Who knew writing a blog about Edinburgh could be so tiresome. Had I been able to do it as we went along, it would've been so much easier. Stupid illness!!
Right. So. To the last weekend of the fringe we go.
Friday 27 August
Bit of a weird day. We felt pretty rough, so didn't actually make it to the first two shows we were booked to see. Oops. Soldiered on to Thomas Craine at the Pleasance. Amusing enough, but not massively impressed. He was amiable enough but didn't seem to have much material. Hmm. Weird one. Then to Jason Byrne at Assembly. It was one of those gigs where you laugh your arse off, but then have absolutely no recollection of anything that was said. All I remember is some folk getting hauled onto the stage to do aerobics with him. I feel sure there was more to it than that. And finally to the Dome for Alex Horne's Taskmaster. Pretty good fun, despite the unexpected absence of Mark Watson due to illness. Some drunken antics, notably by Sir Tim, and a very late finish, but - worthwhile.
Saturday 28 August
A bit of a mixed bag of a day, as will become clear shortly. Went to see Steve Pretty first off. The show was pretty good, though there was a rather annoying amount of audience participation, which I never particularly like, and in this case it took the form of a football chant, which was yet more annoying. Then later Jarlath Regan, who was funny, and his show was enjoyable generally, but he has an odd fan base. It seemed to be almost exclusively loudmouthed chavvy couples in their 40s and 50s who seemed like they'd stumbled in on their way to Jim Davidson or some such pish. Very strange, and a bit unsettling.
Then to what was, in my view, one of the gigs of the month. TRIPOD!!!!! I'd been looking forward to this one for ages and it didn't disappoint in any way. I bloody love Tripod. The inclusion of a (gasp) GIRL in this show could have buggered things up, but she was also awesome. Whole thing = awesomeness. Plus, they remembered us, which was coolio. Did I mention that I BLOODY LOVE TRIPOD?
We raced off afterwards as we had tickets for Axis of Awesome late show, and the rumour was that Minchin would be appearing tonight. That turned out not to be the case, and other than Pappy's, we'd never heard of the guests. Pappy's were fun. The second guy, whose name now escapes me, was appalling, but at least he knew he was appalling and had the good grace to slink off looking embarrassed. And then...oh lord. The last guest was someone called Sam Simmons, who I'd never heard of before, and hope I never will again. He came on the stage looking like a the paedophile twin of Timmy Mallett, and then proceeded, as his whole act, to smash taco shells all over himself and the audience, and then pour sauce all over himself. Disgusting enough, as the entire room now fucking stank, but - seriously. What a cock. Me and Adam and Linzy and Shell were all in the front row, clearly not laughing, much like most of the people we could see around us, but for some reason this twat picked out Adam and started having a go at him for not laughing (coming out with the oh-so-hilarious-and-original 'goth' insults -which is pretty lazy considering none of us are, or ever were, goths...) He wouldn't let it go and started trying to goad Adam into punching him (I wouldn't have had to be asked twice, personally, but A was thankfully more restrained). Anyway, after some pointless faffing about, incitements to fight and then acting like the little injured soldier, Mr Simmons fucked off behind the curtain. After the gig ended, we were talking to Lee and he said the guy wouldn't leave til Adam did...what did he think was going to happen? If Adam wouldn't punch him in the face when invited, he's hardly likely to do it as an afterthought.
We were still standing in the downstairs foyer when he left, and of course he couldn't just let it lie, so he tried to talk to Adam again and apologise - though, least sincere apology ever, which certainly didn't change anyone's mind.
The fact is, if your entire act has to hinge around slagging people off who aren't enjoying your act, perhaps it's time to, you know, get a better act. Harrassing them and making everyone uncomfortable isn't a great way of getting them to change their mind about you. The guy basically ruined what had been, generally, a good night - and all he's really done is make sure that, in future, if we hear his name, we'll remember what a total tool he was, instead of just thinking, ah yeah, he wasn't our cup of tea.
Mr Simmons is everything that is bad about comedy and humans. If you want people to like your act, be funny, or at least be amiable. Don't challenge your audience (who, remember, in this case, were not actually there to see YOU) to a fight, don't cover them in stinking taco sauce that makes their clothes smell and their eyes burn, and don't be so arrogant as to assume that if someone isn't laughing, it's because they don't get you. It's simply that you are a terrible, terrible comedian and an unpleasant human.
Sunday 29 August
Thankfully we still had the Sunday, cos we'd have felt pretty fucked off if our last show of the festival had been that one. First, Nat Luurtsema, who we'd seen only briefly last year at the Twitter comedy club. She was quite a revelation. Excellent show, very funny, very inclusive, and clever. Enjoyed it a lot and will definitely be going to see her next year (if she's on).
Then Reg D Hunter. I've never been a massive fan, as I think he's very one dimensional - yes, you're black, we get it, now move on. I don't really like any comedian who only has one topic of conversation. But Adam likes him, and so does my sister, who was with us. I have to say I was pretty bored throughout. He seems a decent guy, and perfectly likeable, but I KNOW... you're BLACK. Understood. What else ya got??
Last show of the festival thankfully was an awesome one - David O'Doherty. As with Jason Byrne, can't now recall anything he did or said, but I do remember laughing my arse off and that he is awesome.
So generally a good fringe. Mostly good shows, though the ones that weren't good were really bloody awful. A few new finds, and a couple of definitely-must-avoids.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Friday, 22 October 2010
Belated next Edinburgh bit
Man, it's been ages. But I've been poorly sick.
To be honest, I can't be arsed to go through every remaining show in tons of detail, so for some of them I might not bother. Sorry about this frankly piss-poor level of commitment.
Saturday 21 August
First, to the tiny grubby rock pub that is Bannermans, for Andrew Collins 'Secret Dancing'. Enjoyed this a lot, it was quite a low key affair but often those are the best!
Then shortly afterwards, to the GRV for the Collings and Herrin podcast. Sitting at the front for such things is always risky, but that's half the fun. Adam's mum and sister were with us, making it doubly so. Herrin was drawn almost immediately to A's mum, and to cut a long story short, Herrin planned to marry her so that he could be a 'caring' (ie pervy) stepfather to us all. Lovely.
Then later on to the Assembly for Richard Herring's own show, 'Christ on a Bike'. This was probably one of the highlights of the whole festival for me, what a brilliant show. Herring just gets better and better with age, like a fine wine or Johnny Depp.
