Fringe preview: Terry Victor

Terry Victor comes to the Guildford Fringe with a well thumbed canon of the naughtiest bits in literature. William Gadsby Peet discusses bawdy badinage and saucy satire 

  • What is stand up literature?

It used to be, when you took a classic book from the shelf it always opened at the Well Thumbed dirty bits. Context didn’t matter – anything, from a detailed description of frowned upon physical activity to a single banned word, could elevate a book from ‘classic’ to ‘well-thumbed treasure’. Stand-up literature is a celebration of that treasury, played for laughs and gasps. To be honest, there’s bound to be something that will offend your sensibilities so it’s just like stand-up comedy but with better writers.

  • How many dirty bits are there in classic literature?

At least twice as many as I could fit into the Well Thumbed performance before my eyesight failed.

  • Some of your favourite books, dirty or otherwise?

Don’t do this to me. There are so many books! From Hell, the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell is absolutely extraordinary; Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood; I read Ten Dead Comedians by Fred Van Lente on a plane recently. It made me laugh; I enjoy a good slang dictionary (ask me for recommendations…) and I am not above a touch of Lee Child.

From the classic shelves: Candide by Voltaire is laugh out loud funny; Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray And one that gets quoted in the show… Pills to Purge Melancholy by Thomas d’Urfey.

  • You’re also an actor, director and politics buff – what do you enjoy most?

You missed writer and lexicographer off the list. Did you notice I didn’t mention any books with my name on the jacket? And I am really getting into blogging about language at the mo. Anyway, to answer your question, whatever’s happening in that moment – except politics. When a performance is flying there is no greater thrill and terror. When you are lost in words… where was I?

  • Who was the bawdiest classical author?

Probably Shakespeare. Once you crack the code of his sexual puns there’s a whole new world of wonder in there. If all you want is in your face shock and awe then the Earl of Rochester is your man. Jane Austen can turn a saucy pun. And the Bible has got some wicked bits and bobs.

Terry Victor performs Well Thumbed on July 4 at the Star Inn. For more information and to book tickets (£7), visit: guildfordfringefestival.com

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