Tell us about your show. Why should we go and see it?
I write comedy/ theatre/spoken word shows on specific themes. I have done shows on the colour yellow- ‘The Yellow Show’, the sky, faces, water, sleeping, hair, talking, time, crowds and this one is my tenth themed show, it’s about me and is called ‘The Rob Auton Show’. You should see it because Deborah Meaden from Dragon’s Den came last year and said it was ‘funny, compassionate, warm and human.”
What are your hopes and dreams for the Fringe?.
I hope to see a lot of performers I’ve never seen before and I dream of there being a big canteen on the meadows where performers and festival staff can go to get healthy and affordable food. Big salads, loads of broccoli, lasagne etc.
What makes you laugh?
People’s behaviour in our local supermarket in London.
What three words best describe your performance style – and why.
Yorkshire- because I have a Yorkshire accent and attitude to life.
Ambitious- because I try to do the best performance of my life every time, if I achieve it is a different matter but it’s good to have a goal.
Sloth- Because one reviewer said I had a ‘sloth-like’ delivery. I don’t think that’s necessarily true but I love the idea of people watching a sloth on stage. I’d pay to watch that.
How will your audience think/feel differently after an hour in your company?
I’ve got quite a long bit about me making crabcakes in this show, next time they see crabcakes on the menu they might think about me.
What kind of shows – apart from your own – are you looking forward to seeing at the Edinburgh Fringe?
There’s a magician I always try to seek out on the Royal Mile near the Tron. He wears a black pork pie hat, sits down at a table, because he’s been doing it for so long he has a brilliant line for pretty much anything that happens in the street. It’s pretty risky some of it but he has big crowds in hysterics. I like taking a punt on free shows in the bottom room of restaurants that are just about to start that I don’t know anything about.
The cost of living is a big issue this year – will it make this Fringe more challenging?
I don’t know, maybe the people who come to the shows will have more investment in the shows because they’ve spent so much to get to Edinburgh and to stay there. I hope so. I think it’s my job in the show to try to make people forget about those things for an hour.
What do you predict will emerge as the big themes of this year?
I know a lot of people have shows that have the same title as mine and are about me. It’s flattering. Who knew this year would be the year everyone does their ‘Rob Auton Show’. I have to take it as a compliment, but honestly, this is the only one that has the inside scoop on me.
Who is your showbiz idol and why.
Probably the guy who put a whisk in his mouth because he showed people what was possible.
What is your idea of a perfect Fringe moment?
Once when I was doing a show on the free fringe, I had had a really hot (in room temperature) and unpredictable show. At the end of the show my mate who was in the crowd put a bag of HARIBO fizzy cherries in my collection bucket. That was pretty spectacular. I ate the whole bag before I sat down. It is a moment in my mind coated in that haribo fizzy sugar.
Rob Auton: The Rob Auton Show
14:25
Assembly Roxy Upstairs.
2.25pm 2-26 Aug
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/rob-auton-the-rob-auton-show