Final show of the day was Andrew Maxwell at the Assembly and by this time we were flagging, and boiling hot, and his show was late starting, so maybe I wasn't quite in the mood for it. He was as funny as ever, with some great improvisation around the castle fireworks that kept disrupting his train of thought, but sitting in the roasting, uncomfortable venue with my legs nearly breaking from the lack of space, I just wasn't properly up for it. Same show in a comfier environment would have been ace.
Sunday 22 August
First show of the day, at the Gilded Balloon, was Helen Keen. I had only seen her briefly before, as a guest at a Robin Ince gig during the Science Festival, but her show was brilliant. Very shambolic but endearingly so. I'd definitely go again.
Then Paul Merton's Impro Chums at the Pleasance. Predictably good, as it always is, but perhaps the move this year to the Grand has taken a bit of the atmosphere away, as it didn't seem quite as much fun as usual. I've not enjoyed anything really at the Grand this year, it's just such a crappy barn of a venue. Mental note : avoid.
We then went to the Underbelly, taking a punt on Keith Farnan 'Sex Traffic', as a result of seeing him briefly on Calman Chats Up. The show was actually very good and funny, and Keith is charming. Didn't get much reaction from the crowd, which was a shame, but I'd go and see him again too.
Then to the Gilded Balloon for Axis of Awesome 'Songs in the Key of Awesome' - rescheduled from last week. Well worth the wait. Another of my favourite shows of the month. The 'Love Song' song is, for me, the best thing they've ever done. Just brilliant. They remembered us as well, which was nice!
Last show of the day was Sammy J 'Skinny Man, Modern World' which was amazing, although the burger story was not for the faint hearted. Sammy is incredibly funny but also a little unsettling, which makes me like him all the more. You never quite know what's coming. But, fantastic.
Monday 23 August
Over to Edinburgh early to go to a tiny bookshop for Richard Herring doing readings from 'How Not to Grow Up' which was, of course, hilarious. And what more could a girl want from her pervy stepdad than a drawing of a spunking cock in the front of her book?
We then went down to the Caves for what, I am afraid, turned out to be the most appalling, abysmal, piss poor excuse for a comedy show I can remember since seeing Gary le Strange about 6 years ago. The Ginge, The Geordie and the Geek. Hard to know where to start with this one. But I'll keep it (reasonably) short. Within moments of them appearing on the stage, I ferociously hated every single one of them. Rarely do you see a group of people so utterly charmless and devoid of any talent whatsoever. I could forgive them for not being funny - it's a hard job. But I couldn't forgive them for being so lazy, unfocused and utterly peurile. They seemed to have no idea who their intended audience was. Adults? Not with the piss-poor, childish 'material'. children? Not with the fairly regular swearing and (I'm retching at the thought) nudity. So who were they for? Nobody, including them, knows. To give an example of how well thought out their sketches were - two of them sitting, apparently at a bus stop - one says to the other, is that the 38 coming? The third one walks by wearing a large foam 38 on his head. Much hilarity ensues. And sadly, much hilarity DID ensue, because about 98% of the audience were vacuous fuckwits. Had we not been right on the inside of a very tightly packed row, we'd have left. So instead I got a pad out of my bag and pretended to be a reviewer, just so I didn't have to look at the car crash unfolding on the stage. This show had, inexplicably, sold out every date and extra ones had been added. This mass societal fuckwittery on a gargantuan scale can only serve to explain the popularity of John Bishop, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Peter Kay, and Kevin Bridges. I honestly wished the venue would blow up just so it would end.
We had tickets for three other shows, but we weren't feeling too good, and the previous hour had sucked any shred of good humour out of us, so we headed home for a lie down.
Tuesday 24 August
First, to the Caves for Goring & Stokes 'Nerds of a Feather'. Stokes reminded me a bit of Brian Cox, so I was onside pretty much straightaway. His delivery was very reserved, but he was funny, and affable. Goring a bit less so - I think he was trying too hard to be a bit 'zany' and even the concept of zany makes me want to pull out my own eyes, so...yeah. Half good!
Then to the Pleasance for Ginger & Black who I'd heard lots of good things about, but never seen. They turned out to be pretty awesome. Their show had just the right balance of humour and misery, and I recommended it to several people after, as the crowd hadn't been that big and it definitely deserved better. Will look out for them again next year.
Staying in the Pleasance, it was Tim Fitzhigham 'Gentleman Adventurer' next. Some of the material was recycled from previous shows, but it's quite hard to say anything bad about Sir Tim. So I won't. It was fun.
Then back to the Caves for Tiernan Douieb 'Littlest Things'. I love Tiernan. His show was lovely, and funny, and had a good mix of trivial and personal material. At the end I felt quite emotional. A really lovely show, and lovely to have a drink with him after (also with Glenn Wool and Lady Carol).
We should have ended the evening there, but we had tickets for Josie Long's 'Monsters of Whimsy'. It really wasn't worth hanging about for. I don't mind a disorganised gig, but it was basically a shambolic gathering of all of Josie's mates, none of whom, it seemed, had any discernible comedy talent. We sat through three of them, I think, and they were utter pants. Also, the venue was boiling, and I began to feel sick. I snuck out, and when I didn't come back, Adam snuck out to come and find me, and apparently Josie had a go at him for leaving. She's really not been her formerly pleasant, affable self this year. Don't think we'll bother again.
More later.
To be honest, I can't be arsed to go through every remaining show in tons of detail, so for some of them I might not bother. Sorry about this frankly piss-poor level of commitment.
Saturday 21 August
First, to the tiny grubby rock pub that is Bannermans, for Andrew Collins 'Secret Dancing'. Enjoyed this a lot, it was quite a low key affair but often those are the best!
Then shortly afterwards, to the GRV for the Collings and Herrin podcast. Sitting at the front for such things is always risky, but that's half the fun. Adam's mum and sister were with us, making it doubly so. Herrin was drawn almost immediately to A's mum, and to cut a long story short, Herrin planned to marry her so that he could be a 'caring' (ie pervy) stepfather to us all. Lovely.
Then later on to the Assembly for Richard Herring's own show, 'Christ on a Bike'. This was probably one of the highlights of the whole festival for me, what a brilliant show. Herring just gets better and better with age, like a fine wine or Johnny Depp.
Final show of the day was Andrew Maxwell at the Assembly and by this time we were flagging, and boiling hot, and his show was late starting, so maybe I wasn't quite in the mood for it. He was as funny as ever, with some great improvisation around the castle fireworks that kept disrupting his train of thought, but sitting in the roasting, uncomfortable venue with my legs nearly breaking from the lack of space, I just wasn't properly up for it. Same show in a comfier environment would have been ace.
