Ten Big Questions… Yianni Agisilaou

Your show, no more than thirty words, go!
I'm performing two shows: 'They @£$% you up' - I mercilessly caricature my crazy Greek family.
'The Universe, A User's Guide' - Comedy about space, physics, metaphysics, spirituality and the sheer awestruck wonder of life.

What's your favourite Edinburgh related story?
The Chat for Charity. Each day of last year's Fringe I sat in one of two chairs on the Royal Mile for an hour and a half. My assistant Laura enticed people to sit next to me and chat about anything at all to raise money and awareness of homelessness charity Shelter, the logic being that I was choosing to sit on the street but that some people weren't so lucky. Over the month I chatted to 163 people. People brought friends back to meet me, one couple bought me a pair of jeans because mine had a hole in them and I met LOTS of homeless people who shared their stories with me. It was thoroughly empowering and worthwhile.

Who or what makes you laugh?
Silly, ridiculous things make me laugh. People laugh when they're surprised and I'm no different. I can be a bit of an overthinker, so freewheeling loose comedy that happens in the moment really gets me. This sometimes happens on stage, more commonly with friends.

What's the best / worst thing about being a comedian?
The best thing? You know your favourite thing in the whole world? Where the anticipation of the thing is enough to make you smile? Let alone the thing itself which sends you into raptures. Got it? Now imagine getting paid for that! The worst thing? I'm away from home a lot, I don't see my friends as much as I'd like, I live a hemisphere away from my family. It can be hard.

What gets you in the mood to be funny?
Laughter begets laughter. It's a bit circular but the best way to be funny is to be laughing already. So before gigs I normally listen to recordings of my old gigs. (Hmmm, people may have stopped reading thinking that I'm an egotistical jerk. Just to clarify I do not listen to myself before gigs. Well I did once, but only to remember my material, honest!)

What's your favourite children's joke?
What's brown and sticky? A stick!

What's the most memorable heckle you've ever received?
At a University College London Law School Christmas party I did a joke about coming back from overseas having picked up an accent. The punchline is that no-one ever goes to India and picks up an accent. This night an angry voice yelled out, 'What do you mean no-one goes to India? What's wrong with India?!' I turned around to see who had piped up and there was a guy in full traditional Indian dress who had just turned my safe as houses banker closing joke into a borderline racial slur.

What subject wouldn't you make a joke about?
Just personal stuff that's no-one's business but the people involved… says the guy doing a show about his family! Seriously though, the show is 'respectfully disrespectful' if that makes any sense.

What's your biggest fear?
Jesus! Not being the best person I can be. Squandering any of my potential, surrendering to fear and in doing so not living as productive, prolific, helpful and joyous life as I could do. In short, denying the world the best version of me I could possibly provide.

Complete this sentence: 'A man walks into a bar…'
…and a horse says, 'Why the short face?

'Yianni Agisialaou - The @£$% You Up' is at the Edinburgh Fringe, Just The Tonic Caves at 22.15.
'The Universe - A User's Guide' is at the Edinburgh Fringe, Cabaret Voltaire at 19.15.