Performer: Nick Page
Photograph by: Alice Gorton Art
Show: Yes, that Nick Page, Apparently
Venue: Just the Tonic at The Mash House
Promoter: Indie

Tell me about your Edinburgh show.

It’s not a proper Edinburgh show, apparently, as there’s no theme, no flip chart, no sad bit, no redemptive bit. It’s just a bunch of silly stories that make people laugh. I’m only doing it because I won ‘English comedian of the year’ and had really good fun doing the Perth and Adelaide festivals.

Tell me about your first gig.

I did my first gig for a bet, it was at the bunch of grapes in Bristol and I was on with Wil Hodgson, Mark Olver and Russell Howard.

Do you have any rituals before going on stage?

I have to tell myself over and over that I’m going to fail so that I focus.

Tell me about your best and worst review.

My favourite ever review was from a local paper who gave me 8 stars. I asked if it was out of 10, and they replied that they hadn’t thought about that, just that the writer reckoned I was twice as funny as something he’d seen that got 4 stars.

Worst review turned out to be written by an ex, and it was for a Monday night gig in oxford attended by about 15 people, and it still burned me up for a year.

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

Like everyone else, I will read reviews while pretending I haven’t. I will also be waiting with bated breath for 1-star reviews of other people.

How do you feel about reviewers generally?

Devastatingly attractive, fragrant geniuses.

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?  

I’d fine him a grand for owning a pug, a grand for his terrible nom de plume and a grand for his beard. He got off lightly.

Are there any subjects that are not suitable for comedy?

The correct concrete mix for bridge foundations.

Have you ever gone too far?

When I realised I wasn’t supposed to get past the semi-finals on Britain’s got talent I snuck an anal innuendo into the live show, resulting in the daily express saying I was too rude to meet the queen. Does that count?

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

There are 3 bests. The first one (when I realised I’d wasted my life before) the one where I met my wife, and the one in Afghanistan which ended with me crowd surfing over the Tongan army.