Sunday 22 August
First show of the day, at the Gilded Balloon, was Helen Keen. I had only seen her briefly before, as a guest at a Robin Ince gig during the Science Festival, but her show was brilliant. Very shambolic but endearingly so. I'd definitely go again.
Then Paul Merton's Impro Chums at the Pleasance. Predictably good, as it always is, but perhaps the move this year to the Grand has taken a bit of the atmosphere away, as it didn't seem quite as much fun as usual. I've not enjoyed anything really at the Grand this year, it's just such a crappy barn of a venue. Mental note : avoid.
We then went to the Underbelly, taking a punt on Keith Farnan 'Sex Traffic', as a result of seeing him briefly on Calman Chats Up. The show was actually very good and funny, and Keith is charming. Didn't get much reaction from the crowd, which was a shame, but I'd go and see him again too.
Then to the Gilded Balloon for Axis of Awesome 'Songs in the Key of Awesome' - rescheduled from last week. Well worth the wait. Another of my favourite shows of the month. The 'Love Song' song is, for me, the best thing they've ever done. Just brilliant. They remembered us as well, which was nice!
Last show of the day was Sammy J 'Skinny Man, Modern World' which was amazing, although the burger story was not for the faint hearted. Sammy is incredibly funny but also a little unsettling, which makes me like him all the more. You never quite know what's coming. But, fantastic.
Monday 23 August
Over to Edinburgh early to go to a tiny bookshop for Richard Herring doing readings from 'How Not to Grow Up' which was, of course, hilarious. And what more could a girl want from her pervy stepdad than a drawing of a spunking cock in the front of her book?
We then went down to the Caves for what, I am afraid, turned out to be the most appalling, abysmal, piss poor excuse for a comedy show I can remember since seeing Gary le Strange about 6 years ago. The Ginge, The Geordie and the Geek. Hard to know where to start with this one. But I'll keep it (reasonably) short. Within moments of them appearing on the stage, I ferociously hated every single one of them. Rarely do you see a group of people so utterly charmless and devoid of any talent whatsoever. I could forgive them for not being funny - it's a hard job. But I couldn't forgive them for being so lazy, unfocused and utterly peurile. They seemed to have no idea who their intended audience was. Adults? Not with the piss-poor, childish 'material'. children? Not with the fairly regular swearing and (I'm retching at the thought) nudity. So who were they for? Nobody, including them, knows. To give an example of how well thought out their sketches were - two of them sitting, apparently at a bus stop - one says to the other, is that the 38 coming? The third one walks by wearing a large foam 38 on his head. Much hilarity ensues. And sadly, much hilarity DID ensue, because about 98% of the audience were vacuous fuckwits. Had we not been right on the inside of a very tightly packed row, we'd have left. So instead I got a pad out of my bag and pretended to be a reviewer, just so I didn't have to look at the car crash unfolding on the stage. This show had, inexplicably, sold out every date and extra ones had been added. This mass societal fuckwittery on a gargantuan scale can only serve to explain the popularity of John Bishop, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Peter Kay, and Kevin Bridges. I honestly wished the venue would blow up just so it would end.
We had tickets for three other shows, but we weren't feeling too good, and the previous hour had sucked any shred of good humour out of us, so we headed home for a lie down.
Tuesday 24 August
First, to the Caves for Goring & Stokes 'Nerds of a Feather'. Stokes reminded me a bit of Brian Cox, so I was onside pretty much straightaway. His delivery was very reserved, but he was funny, and affable. Goring a bit less so - I think he was trying too hard to be a bit 'zany' and even the concept of zany makes me want to pull out my own eyes, so...yeah. Half good!
Then to the Pleasance for Ginger & Black who I'd heard lots of good things about, but never seen. They turned out to be pretty awesome. Their show had just the right balance of humour and misery, and I recommended it to several people after, as the crowd hadn't been that big and it definitely deserved better. Will look out for them again next year.
Staying in the Pleasance, it was Tim Fitzhigham 'Gentleman Adventurer' next. Some of the material was recycled from previous shows, but it's quite hard to say anything bad about Sir Tim. So I won't. It was fun.
Then back to the Caves for Tiernan Douieb 'Littlest Things'. I love Tiernan. His show was lovely, and funny, and had a good mix of trivial and personal material. At the end I felt quite emotional. A really lovely show, and lovely to have a drink with him after (also with Glenn Wool and Lady Carol).
We should have ended the evening there, but we had tickets for Josie Long's 'Monsters of Whimsy'. It really wasn't worth hanging about for. I don't mind a disorganised gig, but it was basically a shambolic gathering of all of Josie's mates, none of whom, it seemed, had any discernible comedy talent. We sat through three of them, I think, and they were utter pants. Also, the venue was boiling, and I began to feel sick. I snuck out, and when I didn't come back, Adam snuck out to come and find me, and apparently Josie had a go at him for leaving. She's really not been her formerly pleasant, affable self this year. Don't think we'll bother again.
More later.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Edinburgh - Next Bit
And so, in the wake of the Killer Crabs musical, weekend two of fringe fun came around. Though it was really more than a weekend.
Saturday 14 August
First off, it was Robin Ince's lunchtime show "Carl Sagan is Still my God" at the Canon's Gait which, as expected, was awesome. He had Barry and Stuart, the weird magicians, and Helen Arney as guests - all good though it was maybe a bit early in the day for face-nails and throat-slitting. Robin was manic and excited and ranty in his normal fashion, and it was a good start to the day. Excellent.
Then, to the Stand for Jason Cook's "The End (Part One)". He's never disappointed in the past, and he certainly didn't this time either. Among other things, he talked about how his wife is out of his league and how so many men get women that they really know are too good for them. Cue discussion later with Adam about this, although I often think the reverse. I suppose he is just a glutton for punishment. Impossible to leave a Jason show in a bad mood, and I'm looking forward to seeing the show again in Glasgow later in the year.
And then things went a little downhill for the rest of the evening. Went to the Caves to see Josie Long's "Be Honourable" and, sadly, it was rather disappointing. I've always enjoyed her shows in the past but this year she seems to have lost it a bit. It wasn't a terrible show, and there were glimmers of the Josie of the past, but considering how good some of her previous shows have been, it felt a bit flat. The whole chavvy astronaut bit she started with went on way too long and after that it took a while for the rest of the show to get going. I feel bad saying this, as I've always liked her but...maybe she's losing a little bit of the 'niceness' that always made her so endearing. More on this in the next blog instalment, as we did see her again. Briefly.
