Words: Billie Cogman

This is your first solo show. How are you feeling about it?
I haven’t seen my show yet. I might try to get tickets and watch it on the 9th. I have tickets to a hypnotism show afterwards that I paid almost no money for, so I absolutely can’t miss that. It may be a tight squeeze to be at both, but I can probably make it down to my own show to see how it’s going, but I won’t sit in the front row just in case the comic picks on me.

What are you looking forward to in Edinburgh?
I think I’m ready for the 1.5 million tourists. They are notoriously kind and patient, so I think they’ll be my kind of people, and I hope to speak to each of them at length. Maybe we’ll go for ice cream or see a hypnotism show together on the 9th. We’ll feel it out as we go. I’m also stoked to do lots of walking so I can finally break in my crocs.

What should your audience expect from the show?
I’m not sure there is a way to accurately describe to people what they should expect. I spent the year writing various unrelated routines about whatever things happened to pop into my head at the time. When I suddenly had to make a show, I was looking through the backlog and noticed that they all had a similar theme of wanting to impress people that I don’t care about in any way. Putting them into a cohesive show felt easy, but it definitely felt like everything had a natural flow to it, and the links between routines was fairly obvious as it was getting planned. My director and close friend Ben Sutton pointed out a lot of similarities and recurring themes throughout the bits, and really helped structure the show. Some of the routines are pretty out there, so he was a massive help, and very influential in guiding the show. If you want to see him perform, he’s doing an interesting concept show where he performs for 8 hours a day to groups of fifth year students. He calls his show “teaching”. It sounds niche. Anyways, enough about him. My show was written without a concept, but it turns out that the concept was in my heart all along, which is cute and adorable and not at all the truth.

Are there any shows you’re looking forward to seeing?
Gosh, there’s too many acts to name. This pressure you have put me under here is immense. That being said, I have more recommendations than I could possibly say all at once, so if there’s a part two to this question, that would be great.

There can be a second part if you’d like?
That would be ideal, thank you.

So your recommendations are…?
Oh, right. The first part is first. So Firstly, I’m a big fan of work in progress shows. They’re always a bit off the deep end, which I love. Rob Copland, Jordan Brookes and Larry Dean all come to mind right away as some of my top picks. I’d also recommend some Scottish acts like Liam Withnail, Krystal Evans and David McIver. Additionally, the good lad Ollie Horn is doing an exciting solo show, as well as something called “Most Toast”, which I think will be quite the experience.

With the festival being such a long event where new acts are tested to see if they have what it takes, there’s lots of time to learn. Is there anything in particular that you’re hoping to take away from the festival?
I’d like to take a hypnotist’s pocket watch. 

Do you have any more recommendations for shows to see?
Jacob Henegan and Tom Whiston are both doing solo shows that are bound to be a lot of fun. And I always have to mention John Kearns, because if you haven’t heard about him; Learn you some. A new act night I help run in Edinburgh called Open Comedy is doing a one off show at Monkey Barrel Comedy Club, which will be a hoot and a half. And on a more selfish note, I’m also going to recommend my other Fringe show, which is with my mate Pete Carson. It’s a compilation of some of the best acts in the UK right now, and is at 10:45pm at Beehive Inn, which is a good time for an unpredictable show, and thankfully it doesn’t clash with any shows by hypnotists.

Your solo show has a unique title. Why is Lewis Capaldi invited and absolutely no one else? Don’t most performers want an audience of more than one person? He also seems like a very high-profile person to ask. What if he doesn’t show up? And if he does show up, what if it’s on the first day? Then you’ll have a full run of no audience. What then?
No more questions.

Cobin Millage: Lewis Capaldi is Invited and Absolutely No One Else
Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters – The Wee Room
8.45pm
3-27 Aug

Cobin Millage and Pete Carson: Touching Tips (with Friends)
Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn
10.45pm
4-27 Aug