list.co.uk/festival Previews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
JAMES WILSON-TAYLOR
On his favourite fellow redheads, and one he's not quite so keen on
P H O T O :
S T E V E U L L A T H O R N E
RON WEASLEY When I was a kid, JK Rowling came to my school and signed my book: ‘to James, who could be a Weasley, love JK Rowling’. And yet she still didn’t cast me in the i lm! I do love Ron though; it’s a shame he gets a bit trampled over. He’s the kind of guy girls would take to the Hogwarts dance, but after a couple of butterbeers they’re off round the back of the Quidditch pitch letting some Slytherin shove his wand in her leaky cauldron.
SIMBA My i rst ever red-headed hero. I’m convinced the only reason I ever get girls is if they loved this i lm as a kid. ‘Can you feel the love tonight?’ is my go-to chat-up line. That or ‘Hakuna Matata’.
PRINCE HARRY A genuinely nice chap. Plus, he’s like a real-life Simba – he just can’t wait to be king and he never got to know his REAL father (the ginger one).
CILLA BLACK Blind Date was like Take Me Out without all the morons. With Cilla, you genuinely cared about the people i nding love. Now you just watch them and wonder if they’re an estate agent or just from Croydon. Or both. ED SHEERAN To be honest, it’s not that I dislike Ed Sheeran, I just think what he does is very easy and repeatable. He’s basically the 2016 version of Mick Hucknall and we didn’t ask for that. Plus, there’s something uncomfortable about watching a ginger white man rap. Unless it’s me. (As told to Brian Donaldson) ■ Underbelly Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug, 5pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6.
4–11 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 59
MASUD MILAS Newcomer tackling Brexit and his roots while talking about the Bard
What with all the current talk of national identity post-Brexit, Masud Milas’ solo Fringe debut couldn’t have come at a better time. The dapper young comic is half-Kenyan, half-English, and lived in Hong Kong and New Zealand before settling down in London. His 2016 show, Routes, tackles ‘growing up on the other side of the world and coming home to find it’s just as bizarre here too’. Yet, for all the artform’s appearance of off-the-cuff wit and topical response, stand-up comedy
does require a lot of planning and writing in advance. Did he anticipate that there’d be such an EU furore? ‘I happen to be talking about the referendum in my show so I’m very lucky that happened,’ says Milas. ‘Ultimately, I think you have to be flexible. I don’t mean block out a section of your show for “upcoming hot topics”, but if it affects you then give it a shot. What you don’t want to do is try and crowbar it in because it’s current: put it in if you have something to say about it. It could end up being quite jarring otherwise.’
In addition to comedy, Milas also dabbles in radio (his Late Breakfast Show on Soho Radio will be podcasting from the Fringe) and cinema where he’ll soon be appearing in Wyrdoes, a Shakespeare- inspired short film from fellow comic Nat Luurtsema. ‘I’d say I do stand-up comedy first and everything else branches off that,’ says Milas. ‘For Wyrdoes, I know Nat through comedy and she gave me a ring and asked if I was keen to do it. I’d never been to Cheddar Gorge and it looked like a lot of fun. You get to meet a lot of cool people working on stuff like that.’ (Niki Boyle) ■ Underbelly Med Quad, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug, 6.50pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.
NICK CODY Follows up a savagely funny 2015 debut hour with a tale about unlocking his heritage
This prank-loving, beer-appreciating, self-deprecating Australian stand-up is often described as blokey or laddy, but Nick Cody isn’t sure those particular labels tell the whole story. ‘I’m only considered an alpha / macho bloke because I’m in the arts,’ he shrugs. ‘Outside of comedy, I’m a soft-handed manchild with no actual skills other than stand-up.’
After last year’s bro-friendly debut, Beard Game Strong, Cody is returning with Come Get Some!, his take on the ancestry TV show, Who Do You Think You Are?. He wrote it after discovering his ancestral home in Ireland, and realising, ‘your heritage is more impressive than you actually are’.
And hey, while others despaired about Brexit, Cody was showing off his #GlassHalfFullOfBeer outlook on life via Twitter: ‘It’s a sad day for the UK but froffs [beers] at #EdFringe just got cheaper for me.’ (Claire Sawers) ■ Assembly George Square Studios, 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 9.20pm, £10–£12.50 (£9–£11.50). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.