The live portion of the Calgary Fringe starts tonight! Here’s an interview I did with the Fringe:

2021 CALGARY FRINGE SUMMER ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

TODAY’S FEATURE ARTIST: Lesley Tsina

SHOW: Lord of the Files https://tickets.calgaryfringe.ca/event/366:18/

WHAT DRIVES YOUR PASSION AS AN ARTIST? My brain is very full at any given moment. It’s crammed with trivia, obsessions, memories of terrible jobs, arguments I did not have or did not win. And in general, I’m too polite to say what I’m thinking a lot of the time. So basically, I do comedy and tell stories to keep my head from exploding.

BIGGEST INFLUENCER(S): Josh Kornbluth, Lauren Weedman and Brian Finkelstein. All great solo performers in different ways. Also, Claudia Shear for writing “Blown Sideways Through Life,” which is just the best solo show title.

SHARE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF WE DON’T KNOW (AND WOULD SURPRISE US TO HEAR): I am the author of a fake oral history of Windows 95 titled “Restart Me Up: The Unauthorized, Un-Accurate Oral History of Windows 95.” I watched the Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston 30-minute infomercial for Windows 95 all the way through, twice, in order to write it. If you have not heard of that, you are…fortunate? Anyway, it’s frighteningly well-researched for a funny book and also quite short, so you should read it.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE BREAKFAST ROUTINE? I feed the cats first (always) and then make instant coffee and toast with some combination of butter/jam/peanut butter/almond butter/honey/mascarpone on it. I eat breakfast in the living room in front of my laptop and get meowed at until I let the cat smell the toast and lick butter off my fingers. Once the cat gets his butter snack, the day can begin.

TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS: go to www.calgaryfringe.ca#yycfringe2021