And I could write almost exactly the same about the last show of the day - Stephen K Amos' "The Best Medicine". I've seen him quite a few times and know he is a funny, likeable man, but on this occasion, having sold out the Pleasance Grand for most of the run, I felt he wasn't putting the effort in to come up with anything new. It was like, I've sold out a big venue and I've got a TV show, so screw you...again, some glimmers of the good stuff, but mostly predictable, recycled material, clearly staged 'random audience participation' and an unnecessary, rather stupid, finale. The title of the show should be changed to "The Best Homeopathic Medicine", as you knew there had once been something funny in there, but it had been diluted down so much that there was hardly the vaguest memory of comedy in it. Disappointing.
Thankfully the last show of the day saved it - Axis of Awesome and Friends at the Gilded Balloon. Hadn't originally intended to go to this til the last weekend, but when I saw Tripod were among the guests, it was a necessity. Morgan and West (magicians) and Baba Brinkman were on too, so it was a pretty cool line up. There were singalongs, competitions (for which Adam almost got flung out by a bouncer) and general arsing about - much fun. Tripod were awesome obviously and, aside from that, the highlight for me was Axis' 'How to Write a Love Song'. I haven't yet got tired of hearing it.
Sunday 15 August
This could have turned out to be a washout of a day, had not the last show of the evening saved it. More of that in a moment.
First, to the Caves for Wil Hodgson's "Punkanory". Bit of a weird one. He was amusing enough, but his laid back manner made it feel a bit more like a hungover chat than a comedy show. Some good concepts and lines, but I wasn't a fan of the delivery. Also, a man in front of me was laughing in such a retarded fashion, at the most inopportune moments, that I was frequently distracted.
We then went to the Gilded Balloon for Axis of Awesome's "Songs in the Key of Awesome", only to find out that Benny had lost his voice and so the show was cancelled. With no way of getting to anything else decent with such short notice, we ended up just hanging round for ages and getting a bit fed up.
Luckily, the last show of the day was Mark Watson's "Do I Know You?" at Assembly, which totally made up for earlier rubbishness. We knew it would be good when, on entering the hall, we saw Mark standing onstage typing messages to (and about) the crowd as they came in. Very clever! The rest of the show was all killer, no filler, as the cool kids said in the 80s. Consistently hilarious throughout. Nice to have a chat with Mark afterwards as well.
We were now off work til the end of the Fringe, so I'll do the next few days in this blog as well.
Monday 16 August
An early start to go to the filming of "The Unbelievable Truth" at Princes St Gardens. Hosted by David Mitchell, and featuring Rhod Gilbert, Lucy Porter, Tom Wrigglesworth and, sadly, Kevin Bridges (who, as anyone who knows me will realise, I can't stand). Rhod and Tom (and David) did most of the talking, which was just as well. Kevin Bridges was clearly miles out of his depth, with no ability to make humourous responses, or indeed say or do anything amusing in the whole two hours. His rocketing to stardom is a source of total bewilderment to me. A mystery. I don't even find his prepared and rehearsed material funny, so I don't know why I'd think he'd be any better off the cuff. Despite his inclusion, though, a funny way to spend the afternoon.
Then, Susan Calman's "Desperately Seeking Susan" at the Underbelly. Seen Susan quite a few times, always fun, no exception this time. Her show was about an obituary she'd written for herself and an examination of the things she'd written in it. Mostly it was funny, sometimes thought-provoking, and sometimes just downright daft. A touching moment at the end when she welled up just before leaving the stage. Sweet.
We then headed up to the Assembly bar for a couple of drinks, and who should come and sit beside us but Yonnie from Tripod and his wife. So we sat and talked to them for an hour or so before going to see Gutted: A Revenger's Musical (mainly on the basis of Michael Legge being in it). Awe. Some. I'd expected it, for some reason, to be a bit shambolic, but all the performances were great (including Michael, who actually sang and danced - Michael, where is the ranty anger??) Also in it were the Penny Dreadfuls, who I'd heard of but never seen, and their awesomeness in it made me buy tickets to their show next day. The whole thing was fab and I recommended it to everyone I spoke to in the following days.
Tuesday 17 August
My birthday, but there was no time to think about that, so I didn't. Off to Assembly for a one-off recording of Richard Herring's 'As It Occurs To Me'. It was, as you might expect, a hilarious shambles, given that he'd still been writing it in the early hours of the morning, but still one of the funniest hours of the festival. I still laugh when I think of Richard referring to 'Mohammed off of Islam'.
Then to the Pleasance for the recording of "Just a Minute". Unfortunately, none of the guests on this occasion particularly appealed to me, and Adam then told me he hated the concept of the programme as well, so it was never going to be the best hour. It was mildly amusing, which is the best that can be said of it.
Still better, though, than "News Revue" which was appalling and made me want to claw my own eyes out. I understand the concept of a Revue, but perhaps I'm getting too old now for teenage drama student brats. They were supremely slappable, their ideas were cliched and predictable, it was just a quite horrible hour.
I was glad when I could escape and hoof it back up to the Assembly for Chris Addison. His show was a joy. No groundbreaking topics or astonishing new pespectives, but just plain funny and enjoyable. Can't even remember anything he talked about, I just remember laughing my arse off pretty constantly throughout. Though I do remember Kate Copstick from the Scotsman getting in a tizzy because there was an empty seat in front of her and she didn't want to be seen. May I suggest, then, not having a massive curly hairdo that can most likely be seen from space?
Final show of the day was "Karaoke Circus" which had been hyped up to the bollocks but (in my opinion) didn't live up to it. There were some amusing moments but generally I found it a bit dull, and suspect it's probably best enjoyed while pished. I wasn't, and Adam wasn't feeling well, and the prospect of another hour of it didn't enthrall us, so we left at the interval.
Wednesday 18 August
Bit of a rare lie in, and then to the Gilded Balloon for Baba Brinkman's "Rap Guide to Human Nature". More interesting and clever than funny, though with some comical bits, the most awesome thing about it was Baba's ability to rap off the cuff using suggestions from the audience. Enjoyed it a lot.
Then back to the Pleasance for the Penny Dreadfuls as a result of seeing them in Gutted. So much fun. Why is it that comedy trios always have to have a tall nerdy one, a middle sized one and a little weird one? Still, it worked for them. The three of them worked perfectly together, the sketches were cleverly written and well acted. Sketch comedy at its best. (I was to find out later in the month that sketch comedy is not always this good). Their 'Twilight' sketch was hilarious, even to someone who's never seen the films or know anything about them (i.e. me).
