Gay Edinburgh Fringe legend Craig Hill spills the tea about how he keeps it up (his stamina, that is)
Craig Hill is back at the Fringe… again. You really can’t keep a good man down (Steven Ullathorne)
Craig Hill is back at the Fringe... again. You really can't keep a good man down (Steven Ullathorne)
There’s a great deal of anti-LGBTQ+ doom and gloom in the news at the moment, so much so that at times it can seem that queer existence as a whole is just one big depressing struggle.
If that’s your current mindset, then Craig Hill is the perfect antidote.
In fact, from the moment I first hear his voice, bursting with humour and positivity, over the phone, my mood lifts and I briefly forget about the fact that Donald Trump exists, or that a small but vocal percentage of UK residents seem to think that trans people shouldn’t be allowed to have jobs in M&S.
It would be very reductive to just call Craig Hill a ‘gay comedian’, he’s far more than that: a polished, talented and consistent Fringe staple who’s been entertaining the Edinburgh crowds for the last quarter of a century. However, it’s also fair to point out that his shows do very much centre around his sexuality: the titles alone should give you some idea of what to expect. This year’s is called Wait Til You See My Entrance!
The double entendres go back decades. Previous titles include I’ve Been Sitting On This For A While, It Gets Harder, and, my personal favourite, Why Don’t You Come Down The Front?
Craig explains that his over-the-top, loud, proud, upbeat and frequently bawdy comedy performances are entirely aimed at giving his audience a break from everyday life.
“In the middle of a world that’s sometimes seems scary and overwhelming, you still have fun, you can come along to my show for an hour and just forget about it all, and have a laugh,” he explains.
His shows might be absolutely jam-packed with jokes, but that doesn’t mean that Craig doesn’t take his work very, very seriously indeed. He’s dedicated to making sure his audience get the most out of his performances, and that each hour is as good as it can possibly be.
“You have no business being shite”
“Over the last 25 years I’ve definitely learned to pace myself,” he says. “Your show should be the highlight of your day, not just the highlight of theirs. The biggest challenge of the Fringe, I’d say, is being consistently good. If a group of people come in on the Friday and have fun, and tell other people, you want it to be the same on the Saturday. It’s basically an ethical issue: you have no business being shite. They’ve paid money so you should be applying yourself.”
Craig explains that training as an actor in the past helped him with his stamina. “I’ve got a friend who’s 60, you know the type, one of those people who’s never off a cruise. He said ‘have you lost any of your stamina?’ I was so pleased to say I haven’t, and I think it’s because of having trained as an actor. Every day I do a long warm up and go through every single line. It gets your energy up and gets you in the zone.”
It’s clear Craig Hill absolutely loves the Fringe: it’s been a central part of his life since the year 2000, after all. So, how does he decide what shows to watch on his days off? After all, with thousands to choose from, including countless LGBTQ+ acts, it can be pretty hard to decide.
“I sometimes just judge it by the poster, to be honest. I saw this new guy from Australia the other day, Arthur Hull, he’s got a show called Flop: The Best Songs From The Worst Musicals Ever Written, it was the first poster I passed, I think, and I loved the idea. I went to see it and it was brilliant.
“It was also so nice to see him so excited and chuffed, it’s his first Fringe and it was so nice to watch that and remember my first time, all those years ago.”
Asked how much the Fringe has changed in a quarter of a century, Craig explains: ”It’s got a lot busier over the years and people probably take fewer chances on people they haven’t heard of because it’s got a bit pricey. Having said that, you can still get two for one deals, which helps. Also, the Free Fringe was a game changer for a lot of people, it’s donation-based. I went to see Myra DuBois at the Free Fringe, she was amazing. I put in the same amount as a donation at the end I’d have paid for a full price ticket, it was totally worth it.”
“My answer was ‘make it more gay’”
Attitudes to LGBTQ+ comedians have also changed during that time, for the better. “As an arts festival, the Fringe has always been broad-minded, but years ago I did a gig in Edinburgh outside of the Fringe and I got heckled quite badly – it was either a stag do or a bunch of soldiers but whoever they were, they really disrupted the show.
“I went home and I thought, ‘that’s going to happen again’ and my answer was ‘make it more gay’, don’t apologise. I decided to start dancing my way onto that stage to Madonna and disarm everyone and just own that space – and it worked. I’ve done that ever since. You can’t heckle someone about being gay if they’re going to be so unapologetically camp and fun.”
When asked to sum up Wait Til You See My Entrance!, in one sentence, Craig thinks for a minute and then says “Lightsaber brolly, Shirley Bassey, all the songs you knew as a wean, top hats with sequins, and Barbara Streisand.” Sounds good to us.
The Fringe wouldn’t be quite the same without pink-kilt-wearing Craig Hill’s ubiquitous, instantly recognisable posters plastered all around the city centre. But is he ever going to actually take a year off?
“Yes,” he replies. “I’d love to just be a punter. (Fellow long-time Fringe comedy veteran) Tim Vine once didn’t appear – and he paid for an ad saying Tim Vine Is Not Appearing.
“If I didn’t do it one year I’d do the same thing, but my posters would say Craig Hill’s Having It Off.”
Wait Til You See My Entrance! is on at 7.20pm at Just The Tonic’s Atomic Room until 24 August (no shows on 18 or 19 August).
