Macarthur-Boyd & Mclelland: 10 Edinburgh Fringe questions

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd answers 10 questions about his 2016 Edinburgh Fringe show.

Give us a quick overview of your comedy career so far. Are you happy with where you're at?

I started comedy in March 2013, after doing my first gig at The Stand's Red Raw night in Glasgow. Since then I've been a So You Think You're Funny? finalist, a two-time Scottish Comedian of the Year finalist, wrote and performed for BBC Scotland, been nominated twice for Best New Act at the Scottish Comedy Awards and died on my hole in front of eight people in a dingy basement more times than I can count.

Tell us two truths and one lie about yourself (but mix them up, keep us guessing!).

1. I was a spelling champion as a child.

2. I've read every single Kurt Vonnegut book that's ever been printed.

3. I have a framed print of Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss' hanging on my bedroom wall.

Describe your new show in exactly 23 words.

No grand themes. Just me and one of my favourite comedians in the world doing stand-up, one after the other. I think it'll be quite good.

Any cunning plans to get more punters in?

I'm going to invent spectacular awards that'll impress folk. "Oh, you've won the Kwik Fit New Comedian of the Year award? This must be good!" "East End of Glasgow Comedian of the Month? Gee wizz!" "So You See Yourself As A Humourous Person? semi-finalist 2009? Yes please!"

What's your plan for trying to eat - and drink - healthily during the Fringe?

I lost a lot of weight last year because I had to choose between cigarettes or food, and needs must.

What will you miss most while you're away from home?

My bed. I need ten hours a day to function. I have the sleeping pattern of a koala bear.

Aside from performing, what else are you looking forward to doing in Scotland's fine capital?

I actually went to university in Edinburgh for a very brief period of time before I had a nervous breakdown and moved back to Glasgow, so anytime I walk through its streets I'm immediately time-warped back to age 18 with all the anxiety and sexual frustration that came with it. Does wistful nostalgia count as a tourist attraction?

If you took over programming a Fringe venue, what would your perfect line-up of comedians be?

I'd have an afternoon show hosted by Scott Aukerman, with Paul F Tompkins and Laura Lapkus as guests doing a live episode of Comedy Bang Bang. I've seen footage of The Eric Andre Show when it toured live in America and it looks like an absolute riot. I think that would cause so much damage to the venue that you'd have to put it on last thing at night so you could spend all the wee hours repairing the room again. In between those I'd have a compilation show of me and all my pals, so we can all get pissed and have a laugh: the true meaning of the Fringe.

Name the one person you'd rather not bump into during the festival.

I remember last year, about two weeks into the Fringe, I was spectacularly hungover, like the precipice of a cliff. I hadn't shaved in about a week, which gave me the equivalent of an average man's five o'clock shadow. My hair was matted and greasy and I doubt I'd brushed my teeth. I was standing on the Royal Mile, trying to keep myself together, gingerly eating an ice cream cone. I had a little bit of Mr. Whippy on my cheeks, and as I started to wipe it off, I realised I was staring into the eyes of a guy who was my best friend when we were ten years old...

I used to go round to his house and play football with him and his big brother, and clap his big beautiful German Shepard. We drifted apart during high school, and I hadn't spoke to him in a few years. He looked like he was doing alright, and he was holding the hands with a beautiful girl, and it was clear that normality had paid off well for him. He didn't have a denim jacket with an inside pocket brimming with desperate flyers. He wasn't sleeping on couches. He wasn't hiding from the sun. He was just a normal person, and he was happy. We nodded wordlessly at each other, and a tiny part of me died.

So, probably him again, or Louis C.K.

Why should audiences pick your show over the 1,800+ other Fringe offerings listed on BCG this year?

It'll be good.

'Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Rosco Mclelland' is at Gilded Balloon at the Counting House at 8pm until the 29th August. Listing