The Velvet Onion

As previously mentioned, in addition to the delicious Eleanor in Edinburgh, there’s another Booshniverse-related act performing at the Festival.  Paul Foot’s show, Ash in the Attic, directed by Noel Fielding is also playing at the Underbelly during August.

Andrew Doyle, writer for the the Scotsgay Fringe Blog, recently interviewed Foot and Fielding about working together and their respective attitudes to fame.  It’s a refreshingly revealing piece, allowing both artists the time and space to banter and have their say.  Fielding explains how the fame game can at times be difficult to get right, “Being famous is like having Alzheimer’s.  Most people you meet remember you, even if you’ve only met them once, because they’ve seen your shows and they admire your work.  But sometimes they unrealistically expect you to remember them too.  When we were at the height of the Boosh, performing to eight thousand people a night, we’d be meeting hundreds, literally hundreds of people a day.  And I’d find that some of those people would approach me years after the event and say ‘I met you once, do you remember?’  When I say ‘no’, they can get really annoyed, and I think to myself, ‘If I could remember you I’d have no space in my head to even pick up a spoon.  I’d be a vegetable man.’ “

Foot’s attitude to being famous offers a sharp contrast, “There are a whole host of famous people who I have no interest in whatsoever.  And I’m very proud of not knowing who they are or what they do, so you mustn’t tell me.  I want to go to the grave without knowing.”

To read the interview in full (and find out who Dame Gillian Weir is, or why Hockney beats Hurst), click on this.  And if you’re up in Edinburgh and fancy catching Foot’s brilliantly insane show before its run ends, check out the details and buy tickets here.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Wairin for spotting this