Nicky Wilksinson has just swapped her kagool for a bag of party tricks & games. The Mumble wanted to find out why…

Hello Nicky, so where ya from & where ya at, geographically speaking?
Nicky: I’m from Hull and right now I’m in Edinburgh.

When did you first realise you could make people laugh?
Nicky: When I was 7 I was ‘playing out’ with my brother and three or four of our neighbours on our bikes. The aim of the game was to pedal as fast as you could and duck underneath a taught rope which was tied between two posts. It was finally my turn, I peddled as fast as I could but couldn’t duck down far enough when I approached the rope, this caused me to fly backwards off my bike, landing in a puddle with a lacerated forehead. Everybody laughed and laughed and laughed. I knew from that moment I was a born entertainer and now try to whack out a prat fall weekly… for anyone who’s watching.

How did you get into stand-up comedy?
Nicky: I worked in a comedy club in London for about 5 years before I started stand-up, watching enthusiastically from the back of the room, I always wondered if it would be something I could do. One day I gave it a crack and turns out, I’m alright at it.

You’ve performed at the Adelaide Fringe & the Edinburgh Fringe. What are the differences between an Australian crowd, & a Scottish?
Nicky: Mainly just the accent and the weather they’ve just come into your show from. Fortunately not much else, I reckon some of the things that make us happy are pretty universal so I’ve been able to share similar stories with audiences from both sides of the world.

You’ve got three famous figures from history coming round for dinner. Who would they be & what would you cook; starter, mains & dessert?
Nicky: Amy Johnson – she was the first female pilot to fly solo from Britain to Australia and she’s from Hull. What a dude! And Julie Walters, cause she’s probably my favourite human of all time. And finally the legends that are, French and Saunders (I know that’s 2 people but I’m breaking the rules cause it’s MY dinner party). We’d all have a right laugh together. I’d do a buffet. I love a spread and quite frankly, who doesn’t?!

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You are bringing a show called HAPPY this year’s Fringe, can you tell us about it?
Nicky: It’s a feel good show packed with stand-up, party games, quiz questions, fun facts. I have a friendly chat with some (hopefully) lovely audience members and that’s about it. I’m not aiming to make people think too much, I’m not changing lives or fighting crime. I just wanna make some people smile, laugh and leave feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

Sounds like a bit of a funfest all that, why did the idea originate?
Nicky: I did a show back in 2015 called Nicky’s Happy Hour, which stemmed from a thing I did on Twitter earlier that year. I basically tweeted about things that make me happy for one hour a day. Sometimes people joined in and it started to become a bit of a happy community. It was a lot of fun. I realised I missed that feeling and so reworked the show, and renamed it HAPPY.

You were part of multi-award winning comedy duo, The Kagools, so why the solo move?
Nicky: Ah, it’s not a move, I’m still very much one half of The Kagools and things are going really well. We’re doing a show at Edinburgh Fringe too this year, so it’ll be nice to perform in two fun shows a day.

You’ve got 20 seconds to sell the show to somebody in the street, what would you say?
Nicky: Free pies! (I’m hoping that’s all I need).

What will Nicky Wilkinson be doing after the Fringe?
Nicky: I’ll be flying straight to South Korea – The Kagools are doing the Busan Comedy Festival, which is super exciting!