Simon Evans on his return to the Fringe

Simon Evans is one of the most established names at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. He’s made numerous TV stand-up appearances, is  a Radio 4 panel show favourite and creator of the comedy-economics series Simon Evans Goes to Market for the broadcaster.

What have you learnt about yourself and your comedy during lockdown? Has it changed anything?

Not so much learned as been reminded that I need urgent, intense conversation daily, or I go mad. Likewise, I already knew but was reminded that my comedy relies on an audience, the frisson of laughing as possible transgression - comedy is a very socially rooted thing, there is a lot of signalling etc going on and if you don't have that to play with, an important dimension is missing. 

Did you do any Zoom or drive-in gigs? How did you feel about them?

I did a few Zoom gigs, and my main takeaway is that they work much better if the audience know one another beforehand. If there is some organising principle - a corporate, or a birthday party - they are doable and could be great fun if you worked with that. But simple ticketed events, a number of strangers in their own rooms, I didn't feel was a very worthwhile substitute, to be honest.

What does the Edinburgh Fringe mean to you?

Traditionally the Fringe is the turning point of the comedy year. It's incomparably the main event in the calendar. It's graduation day, prize giving and the first day of term rolled into one. 

This year is obviously going to suffer by comparison with any previous iteration but I still think it's great that there has been a determination to stagger back onto the stage and do the damn thing. 

What would your perfect Fringe day be, in a normal festival year?  

I would usually avoid watching other stand-ups for the first couple of weeks, but I love meeting up with them for coffee during the day. I try and just get fresh air and exercise during the day and generally, I keep it pretty low key until my show is done and in the bag.

Then a huge desire to go and burn off the excess jet fuel in the tank drives me to the nearest performers' bar - sometimes the Abattoir, sometimes the Assembly's slightly makeshift underground effort near George Square - and before you know it, it's 3am and every good intention has been shredded. 

What's the best experience you've ever had doing comedy?

After 25 years of doing comedy, this current show, which I debuted here in 2019 and toured until lockdown in March 2020, is the first time there has been a significant element of the show in which I express positive emotions - wonder, awe and especially gratitude - as well as scathing critiques of the modern world, and some of its more tiresome personalities. It made all the difference to me and for the first time, my mental health actually improved over the course of the month, and on the tour. 

What does your show reveal about you?

On this occasion, a huge amount, and something so profound -  something that I was myself unaware of, until late 2018 - that I cannot even hint at it without spoiling some of the impact of the show. 

If you have special walk-in music for this show, what is it, and why did you choose it?

Last time I was here, I chose Californian cow punk band Against Me!, and the title track of their album Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Lyrically I think it's an amazing song and it also fit quite neatly with certain themes in the show - but also, it really, really wakes you up.

Describe your show in the form: 'the bastard child of X and Y on (drug Z)'

The very trope you are describing here is a little too close to comfort tbh! Though as always the drug I try and evoke is a mild dose of Psilocybin. 

• Simon Evans: The Work Of The Devil is on at Assembly George Square Gardens  at 8.30pm from tomorrow until August 22.

Published: 13 Aug 2021