ISY Suttie admitted straight off that she's no Ben Elton when it comes to her stand-up gigs.
“I don't really do political humour because I don't know enough about politics,” she said.
“I don't read newspapers, I read Take A Break, so when everybody goes 'Obama' I'm like 'Hmm'.
“I do songs and characters, that kind of thing. I do this jazz guy based on a busker who comes from where I come from, Matlock in Derbyshire. I'm quite a happy person so it's all nice stuff not hard-hitting or anything like that.”
So they'll be no picking on those in the front row of the audience?
“No, not unless it's to say 'I like your top'.”
Isy has been a regular on the stand-up circuit for some time, with her last show at Edinburgh selling out and winning praise from the critics, but it wasn't until she appeared as Dobby in Channel 4’s cult classic Peep Show that she began to get recognised on the street.
“You can kid yourself that doing stand up twice a week in front of 40 people will mean you get recognised but the reality is that you're on TV once and overnight you're stopped in the street,” she said.
“The good thing about Peep Show is that people either really love it or they don't know much about it, nobody tends to be middle of the road. Lots of people have come up to me and told me that they thought Mark and Dobby should have got married.”
Performing in Blackburn will prove to be a trip down memory lane for Isy, who revealed she once lived in the town for six months whilst performing as the Fairy Godmother in panto at Thwaites Empire Theatre.
“When I saw the tour list I thought 'I can't wait to come back to Blackburn'. I lived in Stansfeld Street in 2000 while we were doing the panto. We slept three to a room and go have to do three shows a day. After the show we used to go swimming and have really nice pies and stuff, it was a brilliant time.” This time Isy will be leaving her magic wand behind as she performs in Edinburgh & Beyond – the show renowned for bringing together some of the most highly-rated comedians from the Edinburgh Festival.
Previous performers are Jenny Eclair, Lee Mack, Russell Howard and Simon Day.
But Isy is typically unaffected about it.
“They take four comics out of Edinburgh every year and say ‘Do you want to do this show? And you say ‘Yes’ because it’s a really nice tour. The people who I’m on the road with are really lovely, they’re a right laugh and I’m getting to go to places that I’ve never been before like Derry and Stroud.”
As part of her act Isy introduces performances from ‘friends’ including Yvonne Winehouse, Amy’s cousin who’s trying to give back to the world musically what Amy’s taken with her wild ways; Melody, the Scouse hairdresser who sings heartfelt songs to her clients; Ben, the 12-year old reality show reject who just keeps having his dreams broken; and Mr Mississippi, the dark throated jazz singer who has to be heard to be believed.
Interwoven with these loveable characters are titbits from Isy’s own childhood.
“My friends used to laugh at my name when I was in school because of the Sooty Show,” said Isy.
“It was a doubly whammy really because on the show they used to say “Izzy, whizzy, let’s get bizzy” when they were doing a spell. I always though it was much better than being made fun of for other stuff though.”
I bet they’re not laughing so hard now.
See Isy Suttie in Edinburgh & Beyond 2008 alongside comics Glenn Wool, Dan Atkinson, and Joe Wilkinson on Wednesday, November 12. For tickets call box office on 0844 847 1664.
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