Samantha Baines: 10 Edinburgh Fringe questions

Samantha Baines answers 10 questions about her 2016 Edinburgh Fringe show.

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

Well I started as an actor seven loooong years ago! I went to the Central School of Speech and Drama to learn how not to make a fool of myself whilst totally making a fool of myself (it's acting; it has to be based in truth) on TV and in film. I've been pretty lucky since doing shows like Call the Midwife, Lee Nelson's Well Funny People and cinema release A Royal Night Out as well as Dane Baptiste's Sunny D, which is out later this year. I started stand-up in late 2012/early 2013 and was a Funny Women Finalist 2014 and the What the Frock Best Newcomer Award winner in 2015, which was nice. 2016 is my first solo hour of stand-up at the Edinburgh Fringe, all about science and my obsession with Professor Brian Cox. I present on the radio and write articles for Time Out, The Guardian and Standard Issue too because I like to keep busy. I am pretty happy with where I am at, I've been lucky enough to do some lovely things and I like the variety in what I do for a living.

Tell us two truths and one lie about yourself.

1. I used to work with the Royal Family.
2. I am allergic to beetroot.
3. I own a car but I can't drive.

Describe your new show in exactly 23 words.

Science meets funny. There's puns, there's facts, there's even Cox (Brian) in this science quest with sexism sized speed bumps along the way.

Any cunning plans to get more punters in?

Doing this interview? Luckily the show is selling out so my original cunning plan to write a science show about Brian Cox and tweet about it lots seems to have worked!

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

Well I have gone pescatarian - because cutting out food is really fashionable these days, so that should help. I am also planning on taking a vitamin pill with each alcoholic beverage I consume to balance things out: I've gone through two packets of Vitamin C tablets already!

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

Bacon - but that's just the trials of life as a pescatarian. I also miss having more clothes and crockery to choose from - I am currently staying in student accommodation in Edinburgh where I have been provided with one bowl, one plate, one spoon, one knife and one fork - it's a lonely time.

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

Eating battered Mars Bars - I CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF THEM! I am actually genuinely thinking about serving it as a desert at my wedding.

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

Ohhh that's hard. Probably Felicity Ward, Sofie Hagen, Mr Swallow (Nick Mohammed), Desiree Burch, Spencer Jones, Lolly Adefope, Sara Pascoe, Bridget Christie and Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer would come over and do one-off gigs too.

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

Isaac Newton because I am not very nice about him in my show - he was a proper dick though.

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

Because they've gone to the bother of reading this interview with me so they have already committed something towards our relationship. Also because it's a fun show and it's sold out everyday so far and got some nice reviews and most importantly some people have tweeted their praise for it so it must be good!

'1 Woman, a Dwarf Planet and 2 Cox: Samantha Baines' is at Pleasance Courtyard at 3:30pm on 3-5, 7-29 Aug. Listing