Then to the Festival Theatre for Stewart Lee's "Silver Stewbilee". Felt a bit cheated by this one to be honest as the only bits of it I really enjoyed were Stewart's own stand up (which I'd seen last week), Bridget Christie (who I'd seen last week) and a minute-long shouty intrusion by Richard Herring, rampaging onstage to tear up Stewart Lee's book. The rest of it wasn't my thing at all - found the guests dull (Kevin Eldon, Simon Munnery, some other bloke) and, although the surprise appearance of Franz Ferdinand sent most of the crowd mental, it was a big giant yawn from me, for I loathe them. The finale of the Frank Chickens doing a couple of numbers, with Stew dancing with them at the end, was the main saviour, but I still felt I could have seen a couple of decent shows in the same time for the same money. Live and learn.
Finally, to the Pleasance for Tim Key's "Slutcracker", a show he did last year but I never saw. Enjoyed it, as Tim's manner is pleasant and he's easy to listen to, with just the right amount of silliness without crossing over into puerile. I'd go and see him again.
That's all for now. Too much blogging is dull, for both the writer and the reader. Next bit to come in a few days.
Saturday 14 August
First off, it was Robin Ince's lunchtime show "Carl Sagan is Still my God" at the Canon's Gait which, as expected, was awesome. He had Barry and Stuart, the weird magicians, and Helen Arney as guests - all good though it was maybe a bit early in the day for face-nails and throat-slitting. Robin was manic and excited and ranty in his normal fashion, and it was a good start to the day. Excellent.
Then, to the Stand for Jason Cook's "The End (Part One)". He's never disappointed in the past, and he certainly didn't this time either. Among other things, he talked about how his wife is out of his league and how so many men get women that they really know are too good for them. Cue discussion later with Adam about this, although I often think the reverse. I suppose he is just a glutton for punishment. Impossible to leave a Jason show in a bad mood, and I'm looking forward to seeing the show again in Glasgow later in the year.
And then things went a little downhill for the rest of the evening. Went to the Caves to see Josie Long's "Be Honourable" and, sadly, it was rather disappointing. I've always enjoyed her shows in the past but this year she seems to have lost it a bit. It wasn't a terrible show, and there were glimmers of the Josie of the past, but considering how good some of her previous shows have been, it felt a bit flat. The whole chavvy astronaut bit she started with went on way too long and after that it took a while for the rest of the show to get going. I feel bad saying this, as I've always liked her but...maybe she's losing a little bit of the 'niceness' that always made her so endearing. More on this in the next blog instalment, as we did see her again. Briefly.
And I could write almost exactly the same about the last show of the day - Stephen K Amos' "The Best Medicine". I've seen him quite a few times and know he is a funny, likeable man, but on this occasion, having sold out the Pleasance Grand for most of the run, I felt he wasn't putting the effort in to come up with anything new. It was like, I've sold out a big venue and I've got a TV show, so screw you...again, some glimmers of the good stuff, but mostly predictable, recycled material, clearly staged 'random audience participation' and an unnecessary, rather stupid, finale. The title of the show should be changed to "The Best Homeopathic Medicine", as you knew there had once been something funny in there, but it had been diluted down so much that there was hardly the vaguest memory of comedy in it. Disappointing.
Thankfully the last show of the day saved it - Axis of Awesome and Friends at the Gilded Balloon. Hadn't originally intended to go to this til the last weekend, but when I saw Tripod were among the guests, it was a necessity. Morgan and West (magicians) and Baba Brinkman were on too, so it was a pretty cool line up. There were singalongs, competitions (for which Adam almost got flung out by a bouncer) and general arsing about - much fun. Tripod were awesome obviously and, aside from that, the highlight for me was Axis' 'How to Write a Love Song'. I haven't yet got tired of hearing it.
Sunday 15 August
This could have turned out to be a washout of a day, had not the last show of the evening saved it. More of that in a moment.
First, to the Caves for Wil Hodgson's "Punkanory". Bit of a weird one. He was amusing enough, but his laid back manner made it feel a bit more like a hungover chat than a comedy show. Some good concepts and lines, but I wasn't a fan of the delivery. Also, a man in front of me was laughing in such a retarded fashion, at the most inopportune moments, that I was frequently distracted.
We then went to the Gilded Balloon for Axis of Awesome's "Songs in the Key of Awesome", only to find out that Benny had lost his voice and so the show was cancelled. With no way of getting to anything else decent with such short notice, we ended up just hanging round for ages and getting a bit fed up.
Luckily, the last show of the day was Mark Watson's "Do I Know You?" at Assembly, which totally made up for earlier rubbishness. We knew it would be good when, on entering the hall, we saw Mark standing onstage typing messages to (and about) the crowd as they came in. Very clever! The rest of the show was all killer, no filler, as the cool kids said in the 80s. Consistently hilarious throughout. Nice to have a chat with Mark afterwards as well.
We were now off work til the end of the Fringe, so I'll do the next few days in this blog as well.
Monday 16 August
An early start to go to the filming of "The Unbelievable Truth" at Princes St Gardens. Hosted by David Mitchell, and featuring Rhod Gilbert, Lucy Porter, Tom Wrigglesworth and, sadly, Kevin Bridges (who, as anyone who knows me will realise, I can't stand). Rhod and Tom (and David) did most of the talking, which was just as well. Kevin Bridges was clearly miles out of his depth, with no ability to make humourous responses, or indeed say or do anything amusing in the whole two hours. His rocketing to stardom is a source of total bewilderment to me. A mystery. I don't even find his prepared and rehearsed material funny, so I don't know why I'd think he'd be any better off the cuff. Despite his inclusion, though, a funny way to spend the afternoon.
Then, Susan Calman's "Desperately Seeking Susan" at the Underbelly. Seen Susan quite a few times, always fun, no exception this time. Her show was about an obituary she'd written for herself and an examination of the things she'd written in it. Mostly it was funny, sometimes thought-provoking, and sometimes just downright daft. A touching moment at the end when she welled up just before leaving the stage. Sweet.
We then headed up to the Assembly bar for a couple of drinks, and who should come and sit beside us but Yonnie from Tripod and his wife. So we sat and talked to them for an hour or so before going to see Gutted: A Revenger's Musical (mainly on the basis of Michael Legge being in it). Awe. Some. I'd expected it, for some reason, to be a bit shambolic, but all the performances were great (including Michael, who actually sang and danced - Michael, where is the ranty anger??) Also in it were the Penny Dreadfuls, who I'd heard of but never seen, and their awesomeness in it made me buy tickets to their show next day. The whole thing was fab and I recommended it to everyone I spoke to in the following days.
