Otis 'Shaw is one funny guy

Otis Lee Crenshaw has been my favourite at Edinburgh two years running. The fact that he won the Perrier award confirmed my good taste.

He's a very dangerous man because he's been allowed here on the Scottish Prisoners Exchange Programme, having just got out of a bad Southern American jail. He's lived a hard life. Blues singers come round to his house for inspiration. He's got a penchant for women called Brenda and he's extremely handsome with good dress sense - black jeans, a Southern flag bandana. But he's also a sensitive kind of guy who's written darkly humorous songs about the hardship of prison.

He writes songs about prison rape like 'Darling In The Dark He Almost Looks Like You' and another one about stalking which goes - 'they call it stalking/I call it selective walking.' He cares about matters of the heart, especially men cherishing their beloveds. I saw him when a guy who was a scientist was singled out and he told him - 'all those tubes won't keep you warm at night'. He's not all good. He's a difficult man. I met him when I went to buy a CD at the end of the show. He sells them afterwards. He said: "Sure, do you want it signed?" So I said yes. He wrote it to Ariella Flustop.