The Scotsman – “My festival Ali McGregor”
- August 10, 2018
I only have time to see one show in Edinburgh. Why should I go to yours?
Because you’ll get four octaves of voice for the price of one and enough gin infused sass to keep your cold heart warm on a summer’s night.
Now I think of it, I’ve got time to see two. What else should I definitely go to?
Yana Alana – Between the Cracks. Yana is a cabaret legend in Australia but has never ventured to Edinbugh Fringe. She is in your face, exciting, and very, very ‘blue’.
What are the best and worst things that have happened to you at the Edinburgh Festival?
The best and worst things happen every single day in Edinburgh. It is like a nonstop emotional roller-coaster. I put my first season in 2005 with La Clique as one of the best and the 2009 season when my tent flooded almost every night and my dressing room was covered in Edinburgh mud as one of the worst.
Please describe where you’re living this month.
In a frighteningly over-priced Airbnb with my very understanding mother and two daughters.
What’s your favourite place in the city and why?
On stage at the end of a show filled to the brim with a mildly drunk but lovely, loud and happy audience. There is no better place to be.
Who do you most like spending time with at the festival?
The Fringe is like a family reunion for all my glorious misfit brethren. This year’s contenders are my cabaret wife Lady Rizo, the Briefs boys, Carla Lippis and her Midnight Marauders gang, Courtney Act, Hans, Michael Griffiths and, most importantly, my band – two of whom (Sam Keevers and Sam Zerna) have been touring with me for years and are like wayward stepbrothers.
Where can I find you at 9am, 9pm and 2am?
9am – Entertaining my children by giving them a second breakfast while I check my email.
9pm – Grabbing a bite to eat post-show before going to someone else’s show.
2am – Asleep. (See 9am.)
Tell us something about you that would surprise people.
I have Ikea superpowers. I can put anything together with nothing but an Allen key, a screwdriver and 250 Daim bars.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Give my children first breakfast. Then tea.
What’s the last thing you do before you go to bed at night?
Read. No matter how tired or drunk. Currently it is David Sedaris’s Calypso.
Thanks for the interview! I’d like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking?
Gin and soda with fresh lime. We will go sit in the little re hut in the Hotel du Vin garden. If you get there first, order some chips too!
By The Scotsman