On board with the Q&A today is Lily Phillips

^{Picture: Karla Gowlett}

What’s the best bit of advice you’ve been ever been given from a seasoned comic? 

No one cares. When you realise that you are free!

And what has proved to be the least useful? 

Someone suggested once that I should have a stage name sparking a brief period of calling myself Lady Power. Thank god I came to my senses before anyone found out . . . oh whoops . . .

Is there one thing that keeps cropping up when people talk to you about Edinburgh in August? 

Everyone is talking about really looking after themselves this year, mentally and physically, which is great, but it also feels like a lot of pressure. I’ve accepted that I will definitely have a meltdown at some point during the month. I just don’t know exactly when. EXCITING!

What’s your favourite word that begins in ‘e’? 

‘Eggplant’. Because it’s my favourite food and my favourite emoji and the American name makes so much more sense. Where we got ‘aubergine’ from I’ll never know, Brits aren’t fancy and romantic; we’re cold and cynical. It’s a plant that looks a bit like an egg: why are we catfishing it as something else? AND I think calling it an aubergine has overly sexualised it too. ‘Eggplant’ is the opposite of sexy, which is how I like my vegetables. 

Is there one act you absolutely HAVE to see in August? And why? 

Catherine Cohen!!! I missed her show The Twist . . . ? She’s Gorgeous the year it won the Edinburgh Best Newcomer Award, but I saw her do a spot at another show and have stalked her HARD on Insta ever since. 

I think I just didn’t have the confidence to talk about dolphin sex then

Picture yourself in early September: what would constitute a successful Fringe for you? 

If I feel that I have come back a better comic. I’ve heard that after your debut you feel bulletproof on stage. Oh, and to have not developed pneumonia from the Scottish ‘summer’ would be a major win. 

What percentage of your early stand-up performances is likely to appear in your Fringe debut? 

This hour is basically a collection of everything I’ve written since I started stand-up. I even recently resurrected a bit I did in my first year that never really worked, but I think I just didn’t have the confidence to talk about dolphin sex then. But now I do. You’re welcome.

Which other new comedian do you feel a special kinship with? And do you reckon it’s reciprocated? 

Esther Manito, who is so talented and supportive. But don’t tell her I said that. I like to give her the impression I hate her and think she’s crap.

Which side of your family do you get your funny bones from?

My dad. I recently found a recording of a song he wrote with his uni band, just called ‘Bum’. So, it was inevitable that I would, years later, write a show called Smut.

What will you do to keep fit and healthy (relatively speaking) during August? 

I swim a lot so I’m going to try and keep that up in Edinburgh. But I did this in 2019 with running and went for a run about 2.5 times throughout the whole Fringe, so we’ll see!

Which word of six letters or more will crop up the most in your Edinburgh show? 

‘Bumhole’. I’m my father’s daughter!

Lily Phillips: Smut, Pleasance Courtyard, 3–28 August, 7.25pm.