Richard Todd: 10 Edinburgh Fringe questions

Richard Todd 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 began in 2011, when the doctor wasn't as forthcoming with anti-depressants as I had hoped, fleeing from Glasgow to London - moving is one of the most stressful things you can do so it gave my melancholy something tangible focus on. Then I started comedy. Then I started anti-depressants. And yes I am happy at where I am at (comically and anti-depressively).

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

1. I used to attend a church group at the Ebenezer Gospel Hall called Uncle Gordon's Smiley Club, ran by a man wearing bottle top glasses and a cloth cap.

2. I cannot tell a lie.

3. I once allowed our pet dog, Toby, to take the blame for an orange juice spillage that dad had mistaken for urine. 'Who did that?' he kept screaming at the dog, while making him stare into the sugary puddle. The indignant look Toby's eyes was the closest he came to speaking.

Describe your new show in exactly 23 words.

Two twins, tired of being seen as a unit, fight for control of a single identity, until one gets stripped of everything.

Any cunning plans to get more punters in?

I have no plans, cunning doesn't come into it. I am terrible at self promotion. I couldn't even bring myself to take credit for an orange juice spillage.

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

Salad and soup. It'll go great. I am a salad and soup obsessive and refuse to have my belly's dreams undermined by mind's ambition.

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

My paraphernalia; my room is a clutter of curios (old clocks, outsider art, cameras, limbs, a 1 metre long plaster fox that I got duped into buying and had to carry on the tube, holding it like a baby: a long, orange foxy baby).

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

Walking everywhere. Not even walking - sauntering. I love to saunter.

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

Tom Ward, Matt Ewins, Jordan Brookes, Harriet Kemsley, Colin Hoult.

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

My twin brother. It will probably mean he's at my show. Glowering.

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

It's a bug-eyed man fighting a losing battle with his twin brother over a single personality, while being lured by a personified vacuum cleaner into the world of menial tasks that he had always aspired to avoid. High octane stuff. Macabre. Visceral. Erudite. Dirty. And romantic too.

'Richard Todd' is at The Cellar Monkey at 3:45pm until the 28th August. Listing