Curio meets the oldest strip tease act on the Fringe.

Meet The Senile Stripper. San Francisco’s Lynn Ruth Miller is not your average grandmother. 74 years old and not slow at getting undressed, this shocking starlet of the stage has a playful flirt with Curio.

How are you enjoying the Festival?
I love it. It exhilarates me. I feel like I’m 21 years old and I never, ever tire of doing my shows.

Just as well, as I hear you're doing three shows a day.
I have my afternoon show at 1pm. Its my centrepiece, my storytelling show,  An Audience With Lynn Ruth Miller. Its the story of my life but in essence all my shows are. Then at 7pm, I do Absolute Comedy Chaos and finally at 10pm, you can see me sing and strip at Balloney Tunes at ClubWest, Hilton.

Where do you get your energy?
I have e a joke about that: I don't have someone with a full nappy and a drippy nose to look after. I DIVORCED him! But seriously, my energy comes from my love of performing and that’s the truth. I don’t need holidays. I haven’t needed one since I made my life what I wanted it to be, and that started when I was 60.

What or who has inspired you along the way?
There’s a Robert Browning poem that goes: ‘Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be / The last with which the first was live.’ That more than anything sums me up. I’m having the best time I’ve ever had in my life and the reason is because of all the things that have happened to me up till now. Good and bad.

The Edinburgh Festival: good or bad?
I have mortgaged my house to do this but I love it and nothing can be bad if it is this much fun. I love the excitement that comes with this Festival. The fact that there are thousands and thousands of people who’s only concern is creativity. Edinburgh at this time is the only place in the world where everyone is emotionally involved in creating artistic magic.

And the bad?
Acts are so glossy here at Edinburgh now, but that should not be the way. It’s not what the Fringe is about. Those acts have expensive production teams behind them. New and financially poor acts just don’t get a look in.

Seen any good shows while you've been here?
I just saw Under Milk Wood at the Assembly Rooms. Oh my god! Amazing.

How did your performance career start?
Well, I used to be an author and trying to promote my books made me realise I could make people laugh. So I  enrolled in comedy college, and was told that I was the only comedian who could die on stage. Really die on stage.

How do audiences receive you?
I never have anything but good responses. They love it. They find me hysterical. At Ballooney Toons I have a more intimate audience but at the bigger clubs they literally fall apart over my act.

Any last words of advice for us young ones?
Create a dream, go after it and don’t worry if you don’t get there, because it’s the journey that counts.

Lynn Ruth Miller (aka Senile Stripper) stars in An Audience With Lynn Ruth Miller (1pm), Absolute Comedy Chaos (7pm) and Balloney Toons (10pm) at Club West @ Hilton. Show until 27 Aug.

Related links

www.lynnruthmiller.com