I LOVE Lucy. Right from the moment she tells me how she recently sped off in the direction of her daughter’s school, only to arrive and realise she’d left the child home alone.

It’s this honesty that the south London-born stand-up brings to her shows, a self-deprecation that’s always funny and endearing.

Now Porter is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe, and is set to tell of her life via Brownie badges.

It’s a clever idea, to relate your past to a set of sewn-on achievement labels.

What of the Brownies? Was she initially happy to be institutionalised and made to wear a uniform of the worst colour imaginable?

“Yes, and this is what the show is really about,” she smiles, while speaking faster than Lewis Hamilton can take a hairpin.

“It’s about my shifting attitudes, from being a keen Brownie to a cynical Guide who couldn’t really understand what all this quasi-fascist semi-religious nonsense was all about.

“And then came the inevitable discovery that I needed something to do. And there was a Scout hut at the end of the road.

“And suddenly I had revised my opinion of what the Guides and the Scouts was really all about.”

Lucy Porter was born in Croydon and studied at Manchester University. Her first stand-up performance was at a club in Chester, based on the belief that, if it went badly, she was so far from home no one would know her.

But it went well, backed by friends of the time such as Johnny Vegas, and she went on to work for Caroline Aherne on Mrs Merton.

Now she’s reflecting on what the Brownies and Guides experience taught her. Was she always prepared?

“Oh no. There was the gig I turned up at without realising it was a literary event, and I was supposed to have read two novels and be ready to interview the authors about their work.

“But I hadn’t read the email properly, and so had to wing it.”

Did she get many badges as a Brownie? “Yes, I got the Entertainer badge, which I got for telling jokes, which, given it was the Eighties, were probably stolen from a highly offensive Jim Davidson Christmas special. Or it could have been a Dave Allen impersonation.”

Did the Brownies and Guides help with an entry into the tough world of stand-up? Is the story true that during her student days she lived in a squalid flat, and outside her little Mini Metro was used by local teenagers as a sex den?

“Yes! It was like a local youth centre on wheels. It was used and abused. They’d also take it for rides and eat fish and chips in it.”

And did the Guides instill Basic Survival skills?

“Oh, yes! I remember once doing a university gig and we were staying at the student union officer’s flat. But the other comic I was sharing the bill with had got off with someone and I was supposed to sleep on this filthy sofa surrounded by beer cans, filthy ashtrays and after-show party paraphernalia.

“But it stank. I couldn’t sleep and I had to listen to the other comic having noisy sex with the student union officer. There was no upside to that.”

How does she balance comedy life with the personal? (She’s married to comic actor Justin Edwards.)

“It’s an absolute disaster,” she says, with a wry smile.

“I’m forever phoning the neighbours and friends asking if they can pick the kids up from school.

And the number of times I’ve sat up all night trying to make a World Book Day costume, because I’ve forgotten and we’re two disorganised performing comedy types.”

She grins: “My daughter will be delighted if I tell you I set off to school the other day without her.

“If you’re headed to school the key thing you need is a child. I had locked her in the house and hadn’t realised it. But the amazing thing was, she wasn’t even fazed. She just knows what I’m like.”

Lucy Porter: Be Prepared, Pleasance Cabaret Bar throughout the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from July 31 to August 17.

I LOVE Lucy. Right from the moment she tells me how she recently sped off in the direction of her daughter’s school, only to arrive and realise she’d left the child home alone.

It’s this honesty that the south London-born stand-up brings to her shows, a self-deprecation that’s always funny and endearing.

Now Porter is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe, and is set to tell of her life via Brownie badges. It’s a clever idea, to relate your past to a set of sewn-on achievement labels, and offers a chance to reflect on personal development and, more importantly, to consider how our impressions change over time.

regrets. And I’m glad this is what I do.”

Porter adds with a grin: “At least nowadays I have a bed for the night. Although clearly there has to be something wrong with you, a mish-mash of flaws and insecurities, to want to become a stand-up in the first place.

How does she balance comedy life with the personal? (She’s married to comic actor Justin Edwards.)

“It’s an absolute disaster,” she says, with a wry smile. “I’m forever phoning the neighbours and friends asking if they can pick the kids up from school, or if they can keep an eye on them for 15 minutes. They save me. And the number of times I’ve sat up all night trying to make a World Book Day costume, because I’ve forgotten and we’re two disorganised performing comedy types.”

A Brownie badge in Perfect Mothering hasn’t been earned yet. “We want our children to have more of a calm, ordered organised life. Less chaotic. But who knows?”

She grins: “My daughter will be delighted if I tell you I set off to school the other day without her.

“If you’re headed to school the key thing you need is a child. I had locked her in the house and hadn’t realised it. But the amazing thing was, she wasn’t even fazed. She just knows what I’m like.”

Porter pauses to weigh up her life and career choice.

“I’ve been thinking more recently about why people go into comedy. Some want to be like rock stars, and get off with people. Some want to be preachers, to tell others how to live their lives.”

Her voice becomes a little Joyce Grenfell. “But I think I’ve gone into comedy to become a Brown Owl, to tell people to do their best, work jolly hard – and just be rather proud of themselves.”

Lucy Porter: Be Prepared, Pleasance Cabaret Bar throughout the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from July 31 to August 17. For ticket information visit www.edfringe.com and

www.pleasance.co.ukregrets. And I’m glad this is what I do.”

Porter adds with a grin: “At least nowadays I have a bed for the night. Although clearly there has to be something wrong with you, a mish-mash of flaws and insecurities, to want to become a stand-up in the first place.

How does she balance comedy life with the personal? (She’s married to comic actor Justin Edwards.)

“It’s an absolute disaster,” she says, with a wry smile. “I’m forever phoning the neighbours and friends asking if they can pick the kids up from school, or if they can keep an eye on them for 15 minutes. They save me. And the number of times I’ve sat up all night trying to make a World Book Day costume, because I’ve forgotten and we’re two disorganised performing comedy types.”

A Brownie badge in Perfect Mothering hasn’t been earned yet. “We want our children to have more of a calm, ordered organised life. Less chaotic. But who knows?”

She grins: “My daughter will be delighted if I tell you I set off to school the other day without her.

“If you’re headed to school the key thing you need is a child. I had locked her in the house and hadn’t realised it. But the amazing thing was, she wasn’t even fazed. She just knows what I’m like.”

Porter pauses to weigh up her life and career choice.

“I’ve been thinking more recently about why people go into comedy. Some want to be like rock stars, and get off with people. Some want to be preachers, to tell others how to live their lives.”

Her voice becomes a little Joyce Grenfell. “But I think I’ve gone into comedy to become a Brown Owl, to tell people to do their best, work jolly hard – and just be rather proud of themselves.”

Lucy Porter: Be Prepared, Pleasance Cabaret Bar throughout the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from July 31 to August 17. For ticket information visit www.edfringe.com and www.pleasance.co.uk