Samantha Baines’ latest show, 1 Woman, a High-Flyer and a Flat Bottom, concerns itself with the ‘lost women of science’. Baines will be performing this inventive new show at the Pleasance Courtyard throughout August.
Meeting all of the lovely audiences – Edinburgh audiences are always up for a laugh unless they are too drunk. My show this year and last year is at 3.30pm and in 2016 three woman had drunk so much by 3.30pm that they fell off their seats! I am also excited about this year particularly as my silly rhyming poems will feature in my show for the first time.
2) What was your first Edinburgh show about?
My first show was a three step plan to have a sexually charged coffee with Professor Brian Cox. I was chasing him – it was like a geeky version of foxhunting – coxhunting if you will! However, along the way I discovered all the amazing women who have been to space and decided I should be trying to impress them instead. This year’s show is to readdress the balance of doing a whole show about a man, so this year I set myself the challenge of doing a show about three amazing lost women from science.
3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?
Yes scientists and science enthusiasts like me! I should say I am not a scientist, I am just a woman who wants to get more out of her science GSCE.
4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?
I have done 7or 8 Edinburgh Fringes now (I have lost count) and I don’t think I have had any particularly bad experiences. One year I was acting in a show and I had to share a bed with an actress I had just met but we became friends and she was my maid of honour this year! Oh, one year I did live above a curry house which sounds great but waking up to the smell of curry at 9am on a hangover wasn’t always the best!
5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?
Well it was amazing to sell out the whole run for my debut stand up show last year at the Pleasance Courtyard. What I treasure most are all the amazing chats I have had with audience members after my show. I have had some wonderful emails from people who have opened up to me about their lives and said my comedy has helped them and that’s incredibly touching and humbling.
6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?
Jess Fostekew’s show Silence of the Nans about a disastrous cruise that she performed on! It sounds hilarious.
7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?
A nice tan?
I don’t know if I hope to gain anything except probably a mild weight gain from all the eating on the go. I hope to have fun, entertain my audiences and watch some inspiring comedy. Actually what I do definitely want is a selfie next to my four foot poster.
8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?
Ohhh Science probably, maybe ageing or some amazing technological advancement. Or maybe my last ever show will be about how I will never stop doing comedy because my mind has now been merged with a computer so I can never die (so that wouldn’t be my last show but it might be my last show in my human body).
BOOK TICKETS FOR SAMANTHA BAINES: 1 WOMAN, A HIGH-FLYER AND A FLAT BOTTOM, AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL