thefestival

Reginald D Hunter’s festival, plus Fringe reviews & half-price tickets

Your 20-page Edinburgh Festival Guide inside

I only have time to see one show in Edinburgh. Why should I go to yours? Come and see it so you can witness constant, relentless, demon-dog pressure

Now I think of it, I’ve got time to see two. What else should I definitely go to? You have to go to see Glenn Wool. He is a fuzzy-faced Canadian comedy force. He is always funny and insightful and has a very witty turn of phrase. I consider him to be the lumberjack breakfast of comedy.

What are the best and worst things that have happened to you at the Edinburgh Festival?

The Best thing was winning the Writers Guild award 2006 for Pride and Prejudice and Niggas. I’d never really won anything before then and it completely relieved me of the right to grumble about other people who had won awards.

The worst thing was spending the night in the wrong flat on my first night at of the Fringe a few years ago. Bizarrely, the key I had opened the door to both flats. I thought it was very weird that the landlords had left their cats behind and it wasn’t until the following morning that I found out I should have been in the flat upstairs.

What’s your favourite place in the city and why? After all these years of spending time at the Fringe my favourite place has to be Bristo Square. It’s all happening there, and I have so many great memories of the place. There’s always such a great mix of people. Lots of conversational dreams and ambitions are met there.

Who do you most like spending time with at the festival?

It’s always great spending time with Brendon Burns. The man is like a syringe of electricity. He gets your juices flowing and makes you want to do better. So you think: “I’ve got to go back and spice this show up a bit.”

It’s also always good to catch up with Kate Copstick. It’s always nice to be judged in every single way possible. It’s like having my mother channelled through someone with a Scottish accent. Every time I see her I think: “Oh-oh, what did I forget to do.”

Where can I find you at 9am, 9pm and 2am? At 9am I’ll definitely be in bed At 9pm I’ll be in a building saying “I’ve been Reginald D Hunter. I think that fulfils my contractual duties. Thank you and goodnight”

At 2am I’ll be in my palatial two-bedroom hut with a few friends watching Korean movies.

Tell us something about you that would surprise people. I recently discovered, much to my family’s horror, that Korean fried chicken is actually much better than southern fried chicken.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

I usually sit there and try to remember where exactly I am. Then I do a slow memory pullup of my obligations for the day and then, if those are conducive, I go straight back to sleep.

What’s the last thing you do before you go to bed at night?

I turn on my computer and scan the day’s events to see if there is trouble anywhere in the world and if I’m needed anywhere to shuffle bombs.

Thanks for the interview! I’d like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking? Definitely in the Library bar at The Gilded Balloon and we’ll be drinking my own concoction of Apple margarita martinis.

Reginald D Hunter: An American Facing the Beast and Niggas is at Pleasance at the EICC until 26 August, 8:30pm