Award-winning comedian Jim Smallman could soon be your new best mate if you pop along to his new show at the Edinburgh Fringe. He's also the latest comic to answer our 10 Quick Questions...
Pitch your Edinburgh show in 25 words or less.
I want more friends. So I'm doing a show where I basically audition the audience to become my new best mate.
Your best Edinburgh moment?
Last year, at the end of my final show, the audience chanted my name in time to a wrestling video I'd usually close the show with. It followed a very personal story, so it was really spontaneous and may have made me shed a tear - although that may also just have been relief at it all being over.
And your worst?
Having drunk too much Irn Bru last year, I somehow developed kidney stones and tried to power through and still perform. On the last Thursday of the Fringe, I was hosting Late 'n' Live and collapsed backstage. Instead of finishing the show, I had to rush to hospital only to be told that I'd have to wee them out.
You've got one hour free in Edinburgh - what do you do?
Have a peanut butter and banana milkshake from one of the many places that make them - probably City Café - then stand on the Royal Mile and watch drama students try to entice people into their jazz-dance versions of King Lear.
Which Edinburgh landmark/venue/place would you give a five star review to?
Mums - the restaurant formerly known as Monster Mash - is the best place to eat in Edinburgh. It's the place where I tend to sit and fill my face with enormous amounts of pie and pretend I'm back home and not doing a million gigs a day.
Give us a secret Edinburgh tip!
If you don't know what a "Tattie Dog" is, listen up. It's a hot dog sausage wrapped in mashed potato and deep-fried (as opposed to a really scruffy pooch). If you get offered one, have one. Seriously.
Deep-fried haggis or deep-fried Mars bar?
Neither - see above. Tattie Dog all the way! Or maybe a deep-fried Bounty. It's the lardy taste of paradise.
Kilt or trousers?
I'll be honest. Enough people have accidentally seen my penis in gale-force breezes before, so it's probably best to stick to trousers. Not skinny-fit chinos with elasticated ankles, though. I'm not 12.
Arthur's Seat or Arthur Smith?
Arthur Smith - because me and mountains don't mix. Every year, I say I'm going to climb Arthur's Seat. I have never even got close to attempting it. I have, however, read Arthur Smith's autobiography. So he wins.
Complete this sentence: “In Edinburgh, I will be mainly...
...trying to make friends with complete strangers until they like me. Because that's why I got into comedy. To make complete strangers like me, even if they really don't want to. I'm serious. LOVE ME!"
Jim Smallman's new show, Let's Be Friends is at 16.30 at Gilded Balloon Teviot, 1-26 August. Find out more and book tickets here.
