The Apprentice

“Maybe you could go along and just really patronise him about his age” suggests the editor of Fest prior to my interview with 18 year old Daniel Sloss. Roughly 90 seconds into Sloss' stage act—one in which he effortlessly outshines his older peers at Edinburgh's Stand comedy club—I realise this angle is doomed to failure and hastily begin to score out questions like "Does your mummy get angry when you say bad words?” and “Who's your favourite character from the Beano?”

Sloss' baby-face and gawky adolescent frame belie the fact that he is already a skilled stand-up with over two years experience of writing (for Frankie Boyle's appearances on Mock the Week, no less) and performing (countless gigs across the UK, not to mention his Fringe appearances). Accepted into Dundee University to study history, Sloss wisely deferred entry after becoming a finalist in the So You Think You're Funny? contest last summer. This year's Fringe sees the debut of his solo show Teenage Kicks, which will no doubt increase the mounting buzz of excitement that has been building during the last year.

Indeed, with only two years left before he leaves his teens, Sloss is keen to exploit the niche label of "teenage comedian" while he can, reasoning that "it's an untapped goldmine of comedy. Older comedians reminisce about being young whereas I can go on stage and go 'guess what I did yesterday' and the audience relate to that, to the darker stuff in their teenage years."

Sloss' early success comes as a result of a mixture of precocious talent and plain luck. Following a chance meeting between his mother and Frankie Boyle at a corporate gig in 2007, Sloss "quite cheekily" asked for work experience and was subsequently taken under the wing by the Glaswegian to begin an apprenticeship of sorts. "During the 2007 festival, I was following him around and watching his shows: he would teach me how to write jokes properly, how to sit yourself down and force yourself to write."

Over the course of this period, he was introduced to successful Fringe acts including Andrew Maxwell and Glenn Wool, and was encouraged to question them about their craft. Like a comedy racehorse, Sloss has been primed from day one to succeed, something reflected in his skilfully executed stage act and his evident sense of feeling at home within the comedy circuit, even as a schoolboy: "If I ever gave a wrong answer in class the teachers would always go 'Is that one of your jokes, Mr Sloss?' No, why would all my jokes be the wrong answer, how fucking shit a comedian do you think I am?"

Further, his unconventional entrance into the world of stand-up—writing jokes for Boyle before going on to perform his own material—has meant he's been fortunate enough to sidestep the invariably daunting prospect of being initiated via a comedy club’s amateur night. "Someone who’s a 16 year old comedian that asks for a gig will be told to fuck off, but the second you mention Frankie Boyle they’re like 'Yeah, we’ll give you a chance.'

"I'm rarely heckled. I don't know whether it's cause people fear that if they heckle me I'll break down and cry on stage. My favourite part of a gig is always walking out on stage at the start and seeing the look of disappointment on everyone's face. It is literally 'Oh shit, it's a child.'"

Surely the combination of fresh-faced youth combined with the usual appeal of stand-ups has opened up a whole world of sexual adventure? "No, not in the fucking slightest. I do have a few fans and stalkers but they are fucking [manly] women." At this point he leans forward, eyes widening in horror: "Like proper beasts."

Sloss continues to describe two of the worst incidences of this he endured while performing at The Stand: "I did a joke about being a virgin and some girl had written on a card: 'Daniel Sloss is the hottest virgin I've ever seen,' and I'm sitting in the audience with my mum. The compere asked who wrote it and this absolute [butch] woman came out going 'BLARGBLARGBLARRR.'

"There's that whole thing about 'if you can make a girl laugh you can make her do anything' – it's fucking lies. I make up to 200 girls laugh at a time when I'm onstage and fuck all happens, it's only middle-aged women that talk to me after gigs for two reasons: either a) they have their mother-nurturing instincts in place or b) they're cougars. My favourite ever chat-up line was from a 38 year old woman and I won't tell you the whole story but the first five words were 'I'm not a paedo, but...'"

Accordingly, it's a little hard not to feel that, despite his obvious talent, Sloss ought perhaps be shielded from the worst that clubs and venues can throw at young comedians. And so, as we finish the interview, I mention speaking to Sloss' unusually protective manager. He looks amused for a moment before admitting that “what she failed to tell you is that my manager is my mum.”

Daniel Sloss - Teenage Kicks Pleasance Dome 8-31 Aug (not 16 or 24), 7.00pm £9.50