© Idil Sukan
Wendy Wason is a Scottish stand up comedian, actor and writer, who had her first taste of working in the comedy industry at the age of seventeen, selling tickets at the Gilded Balloon. Wason returns to the Edinburgh Festival this year with her latest show, Tiny Me, which explores the themes of identity and responsibility as a modern-day daughter, mother, wife, friend and woman.
I asked Wendy these seven questions to learn more about her…
1) What is your aim with your new show?
To set a little bit of kindness free in the world. I think the world is increasingly selfish and harsh and we need to be a little bit kinder to each other. It would be nice if I could make people laugh at the same time too.
2) What takes up the majority of your time?
My kids. They are pretty time consuming right now. I thought they’d need me less as they got older but it doesn’t seem to be the case. The fact they have their own iPhone and iPad means they can track where I am on find my iPhone. They call it ‘family sharing’. It’s not sharing. It’s stalking. They give the kids the exact location of where are I am. No sneaking off to the pub for me.
3) What makes you angriest?
“Family sharing”. No. I’m kidding. I want to say injustice in the world and the unaccompanied children in Calais but when I come to use the printer for work and the kids have used up all the ink for their school projects or some Minecraft nonsense I do go ballistic.
4) How did you meet your best friend?
My best girlfriends I met at school in Edinburgh. I just sat next to them when I was 12 and that was that. 30 years later they still can’t shake me. We went away for a long weekend to Spain last month and talked as much as we did in class and we never run out of stuff to pick to pieces. In fact, my friend Emily is very thoughtfully having her second baby during the Festival so I don’t have to miss out on anything. Yes. It’s all about me.
5) What is the most tedious aspect of your day?
Getting up. That’s really tedious. When the alarm goes off I’m like: “Oh no, here we go,” and then I enter the wall of noise that is my house. The noise is quite extraordinary. The weird thing is that when the house is empty, the silence is even louder. I’m never happy. Maybe I could have them around and just put them on mute. I’d like that. I do love them, I’d just like to turn the volume down a little. I love a lie-in though. Sleep is my luxury.
6) What is your biggest drawback?
I can’t make a decision. I’m a nightmare. I’ve passed it onto my boys too. The kids only get sweets on a Friday and sometimes the sweet choice is too overwhelming they decide not to have any because they can’t choose. Apparently it’s called the Paradox of Choice. It’s an affliction. I went veggie for six years because I can’t decide what to eat in restaurants.
7) How do you see the Edinburgh Festival developing over the next few years?
I’m not sure. The first show I went to see was when I was eight and it was very much a hunting ground for TV companies to discover talent. Now, it’s a much bigger animal. There are big American stars coming over this year with Bill Burr, Louis CK and Amy Schumer, so it will be interesting to see what impact that has. The Free Festival is great for the festival too. It’s really mixing things up. We’ll see.
WENDY WASON BRINGS HER SHOW ‘TINY ME’ TO THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL