EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Phil Ellis

Tell us a bit about Phil Ellis Has Been On Ice.

This show revolves around the simple premise that I have been cryogenically frozen since winning the award in 2014. I awake from stasis to find that the world has changed and the people I loved have moved on or have gone. It's the silliest and ( I think ) funniest show I have ever done. I'm joined by the amazing Pat Cahill, who voices the computer that is preparing me for the world as it is now. I'm genuinely looking forward to performing it every day to very little or no people.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

Because the Preston Fringe festival really hasn't taken off. Plus it's a nice opportunity to hang out with people who's names I forget as soon as I get back on the M6 at the end of August.

What sets it apart from other shows at the Fringe?

Well I'm in it for a start.... Although having said that I am also in Funz and Gamez: Flogging a dead horze, so even that unique selling point has been bloody ruined. I just do what I think is funny. If people like it too, then great. If they don't then I genuinely think they should be ashamed of themselves and seek out professional help. I have a cloth wardrobe in my show for God's sake! What more do you people want?

There's loads of amazing comics out there doing great things because they believe in it. Good on them, that's what Edinburgh should be about. It's nice to see people taking risks, they may not always work out but at least they went for it and maxed out their credit cards in the process. There's also a lot of shite! You just have to hope that you end up in your preferred bracket.

Who would you recommend comes to see you?

Idiots and the weak.

And you have a second show this year?

Yes I do. I just didn't think that losing a few thousand quid was enough so I've decided to double my financial losses this year. It's funz and Gamez: Flogging a dead horze. It's the third Funz and Gamez show we've done as it's just such a fun show to be a part of. It's all new gamez, songz, new characterz and hopefully a few funz surprisez thrownz inz therez tooz. I may have overdone it with the "Z"s a little. We do get a lot of repeat custom so I hope the kidz and parentz feel we have moved it on a bit. Johnny Vegas has a lovely cameo

in it this year, which is a real treat. Him and his son are big fans of the show so I've written him a nice little part that I think people will love. It's amazing to think we've gone from performing to 4 or no people in that first week of Edinburgh 2014, to having made a BBC TV pilot, performing sell out shows at Soho and on the main stage at Latitude, losing my girlfriend to a bartender in Middlesbrough and getting to work with some of your comedy heroes. It's going to be funzzz. Buy a bloody T-Shirt and a mug on your way out!

Phil Ellis can be seen in Funz and Gamez: Flogging a Dead Horze (1:30pm, Just the Tonic at The Community Project) and Phil Ellis has Been on Ice (7:40pm, Just the Tonic at The Mash House) both as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.

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