In life, and in comedy, I think the most important thing is to laugh at yourself. A classic thing I do is that I will run for the bus, barely make it, then immediately text my friend to say I will be late because ‘I waited 20 minutes for a bus that just didn’t come’. I can’t be the only one, right? Then there are the stupidly hypocritical things I do like eat the most random corn-beef-potatoe-chili-fish thing because it is on ‘reduced-to-clear’, but then whimsically get an uber home because I can’t be asked to wait for a night bus… but that’s just a start.
Robyn Perkins
I know it’s wrong, but I laugh at how the Metro always pairs a headline with an irrelevant photo, inherently making you think Meghan Markle is somehow involved with a story about how “The World Cup is expected to spark a mini-boom in prostitution across Russia”.
Commuting is always entertaining people-watching-wise. I like making up stories about strangers: what does that Elderly man’s Tinder profile look like? Night-time is the best, especially when drunk people fall asleep, accidentally cuddling with strangers.
When shopping, while you are waiting in the queue, point at a strangers basket, regardless of what is in it, and say something like: I can see someone has a good night ahead of them, eh?. Extra points if you can throw in a wink. Or, if you have a bit more time, try grabbing something pretty obvious, like a grapefruit, and ask a store manager what it is used for? Inherently they will say ‘for eating’. In as many times as you can, with different words, keep going with phrases like: I don’t understand’ or ‘can you explain a bit more exactly what you mean by that’.
For entertainment at home, have a staring contest with an animal. Preferably a pigeon or a fox. Try to make funny faces. If you laugh before they run away, you’ve won.
My personal favourite thing at the moment is the contents of my make-up bag. I get really bad allergies, so have to have a lot of antihistamines. Because I travel a lot, and am inherently unorganised (my friends call me enthusiasm over organisation), I always forget them. My solution: to put a bunch of them in a tiny baggie in my make-up case. However, it is not a normal medicine pack – it looks very much like a bag of illegal pills. I am currently getting a lot of joy whipping out my makeup bag on the train, or any public place, so people think I am the most nonchalant drug user in the UK.
And I guess as a 10th thing, come to my show 10,000 Decisions at The Underbelly every day, 5:50pm.
See Robyn Perkins: 10,000 Decisions at the Underbelly throughout the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 1st – 26th August. For tickets visit www.edfringe.com