Tuesday 17 August
My birthday, but there was no time to think about that, so I didn't. Off to Assembly for a one-off recording of Richard Herring's 'As It Occurs To Me'. It was, as you might expect, a hilarious shambles, given that he'd still been writing it in the early hours of the morning, but still one of the funniest hours of the festival. I still laugh when I think of Richard referring to 'Mohammed off of Islam'.
Then to the Pleasance for the recording of "Just a Minute". Unfortunately, none of the guests on this occasion particularly appealed to me, and Adam then told me he hated the concept of the programme as well, so it was never going to be the best hour. It was mildly amusing, which is the best that can be said of it.
Still better, though, than "News Revue" which was appalling and made me want to claw my own eyes out. I understand the concept of a Revue, but perhaps I'm getting too old now for teenage drama student brats. They were supremely slappable, their ideas were cliched and predictable, it was just a quite horrible hour.
I was glad when I could escape and hoof it back up to the Assembly for Chris Addison. His show was a joy. No groundbreaking topics or astonishing new pespectives, but just plain funny and enjoyable. Can't even remember anything he talked about, I just remember laughing my arse off pretty constantly throughout. Though I do remember Kate Copstick from the Scotsman getting in a tizzy because there was an empty seat in front of her and she didn't want to be seen. May I suggest, then, not having a massive curly hairdo that can most likely be seen from space?
Final show of the day was "Karaoke Circus" which had been hyped up to the bollocks but (in my opinion) didn't live up to it. There were some amusing moments but generally I found it a bit dull, and suspect it's probably best enjoyed while pished. I wasn't, and Adam wasn't feeling well, and the prospect of another hour of it didn't enthrall us, so we left at the interval.
Wednesday 18 August
Bit of a rare lie in, and then to the Gilded Balloon for Baba Brinkman's "Rap Guide to Human Nature". More interesting and clever than funny, though with some comical bits, the most awesome thing about it was Baba's ability to rap off the cuff using suggestions from the audience. Enjoyed it a lot.
Then back to the Pleasance for the Penny Dreadfuls as a result of seeing them in Gutted. So much fun. Why is it that comedy trios always have to have a tall nerdy one, a middle sized one and a little weird one? Still, it worked for them. The three of them worked perfectly together, the sketches were cleverly written and well acted. Sketch comedy at its best. (I was to find out later in the month that sketch comedy is not always this good). Their 'Twilight' sketch was hilarious, even to someone who's never seen the films or know anything about them (i.e. me).
Then to the Festival Theatre for Stewart Lee's "Silver Stewbilee". Felt a bit cheated by this one to be honest as the only bits of it I really enjoyed were Stewart's own stand up (which I'd seen last week), Bridget Christie (who I'd seen last week) and a minute-long shouty intrusion by Richard Herring, rampaging onstage to tear up Stewart Lee's book. The rest of it wasn't my thing at all - found the guests dull (Kevin Eldon, Simon Munnery, some other bloke) and, although the surprise appearance of Franz Ferdinand sent most of the crowd mental, it was a big giant yawn from me, for I loathe them. The finale of the Frank Chickens doing a couple of numbers, with Stew dancing with them at the end, was the main saviour, but I still felt I could have seen a couple of decent shows in the same time for the same money. Live and learn.
Finally, to the Pleasance for Tim Key's "Slutcracker", a show he did last year but I never saw. Enjoyed it, as Tim's manner is pleasant and he's easy to listen to, with just the right amount of silliness without crossing over into puerile. I'd go and see him again.
That's all for now. Too much blogging is dull, for both the writer and the reader. Next bit to come in a few days.
Friday, 13 August 2010
Crabs on the Rampage
Just a small blog-ette this morning re yesterday's Fringe fun, as I was at work yesterday and therefore the fun only included one thing. However, that thing was the combination of Robin Ince's book reading/signing, and then a 'theatrical representation' of Guy N Smith's killer crab novels.
The gig took place in a converted church, now utilised as a Christian outreach centre. On the way up the stairs I saw this notice, which tickled me. I don't know if Jesus has ever pointed at Robin before, but if he has, I doubt it was to direct anyone to his rampaging crab musical.
First of all Robin read out some extracts from his own book which, judging by the length of the queue at the end to buy it, whetted a lot of appetites. Having read the book, the bits were familiar to me, but still gob-smacking (especially the bit about the woman who thanked god for giving her a cancerous tumour as it made her husband finally 'see the light' as well - lots of people were wearing their 'WTF? faces, which is always excellent).
The place was packed, so I guess lots of people were pretty keen to see how the 'crab musical' was going to work out. Aside from Robin, it also included Josie Long playing the swanee whistle and sounding like a Clanger, Stewart Lee and Kevin Eldon doing dramatic readings, Steve Pretty on trumpet accompaniment, Helen Arney who had a song about the private life of the colossal killer crab, a tap dancing lady acting the part of the killer crabs, and a girl playing the spoons along to Stewart Lee's reading. Obviously.
The extracts from the killer crabs novels were - as one might expect - preposterous, and Robin had us shouting out bits pantomime style ("...because he was a...? BASTARD!!")
An excellent, ridiculous and certainly unique evening. I'm pretty tempted to try and get hold of a couple of these books, though I almost had an embolism reading another book covered in 'Bad Book Club' called 'Starlust'. And the last second hand book I bought - "The Big Book of Pantyhose Crafts" made me cry with laughter. I don't know if even rampaging crabs with an unsatisfied craving for the guts of adulterous ladies and illegitimate children could top those.
The gig took place in a converted church, now utilised as a Christian outreach centre. On the way up the stairs I saw this notice, which tickled me. I don't know if Jesus has ever pointed at Robin before, but if he has, I doubt it was to direct anyone to his rampaging crab musical.
First of all Robin read out some extracts from his own book which, judging by the length of the queue at the end to buy it, whetted a lot of appetites. Having read the book, the bits were familiar to me, but still gob-smacking (especially the bit about the woman who thanked god for giving her a cancerous tumour as it made her husband finally 'see the light' as well - lots of people were wearing their 'WTF? faces, which is always excellent).
The place was packed, so I guess lots of people were pretty keen to see how the 'crab musical' was going to work out. Aside from Robin, it also included Josie Long playing the swanee whistle and sounding like a Clanger, Stewart Lee and Kevin Eldon doing dramatic readings, Steve Pretty on trumpet accompaniment, Helen Arney who had a song about the private life of the colossal killer crab, a tap dancing lady acting the part of the killer crabs, and a girl playing the spoons along to Stewart Lee's reading. Obviously.
