My Festival: Phil Nichol

With 40 years in comedy, three Edinburgh Comedy Award nominations, one Edinburgh Comedy Award win, and 24 solo shows under my belt—most of them earning five-star reviews—I reckon I've learned a thing or two about making people laugh. As Cassius Clay once said: “It ain’t bragging if it’s true.

What will we learn from your show that we didn’t know before?

Amongst other gems, you may be surprised to learn that there is no Swedish word for "ungoogleable". The Swedes came up with one: ogooglebar.

Google wasn't keen on ogooglebar. As far as Google was concerned, everything should be Googleable, so Google objected to the ogooglebar meaning ungoogleable. Rather than argue with Google, the Swedish Language Council dropped ogooglebar making it ungoogleable.

There is now no official Swedish word for “ungoogleable”. Ogooglebar is no longer googleable.

However, if you Google ogooglebar, Google happily tells you all about oggoglebar, that Google got rid of ogogglebar. So ogooglebar IS Googleable... even though it means "ungoogleable".

You know how I know this?

I Googled it.

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Who or what was the biggest inspiration for your show?

The show is a tribute to Lou Reed and to my dear friend Kevin Hearn of Barenaked Ladies, who played keyboards with Lou Reed until Lou's death in 2013.

But the greatest inspiration for Aren't We Lucky isn't a rock legend. It's my 97-year-old Glaswegian mum, Ethel.

Who or what are you most excited about seeing this year?

Spencer Jones: Dogs at the Pleasance Dome (8.15pm) will be extraordinary. He is very very funny.

Who do you most like spending time with in Edinburgh?

As well as spending time with the cast of 11½ Angry Men, I'm looking forward to hanging out with the members of my band, the Sh*tsticks, from The Naked Racist. I'll be seeing them every day for the whole month.

Canny wait.

Tell us something about you that would surprise people.

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I worked for the Chinese Communist Party for 12 years.

Now, that's not true... but it would certainly surprise you if I said it.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?

Brush my teeth.

Thanks for the interview! We’d like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking?

Let's head to the Voodoo Rooms, where Cray Cray Cabaret, with David Tims and me, is on at 7.30pm for the final two weeks of the Fringe.

Six Piña Coladas, please. It's cabaret, after all, dahling…

Aren’t We Lucky, Gilded Balloon, The Lounge, 5.20pm, until 30 August

The Naked Racist, Gilded Balloon, Wine Bar, 9.45pm, until 18 August

11 1/2 Angry Men, Pleasance at EICC, Pentland Theatre, 2.30pm, until 22 August

Cray Cray Cabaret, Voodoo Rooms, The Ballroom, 18-23 and 25-30 August, 7.30pm

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