Comic actor Leesha Loca is landing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year with her show, From Pirates to Popstars. Martin Walker asks how she got into comedy and what her best and worst stage experiences have been so far. But first they discuss Leesha’s show.

“My Fringe show is me and a couple of friends doing mostly character, sketchy, music-based comedy. Expect puns pun puns, stories, songs, skits and spot prizes for the audience. I dress up as a pirate for some of it. Elvis and Harry Styles might just make an appearance.”

Why did you choose to perform as part of Laughing Horse?

“I enjoyed LH shows that I saw in 2012 and 2013. They’re very creative and fun.”

Why did you get into performing comedy and how did you get started?

“At first I thought it would be a funny one-off thing for my friends to witness – ‘you’ll never guess what crazy Leesha is doing now!’ But then I enjoyed it, the novelty wore off and I just kept slowly getting better. My first gig was at the Lion’s Den in Piccadilly. Basically I just googled ‘open mic comedy London.’

Tell us your best and worst experiences as a comedian.

“Best: Playing to about a hundred people at the Classic Comedy Club in Auckland, NZ. They have a green room and everything. After a London gig I was asked to audition for an ad, which was pretty cool.

“Worst: Dying for ten straight minutes and not having the experience or wisdom to save myself or just get off the gosh darn stage. I was wearing an elf costume and doing this terrible rap.”

If you were curating a stand up show for television, who would be your guests?

“Start off happy and sweetish and get darker and more observational near the end. Milton Jones, Bec Hill, Rhys Darby, Ellen Degeneres, Bo Burnham, Louis CK and Doug Stanhope.”