The extracts from the killer crabs novels were - as one might expect - preposterous, and Robin had us shouting out bits pantomime style ("...because he was a...? BASTARD!!")
An excellent, ridiculous and certainly unique evening. I'm pretty tempted to try and get hold of a couple of these books, though I almost had an embolism reading another book covered in 'Bad Book Club' called 'Starlust'. And the last second hand book I bought - "The Big Book of Pantyhose Crafts" made me cry with laughter. I don't know if even rampaging crabs with an unsatisfied craving for the guts of adulterous ladies and illegitimate children could top those.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
A collection of unrelated things that are pissing me off
1. That advert with Fiona Phillips that goes "These days, I'm often asked about which anti-aging creams really work." No you're not, Fiona, that's pish and you know it. You are not, and to my knowledge have never been, a skincare expert and certainly not someone I'd think to ask for advice about such things. Stop talking crap.
2. Macdonalds. Ok, they piss me off just by virtue of their very existence, but specifically they are pissing me off with their latest advert which has a bit of music that sounds ripped off from a Postgate/Firmin creation. It has the Vernon Elliott bassoon thing going on and it is NOT RIGHT. Do not defile my childhood memories, vile animal-killing empire of ming-purveyance.
3. The fact that Rod Stewart, the old dog, is about to have another kid. I think he has seven already but, for christ's sake, the man is 65 years old. What is an attractive 39 year old woman thinking? I'd be thinking, no way mate, not even if you were chocolate coated and spunked diamonds. No. Thank. You.
4. People who think the rules don't apply to them. How many people in one journey to or from work do I see driving whilst on their mobile phone? Why do they think they're so special that they're excluded from the law? I want to drag them out of their cars and punch them until they finally realise with crushing certainty that THEY ARE DICKS.
5. People who post up blogs about things that are hacking them off instead of doing the decent thing and just bottling it up and having an embolism instead. Arseholes.
2. Macdonalds. Ok, they piss me off just by virtue of their very existence, but specifically they are pissing me off with their latest advert which has a bit of music that sounds ripped off from a Postgate/Firmin creation. It has the Vernon Elliott bassoon thing going on and it is NOT RIGHT. Do not defile my childhood memories, vile animal-killing empire of ming-purveyance.
3. The fact that Rod Stewart, the old dog, is about to have another kid. I think he has seven already but, for christ's sake, the man is 65 years old. What is an attractive 39 year old woman thinking? I'd be thinking, no way mate, not even if you were chocolate coated and spunked diamonds. No. Thank. You.
4. People who think the rules don't apply to them. How many people in one journey to or from work do I see driving whilst on their mobile phone? Why do they think they're so special that they're excluded from the law? I want to drag them out of their cars and punch them until they finally realise with crushing certainty that THEY ARE DICKS.
5. People who post up blogs about things that are hacking them off instead of doing the decent thing and just bottling it up and having an embolism instead. Arseholes.
Fringe Blog, Part 1 - The Mayhem Begins
After months of looking forward, the Fringe is finally here. Ah, that feeling of being utterly skint, standing for ages in static queues with drunks jostling into you and barging to the front, the most uncomfortable seats in existence, the lashing rain and the extortionate bar prices. But also, the fantastic festival atmosphere, the brilliant shows, the originality, the way you become used to seeing famous people wandering about, the 'festival finds' that you can recommend to everyone. It's awesome.
This year we spent around £700 on tickets before even thinking about petrol, parking, drinks, food...so my Fringe blogs will cover a LOT of shows. Here's the first batch.
Friday, 6 August
While at the Gilded Balloon waiting to go in to the first gig, Axis of Awesome came out of their gig and I bought a couple of their CDs and had a little chat with them. Seeing them halfway through the fest, I think. In fact, twice.
Kicked off the festival by seeing Patrick Monahan's show "I Walked, I Danced, Iran". We'd seen him a few months back in the Stand, a gig at which he crowdsurfed over a section of the crowd that was about the same length as he was (and that we were sitting in). This gig was just as memorable. He sprinted to the stage from upstairs and then invited two members of the crowd to do the same to see how long it took in the form of a race. Obviously, we were in the front row, so obviously, Adam was one of the two picked. He won against a hockey-playing Aussie, by one second. That's ma boy. The rest of the show was just as bizarre, with punters being picked out to do the don't-fuck-with-me walk, pretend to be attack-geese, and to dance to funked-up national anthems. All in all a great, unpredictable gig with a lot of laughs, sort of in the vein of Jason Byrne. We had a chat with Pat (on a mat with a cat and a bat) after and he remembered us from the Stand, which was cool. We've bumped into him about 300 times since Friday. He is everywhere. All the time. Like God, or that bird out of Girls Aloud.
Then we headed down to the Meadow Bar where Adam was doing a short set in a Free Fringe line up. The room was smallish and packed solid, very snug. After being chatted up by some drunk dude young enough to be my son, the gig started. The only ones that stood out for me were Adam (obviously) and a guy called Jay Foreman who played guitar and did comedy songs that were really rather good. Adam did his five minutes, which was funny, and he got a good reception from the punters. Success. I took some pics of him, and here is one. It's a bit out of focus as I was snapping surreptitiously:
Apparently on the drive home, Adam decided to completely rewrite his material to make it flow better, though I'm not sure what prompted this!
Saturday 7 August
First show of the day was "Pointless Anger, Righteous Ire" with Robin Ince and Michael Legge. That's an explosive double act right there, an embolism waiting to happen. The show was ace. I suggested the recent 'squirrel drowning' story as something that had been infuriating, and the punters agreed. Robin and Michael were both on excellent ranty form and a particular highlight for me was Michael reading his furious blog about going to Sainsbury's to buy quinoa. A hilarious show and well worth going back to later in the run if we have any gaps left.
Then, as tradition (and Herring) dictates, round to the Tempting Tattie for a bite to eat. I plumped for death by carbs and had a medium tattie (i.e. two giant spuds) with cheese pasta. Yummers. And then to the Stand for Stewart Lee's "Vegetable Stew". I think this might be Stewart's best show yet. He certainly seemed more upbeat and happy, but without losing his trademark delivery. I never knew crisps could be so amusing, but they bloody are. There were no lulls in the gig, just constant comedy - brilliant. Plus he was really nice to me when I asked him to sign my book even though he was quietly having a fag and might not have felt like being asked. Unfortunately outside the Stand when talking to Stewart, we hadn't realised Jason Cook, who we know quite well, was nearby, and didn't speak to him. We didn'r recognise him with his new short hair. Apologised profusely later. Sorry, Jase. We still love you.
