- guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 August 1999 02.46 BST
Early today, the Oscar-nominated director who made the most memorable TV adverts of the 90s, will walk out in front of 1,000, mostly drunk, people at the Edinburgh Festival and attempt to make them laugh - without telling a single joke.
"You must understand, I do not see myself as a comedian," said the man who once sold coal by having a dog, cat and mouse snuggle up together in front of a fire.
"My whole life has been spontaneous. Half an hour before the show I'll probably come up with something. Hopefully, I'll inspire people through laughter. It'll be kind of a self-help group."
Edinburgh audiences, however, are notoriously unforgiving of amateurs. Even hardened professionals have been known to crack. At a similar gig in the wee small hours a week ago, the hugely popular Glaswegian comedian, Phil Kay, failed to raise a titter after watching two stand-ups die on stage before him. "Hold on, I'll be back in a minute," said Kay, before walking off, never to return.
Speaking through his assistant, Julian, Kaye said he was doing the gig to get inside the head of the lead character in his next film: a stand-up comedian/film director who travels to South Africa to find out why a man blew a child's head off.
Kaye is appearing at a benefit show at the Assembly Rooms with the actor John Gordon Sinclair, the ventriloquist David Strassman, and stand-ups Terry Alderton, Owen O'Neill and Greg Fleet. "Because of the rest of the bill, the audience will be expectant of quality. Quite what they will think of me is anyone's guess."
