Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?
Hello reader. I'm Tim Vine, I'm a comedian…usually. Well, mainly. Sometimes. I'm a comedian sometimes.
And a very good one! How long have you been doing the Fringe?
Well this is my 13th year, but since 1993, so it's probably once every couple of years I come up here. I'm not an every single year person - for some people they've done it for 26 years in a row or something, but I've never done that.
What do you like about the Fringe? Why do you keep coming back?
Well that's a very good question. Why do I keep coming back? Well I think once I get a show together, I like people to see it. Edinburgh is a great place to come - there's some great rooms up here - where you can just do the same show every single night and it really improves it. It's a good thing to do before you tour, for example, because no matter what state the show's in at the beginning at the month, it's always going to be in a better state at the end of the month. Even if you have to go through the pain barrier to get there.
The show that you're doing this year, is there anything particularly remarkable about it?
No. Wait, when you say remarkable, do you mean someone marks it and then they come back and remark it? So it's remarkable. If you want to give it six one day and come back another day and give it seven, in that sense it is remarkable.
Sorry, wrong word! I meant, is it different from your previous shows in any way?
No, it's me being silly. I have a table, just to my right, full of bits and pieces - props and things - and I do silly songs and silly one-liners. I can't say I'm doing anything massively different - it's not contemporary dance. Although if I did contemporary dance, I think that would still be under the umbrella of comedy.
Are you still doing 'pen behind the ear'?
Yes, but not up here. When I tour I do 'pen behind the ear' because for some reason people want to see me doing it! But I don't do it up here because if you come up here you come up with a new show. I think it would look a teensy bit - [someone hoots] same to you fella! - which incidentally is a direct quote from Bob Newhart The Driving Instructor. Can I recommend to your readers that they listen to Bob Newhart The Driving Instructor. He's an American comedian, probably only available on vinyl now as he died some years ago. [Speaking directly into microphone] That's Bob Newhart.
Okay, we've got that on record. Several times. Bob Newhart.
Yes. I've forgotten what I was saying just before that. But the point is…no, let's try and remember-
'Pen behind the ear'; we were talking about 'pen behind the ear'.
Oh yes okay, so it's something to do as an encore on tour - it looks a bit lazy if you just do the same thing all the time.
It is very funny though!
Well…I like it, but it's a bit boring if I do it up here because I've done it up here before. It's better if I try and make new stuff work. Making new stuff work is the fun of the job, really.
What is it that you like about comedy?
Well, I kind of got into it just because I wanted to give it a go and it was a hobby, and then it just grew from there. But the thing that I'm most proud of, actually, in relation to comedy, is that people are still letting me do it! I'm 50 now and I've been doing it for quite a long time, and it does amaze me that I come up here and people still want to come and see me doing this nonsense. So mostly, I'm very grateful that it's provided me with a relatively easy way to make a living for a whole lifetime! And I like making people laugh generally.
You're very good at it!
Well that's very kind of you, but you know, some nights not so much…
And - assuming that you think the arts are important - why do you think they are?
Oh very much so. I think it's an easy thing, to cut the arts. It's an easy thing (that's almost politics for me), but people go 'is it desperately important to learn to play the piano or sing or be in a play, as opposed to learn maths', and I'd argue that in totally, totally different ways, they're equally important. I think human beings are born to be creative. Or destructive. And you can choose which one you are.
Do you have any particular advice you would give to young people who want to get into the arts, especially stand-up comedy?
Just have fun. The thing about comedy - and in fact, most performing - is that it's most effective when you're enjoying it yourself. So don't take it too seriously. If you want to make a big career out of it, maybe that's the wrong approach - you should just go in thinking 'let's just have a laugh'. We want to write some nonsense and put something on and have a go, and if it works it works and if it doesn't, never mind, let's try something else. The most important thing is that you have fun with it.
The one thing I've noticed from doing this job as long as I've done it is that the times I feel most nervous are when I feel there are people I could let down. If I start looking around the TV studio and realise I thought I was just messing about but there's 40 people here who seem to be taking it seriously, it can get nerve-wracking. So if possible, I try to avoid that feeling of it being too serious. I don't always manage it, but it's best to treat the whole thing with a pinch of salt. After all, we're all in and out of this world like a flash, so you might as well have a laugh while you're here.
Thank you so much to Tim Vine for taking the time to do this interview, he was an absolute pleasure to talk to and hilarious as ever!
Tim Vine: Sunset Milk Idiot is on at Pleasance Courtyard at 16:00 until August 27th, excluding the 16th. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the EdFringe website.
I love this!