s the worst thing about the Fringe?
The worst thing is definitely leaving my wife and kids for four weeks, but at least this year they are coming up to stay for a week. The Fringe seems to be a much friendlier place for kids nowadays, with more shows aimed at them and a number of play areas. I can still vividly remember getting stuck outside in the pouring rain 8 years ago at the Pleasance Courtyard in the middle of the day because children back then were not allowed inside the bar area.
My kids actually prefer going to see shows with me at the fringe because, due to the temporary nature of the venues, the spaces for wheelchair users are usually on the front row so we get great seats. When we go to the theatre at home we’re usually stuck miles away from the action on the back row, where it’s difficult for a restless 5 year old to engage with what’s going on.
- If you were not a performer what would you be doing?
One of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, after studying for four years for a PhD in Molecular Biology and Computer Science was to leave behind that potentially lucrative career to follow my dream and have a go at doing stand-up comedy. The people around me thought I was mad. But if I hadn’t given it a go then I would’ve spent the rest of my life stuck in a job that I hated wondering what could have been. Incidentally, last week my son who's in his second year at secondary school was doing a computer science multiple choice test for homework, so I helped him and discovered that I hardly knew any of the answers! So I guess there’s no going back now!
- How do you prepare for a performance?
I use my inhaler, but that’s more of a medical necessity than actual preparation.
- Favourite thing about being in Edinburgh?
Amarone Italian restaurant on St Andrew’s Square – best place to eat!
- What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve ever done?
Toured Scotland in 2016 in a piece of Scottish physical dance theatre – there’s something I never thought I'd say. It wasn't on the list my careers advisor gave me at school… come to that neither was stand-up comedy. Anyway the Herald were very kind to four blokes with cerebral palsy trying to do dance theatre for the first time and gave us five stars!
- Favourite Scottish food/drink?
Belhaven St Andrew’s Amber Ale
- Sum up your show in three words
Childishness for adults.
Show summary
Laurence tackles important issues like how best to balance crutches on his son’s baby walker to make him look like a Dalek. Laurence starred in BBC One documentary, We Won’t Drop the Baby and recently featured on The One Show.
Laurence Clark’s new comedy show, An Irresponsible Fathers Guide to Parenting, will be on at the Assembly George Square, The Box, during August. For tickets, please visit www.edfringe.com
You can follow Laurence on Twitter at @Laurence_Clark and find him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LaurenceClarkComedian
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article