Performer: George Lewis
Photograph by: Richard Wood
Show: A Man, a Plan, a Girl with Fake Tan
Venue: Pleasance Attic
Promoter: Off the Kerb productions

Tell me about your Edinburgh show.

It’s about a plan I came up with to win the heart of a teenage girl, when I was a teenager. If you were a tabloid, you’d print that without the words ‘when I was teenager’. Please don’t do that.

Tell me about your first gig.

It was an open mic night below a pub. Some of the comedians who were on there are still going and are great. Some were terrible people.

Do you have any rituals before going on stage?

I have a Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso. Or, if it’s been a slow month, the Aldi equivalent. It’s the type of thing I’d see someone drink when I was a kid and think- Jesus, what must’ve happened to a person to make them need to chug pure caffeine from a can at 8pm? Now I know!

Tell me about your best and worst review.

My best review was beautifully and skilfully written. My worst made me so genuinely worried for the reviewer I tried to have him sectioned.

During this Edinburgh run, do you plan to read reviews of your show?

I’ll read the reviews every morning, then set aside a couple of hours to shop for thank you presents or brainstorm revenge ideas, depending on the content.

How do you feel about reviewers generally?

Truly beautiful souls.

In April 2018, YouTube comedian, Markus Meechan (aka Count Dankula) was fined £800 for training his girlfriend’s pug dog to do a Nazi salute with its paw, in response to the phrase ‘Gas the Jews’. Do you believe Meechan committed a criminal offence, and why?  

So the man got fined £800 and the pug got off scot free? Haha. I don’t know if it’s a criminal offence, but it’s funny to me that he got fined £800. £800 is a really annoying amount of money to be fined. It’s one of the biggest small amounts of money. It’s a lot of money, but not so much you’re going to hire a lawyer to help you appeal. So, I say the system works.

Are there any subjects that are not suitable for comedy?

Cars.

Have you ever gone too far?

The problem with this job is you often say stuff onstage that was unplanned. I once made fun of someone’s hair and felt bad for months.

Looking back over your time as a comedian, tell me about the best gig of your career.

The first time I played to an audience in the thousands, it was a rush I’d not had since the first time I tried Wrigley’s Airwaves.