The Big Ask: What track do you come on to and why?

I walk on to Rebel Rebel by David Bowie. It’s part of a playlist that I use to make me look cool when it’s really just the soundtrack of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, 2003. Sarah Keyworth, Dark Horse, Pleasance Courtyard 17:30

Respect by Aretha Franklin. We've looped the bit that goes, 'sock it to me'. For obvious reasons. Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre: Superheroes, Gilded Balloon, 22:30

I sing my own walk-on music this year as I can’t remember my iTunes password. Matt Winning, Matt Winning: Climate Strange, Just The Tonic at The Mash House, 17:00

Bras in Pocket obvs! Charmian Hughes: Bra Trek, Laughing Horse @ The Counting House

Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac, because it's angry and about unresolved personal issues. You don't need to be told why. Alexander Bennett,: Housewives' Favourite, Waverley Bar, 19:30

Death Rattle Blues by The Hungry Ghosts - it's my very good friend's band and it relaxes me Pierre Novellie, See Novellie, Hear Novellie, Speak Novellie, Pleasance Courtyard, 19:15

Girls Girls Girls by Mötley Crüe coz it's a really good song, lots of energy. Mötley Crüe are total badasses - did you see the sex tape where Tommy's on a boat with Pamela Anderson and he honks the boat horn with his boner? V cool. UK comedy has too many Coldplays and not enough Mötley Crües. Leo Kearse, Right Wing Comedian, Espionage, 19:30

Slave to the Rythm (Glimmer Twins Remix) by Dame Shirley Bassey. It's the right mix of anticipation, sexiness and high camp. Sam Fraser, Stand Up, Weather Girl!, Laughing Horse @ The Counting House , 19:45

In the spirit of #realtalk, I'll admit that as I write this, I haven't yet picked a walk-on track. However! I am leaning heavily toward Power by Little Mix, in large part because, in the immortal words of Amber Von Tussel (from the original John Waters' film Hairspray): 'It's got a good beat and you can dance to it!' Furthermore, the corresponding music video (I still watch music videos) is so blatantly sexual as to be laughable. I have genuinely laughed aloud at how close to the surface the 'This is what we'd look like if you fucked us!' subtext is of their various dance moves. And a laughably sexy song that, for me, evokes a John Waters' film from the 1980s? I *mean*. Come *on*. That, to me, is the ideal centre of any Venn diagram. Sara Barron , Sara Barron: For Worse, The Tron , 15:40

This year it is Eddie and the Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do, because it is so uplifiting and reminds me why I do this job. Elf Lyons, Elf Lyons: ChiffChaff, Pleasance Dome,18:50

Generic Hip-Hop Jazz. Royalty free. Copyright reasons. Christy & Mark, Sisters: On Demand., Pleasance Courtyard. That., 10:58

The theme song from The Bill because you forget how damn funky it is. Lee Apsey, CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation, Underbelly Bristo Square, 15:35

Currently I walk on to that Pearl and Dean track because my show is about movies. It's not clever but it is very functional. Richard Soames: Let's Make a Movie, Underbelly Buttercup, 15:55

Every year I have walked on to a different song by Sean Paul, because he is the party king. I try to pick a song that is related to what my show's about. Last year the show was about legalising drugs, so I walked on to We Be Burnin. This year it's about sex, so I guess I could pick any of his other songs. Jack Barry: Tango, Globe Bar, 20:30

Happiness by the Pointer Sisters. It's about happiness, like my show. I can do lots of silly things to it. Plus it's a bloody good tune. Lisa Klevemark, Lemons, The Place, 12:30

This year i'm walking onto my two-year-old daughter's voice, as the show is about the balance between comedy and family. Scot Bennett: Leap Year, Just The Tonic At The Mash House, 17:55

Public Enemy: Fight The Power. Because Elvis never meant shit to them. Che Burnley, Elvis Was Racist?, Bar Basis, 21:30

I'm coming on to a song called Pigeon Man by my friend the self destructive comedy genius/waste of space Si Buglass. He wrote it years before I knew him and it is about a man who feeds the pigeons but has died. It is oddly haunting. Lee Kyle - Kicking Potatoes Into The Sea, City Cafe, 10:20

I walk on to Paper Planes by MIA because it’s basically the title of my show, and you can’t subvert every expectation, because then you wouldn’t be subverting expectations because everyone would expect you to subvert expectations and then that’s an expectation isn’t it? John Luke Roberts, All I Wanna Do Is [FX: GUNSHOTS] With a [FX: GUN RELOADING] and [FX: CASH REGISTER] and Perform Some Comedy!, Assembly George Square, 17:30

The Circle of Life from The Lion King. I like that the lyrics - "there's more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done" subtly reminds the audience of the hubris of doing a one-man nature documentary and prepares them for the inevitability of its failure to represent the entirety of the animal kingdom in an hour. Luke Rollason's Planet Earth, Monkey Barrel Comedy Club, 14:30

For many years it was Blondie's One Way Or Another, which just had a nice build-up to get the audience's attention, followed by a big kick for you to put the lights down. Very unsentimental but it got the job done. This year I'm changing the formula and walking on to Conchita Wurst's Rise Like A Phoenix'. The show's about Europe and as that's my favourite Eurovision winner it seemed fitting.Kieran Hodgson: '75, Pleasance Beneath, 20:15

You're The Best by Joe Esposito from the film The Karate Kid. It's The Stuntman favourite motivational song, which always makes me laugh, and actually drops the show right into its context of who The Stuntman thinks he is performing to. Nathan Lang, The Stuntman, Just The Tonic @ The Caves (Just Up The Stairs), 14:45

How far I'll go' from the Moana soundtrack. Because it's an absolute banger of a tune, but also because my six-year-old co-writer says I have to. Owen Roberts, Owen Roberts: I Let A Six Year Old Write My Show, Pleasance, 16:45

Published: 10 Aug 2018