Performer: James Hancox
Photograph by: Rosie Collins
Show: Sports For the Unsporty
Venue: Assembly George Square Theatre - The Bubble
Promoter: Sharon Burgess Productions
Online: Box Office Website

Tell me about your Edinburgh show.

I’ve always been awful at popular sports: football, rugby, that one where you reverse-park a horse, etc. So, this year I decided to make my own up and teach them to the world.

Tell me about your first gig.

For my first solo gigs (after Abandoman), I’d come onto stage with two massive papier-mache conkers and challenge an audience member to a match. They’d take me a weekend to make, and be destroyed in an instant. Sometimes the conkers wouldn’t even survive the first swing, instead launching themselves into the unsuspecting crowd. That idea didn’t last long.

Do you have any rituals before going on stage?

I like to do a few lunges – shake it out. I wear sporty short shorts, so after that it’s important to make sure it’s all tucked back in.

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

I did a gig in Perth at the start of the year, where I soon discovered that a third of the audience worked for the Australian Sports Commission. They’d just seen the word ‘Sports’ in my title and not read the rest. I totally won them over, and – despite not returning any of my letters – I’m pretty sure they’re considering one of my games as a new national sport.