Interview: Rarely Asked Questions – Ashley Storrie

ashley storrie edinburgh fringe

You may know Glasgow rising star Ashley Storrie from her viral clips, such as the inspired one where she imagined what the Handmaid's Tale would be like if it was Scottish. Storrie is also a very good stand-up. A gift for painfully honest unedited storytelling – or should that be Storrietelling? – clearly runs in her family - her mum is comedian Janey Godley. Storrie returns to the Glasgow International Comedy Festival with Adulting, a brand-new show about not growing up. With the world most likely ending quite soon, Ashley believes we should all have a laugh and be a bit more honest particularly about the myth of “adulthood” … nobody really grows up, we’re all just great at pretending. She is also coming to London. Details below. 

Ashley Storrie plays the Glasgow Comedy Festival on March 17 but it is sold out. An extra date has been added on April 8, buy tickets here. Ashley Storrie also plays the Udderbelly Festival in London on June 16. Tickets on sale here.


1. What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and/or check your knickers aren't sticking out of your skirt and check for spinach between your teeth)? 

I think about whether or not I should go to the toilet, and then always decide not to. I’m convinced that needing to go while I’m on stage gives me an edge. (I’ve since learned this was a technique used by David Cameron and Enoch Powell… so now I feel weird about it)

2. What irritates you?

SO MUCH! Pavement cyclists, the staff in my local supermarket who ID me every day despite the fact they all know I’m an adult… It irritates me when people are annoyed at my mum but are too scared to tell her so take it out on me, or when my dad tells me something about politics and I repeat it and it turns out he’s just made stuff up again and I look like the idiot... People who work in artisanal hipster coffee shops and treat you like an inconvenience for trying to buy something, they irritate me too. 

3. What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?

I’m a very ‘safe’ person, I don’t like to do scary things or dangerous things unless there’s a good reason. One time I took a drug, but it made me really hungry and I ate a family-sized steak pie and then I was scared I would die so I told my mum what I’d done… which was probably the most dangerous part of this tale. On the upside, I freaked myself out so much I’ll never take that drug again.

4. What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?

Going to T in the Park felt very risky to me so I took a padlock to keep my tent secure when I was sleeping but then I accidentally locked my key outside and got stuck in my tent for hours. That was pretty stupid.

5. What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?

How much we all have in common. It’s easy to see all of our differences right now, but I think comedy can be very unifying. I told a story about my dad during the Fringe, and after one show a posh Scottish girl, a Nigerian boy and a big hulking man with a neck tattoo from Birmingham all came to me to tell me their dad was just like mine. I knew there’d be things we all disagreed on, but we all had a dad who was weird and we celebrated that shared thing. 

Interview continues here.

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