Performer: Elvis McGonagall Photograph by: Anna McCarthy Show: Elvis McGonagall: Full Tartan Jacket Venue: Voodoo Rooms Promoter: Richard Smith Online: Box Office Website
Tell me about your Edinburgh show.
It’s called “Full Tartan Jacket”. I’m in it. The show and the jacket. 12.20pm – bit early for me, but an excellent opportunity for a lunchtime pint.
Tell me about your first gig.
My solicitor has advised me not to discuss this topic as an injunction is still in force in several jurisdictions.
Do you have any rituals before going on stage?
Yes. They involve winklepickers, gaffer tape and pom poms.
Tell me about your best and worst review.
My best and worst review were the same one.
“Someone you’ve never heard of whose every stanza sounds like it was written by Les Dawson on the back of a fag packet”
– Cheers Rachel Cooke writing in The New Statesman. I’ve had it tattooed on my arse. Obvs.
During this Edinburgh run, do you plan to read reviews of your show?
Yes – all the amazing ones. So probably not then.
How do you feel about reviewers generally?
They’re all fine, upstanding members of the community. Where do I send the cheque?
In April 2018, YouTube comedian, Markus Meechan (aka Count Dankula) was fined £800 for training his girlfriend’s pug dog to do a Nazi salute with its paw, in response to the phrase ‘Gas the Jews’. Do you believe Meechan committed a criminal offence, and why?
Technically this depends on one’s interpretation of Clause 3, Section 2 (b) of The Racist Canine Offences Act of 1876. Personally I feel it just wasn’t very funny. Particularly for the pug who was later forced to resign from the Labour party.
Are there any subjects that are not suitable for comedy?
Mumford & Sons. Distressing.
Have you ever gone too far?
Possibly Hong Kong.
Looking back over your time as a comedian, tell me about the best gig of your career.
The one where my future wife was in the audience. She wrote this answer, but I’ve put it in because it’s true.