The Ukeladeez: 10 Edinburgh Fringe questions

The Ukeladeez answer 10 questions about their 2016 Edinburgh Fringe show.

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

We started playing music together around 2014 and the comedy was kind of incidental. People seemed to enjoy the banter between songs and our characters worked well together on stage so it developed from there really. We moved from straight covers to making up our own lyrics or playing with the style of songs in unexpected ways. Although it started out as a bit of fun and we still just do what makes us laugh we started making money from it and have played all sorts of venues. We've played private parties and corporate events as well as pubs and student unions but Edinburgh is our first step into getting wider exposure and improving our performance.Having said that, the main aim while at the festival is to have a good time.

Tell us two truths and one lie about yourself.

1. We are housemates and we regularly take our cat Yoko (who is blind) to compete at the animal equivalent of the Paralympics, animal shows for pets with disabilities. In the past two years he has won a bronze nationally for obedience and a silver for grooming and presentation.

2. Tenor Lady (Carys Lewis) once foiled a robbery with just her head when it got stuck in the bank's revolving door as the thief was making a getaway.

3. Lady Sorbet (Lj Cook) is so scared of spiders that she can't say the word 'spider'. They are referred to as 'Mildreds'. She also dislikes the letters M and W because they look a bit spidery.

Describe your new show in exactly 23 words.

Shambolic, camp and fun. We play with the lyrics (and occasionally the tunes) of belting songs and add a funny or interesting twist.

Any cunning plans to get more punters in?

Charm. Intimidation. Biscuits.
Along with everyone else on a budget we will be treading the streets and flyering like mad and we do have a few novelty bits to give away...

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

Well. There is no plan. We will, however be trying to eat and drink on a budget so it'll be packed lunches and hip flasks for the most part. The idea is to keep our festival 'gin neutral' so we don't spend more on gin than we make with the show. It's ambitious but it's all about the 'Juniper Footprint'.

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

We'll probably miss the more predictable audiences that playing locally brings and we'll also miss sleep as our show is at 12.30am so there'll be a lot of late nights. And the cat.

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

We're looking forward to seeing some sights and drinking in the bars as well as seeing shows. We both know lots of people who will be in Edinburgh so catching up with them should be good fun. One of us is currently single so the other will be living vicariously through her and trying to pimp her off on attractive men.

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

Flight of the Conchords
Eddie Izzard
Bill Bailey
French and Saunders
Sarah Millican

Then if we could raise some comedians from the grave:
Victoria Wood
Morecambe and Wise
Tommy Cooper
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

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

Just any of our heroes if they turned out to be horrible or we made idiots of ourselves in front them. It's all very well seeing Jim Davidson or Nigel Farage and knowing they are c***s but there's nothing worse than either looking like an idiot if front of someone you admire or realising that talent and a likeable on stage presence doesn't equate to a nice person. Basically if Carys's hero Bruce Springsteen was there and turned out to be a pervy old man telling racist jokes or Jennifer Saunders told Lj to get stuffed we would be heart-broken. Equally if we met any hero after we'd had more than 3.75 gins we would be in trouble.

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

We are doing a David Bowie cover reimagined in a supermarket. We are making a Shania Twain song so wrong that Carys's 17yr old stepdaughter said we were disgusting when we played it. We have a 1980s dance routine and some rip-roaring power ballads to sing along to or indeed perform some interpretive dance to. We are risking a Proclaimers-based medley about the joys of the festival. It will be a late-night laugh and you only pay what you can afford.

'The Ukeladeez - Gin Bunnies Free Festival' is at The Newsroom at 12:30am on 19-28 Aug. Listing