Then, back into the Stand for Sarah Millican's "Chatterbox". Expected this show to be fantastic and wasn't disappointed. It was a full hour of that sort of laughter where you have to make an effort to catch a breath in between. I love her delivery and the expressions on her face when she's talking about something really very vile. She makes the whole thing look very easy and although she doesn't cover anything out of the ordinary, she does it in a fresh, hilarious and often downright filthy way. She has so many lines that make you think, feck, I wish I'd thought of that. During the gig she gave me two bits of chocolate too, which is a win in anyone's book. Plus a badge with 'gobshite' on it on the way out. Double win. A lovely tweet from the Cake Pigeon later was sweet too. She is too nice.
Last show of the day, H Anthony Hildebrand's "Why Is A Lettuce?" back at the Gilded Balloon. I didn't know a great deal about him, but friends have recommended him and he's been chatty and friendly on Twitter. The room was small and fantastically hot, but pretty full. His show was funny, and thoughtful, and original, with just the right balance of intelligence/ridiculous whimsy (I'm a sucker for a pie chart or a stick drawing). I felt the crowd could have given more, they were rather oddly subdued for 11pm on a Saturday night - or perhaps they weren't that bright and just weren't getting it. I'd recommend the show, and hope it gets more up for it crowds, as it deserves.
Sunday 8 August
Top start to the day. Went to the Caves to Susan Calman's lunchtime chat show "Calman Chats Up". The guests were Josh Widdecombe, Keith Farnan and Sarah Millican. All were funny, but Susan and Sarah together is comedy gold. I wish they'd taken over from Adrian and Christine on the One Show. That would have been awesome.
Then to Urban Angel for a bit of lunch, actually brunch - toast, scrambled eggs and veggie sausages - which was delicious and came with an amazing chocolate brownie (well, it does if you order one, like I did). Yummers.
And to the Stand, to see Bridget Christie/A Ant. To be honest, I knew nothing much about her, other than that she's married to Stewart Lee, and we were really just taking a punt on that basis. She came on first as A Ant, "the UK's only ant comedian". I'm not normally a fan of this kinda stuff, but she really was funny as a pissed off, jaded ant who hates everyone and everything. The shambles that was her home-made ant costume made it funnier (with another comedy gold moment later when she tried to re-enter the costume). As herself, she was pretty good too - and seemed surprised the the (packed) room was enjoying it. Her material was well thought out and funny, definitely worth a recommend.
Then to the Canons Gait, where Robin Ince was doing a free show, Robin Ince Asks Why? In usual Robin fashion, he appeared to have nothing planned and yet what burst forth was still more intelligent and funny than most comedians can muster with months of planning. Sometimes Robin's intelligence can be a bit intimidating but he balances it nicely with the occasional rant about nothing in particular. If you go, prepare to be exhausted, for Robin barely stops to catch his breath in the whole hour. Great stuff, and amazing he has the energy for this given that he's doing three shows a day. We'll see them all over the course of the month.
Finally, to the Pleasance for Russell Kane's "Smokescreens and Castles". Being in the Beyond, he had a huge amount of space in which to prance around in his favoured style, and he made full use of it. His show was about his upbringing and, to a large extent, his relationship with his dad. The descriptions of his dad were so vivid you could imagine him sitting there complaining about Russell acting like a ponce (which he did, for a good portion of the hour). Russell's style is energetic and warm and the crowd were lapping it up - who wouldn't? With its poignant ending, the show was a lovely, warm, thoughtful one that I recommend everyone should see. Very heartwarming.
Other things of note were:
-spotting Alex Horne in the Pleasance Courtyard with an awesome dog that looked like a black lab but in the shape of a beagle/bassett;
-spotting David O'Doherty, again in the Courtyard, with a line of children following after him like rats after the Pied Piper;
-saying hello to Scod from Tripod (SCOD!!!) in the Courtyard as he queued to go into a show;
-discovering the delight that is Crabbie's alcoholic ginger beer.
I bloody love the Fringe.
This year we spent around £700 on tickets before even thinking about petrol, parking, drinks, food...so my Fringe blogs will cover a LOT of shows. Here's the first batch.
Friday, 6 August
While at the Gilded Balloon waiting to go in to the first gig, Axis of Awesome came out of their gig and I bought a couple of their CDs and had a little chat with them. Seeing them halfway through the fest, I think. In fact, twice.
Kicked off the festival by seeing Patrick Monahan's show "I Walked, I Danced, Iran". We'd seen him a few months back in the Stand, a gig at which he crowdsurfed over a section of the crowd that was about the same length as he was (and that we were sitting in). This gig was just as memorable. He sprinted to the stage from upstairs and then invited two members of the crowd to do the same to see how long it took in the form of a race. Obviously, we were in the front row, so obviously, Adam was one of the two picked. He won against a hockey-playing Aussie, by one second. That's ma boy. The rest of the show was just as bizarre, with punters being picked out to do the don't-fuck-with-me walk, pretend to be attack-geese, and to dance to funked-up national anthems. All in all a great, unpredictable gig with a lot of laughs, sort of in the vein of Jason Byrne. We had a chat with Pat (on a mat with a cat and a bat) after and he remembered us from the Stand, which was cool. We've bumped into him about 300 times since Friday. He is everywhere. All the time. Like God, or that bird out of Girls Aloud.
Then we headed down to the Meadow Bar where Adam was doing a short set in a Free Fringe line up. The room was smallish and packed solid, very snug. After being chatted up by some drunk dude young enough to be my son, the gig started. The only ones that stood out for me were Adam (obviously) and a guy called Jay Foreman who played guitar and did comedy songs that were really rather good. Adam did his five minutes, which was funny, and he got a good reception from the punters. Success. I took some pics of him, and here is one. It's a bit out of focus as I was snapping surreptitiously:
Apparently on the drive home, Adam decided to completely rewrite his material to make it flow better, though I'm not sure what prompted this!
Saturday 7 August
First show of the day was "Pointless Anger, Righteous Ire" with Robin Ince and Michael Legge. That's an explosive double act right there, an embolism waiting to happen. The show was ace. I suggested the recent 'squirrel drowning' story as something that had been infuriating, and the punters agreed. Robin and Michael were both on excellent ranty form and a particular highlight for me was Michael reading his furious blog about going to Sainsbury's to buy quinoa. A hilarious show and well worth going back to later in the run if we have any gaps left.
Then, as tradition (and Herring) dictates, round to the Tempting Tattie for a bite to eat. I plumped for death by carbs and had a medium tattie (i.e. two giant spuds) with cheese pasta. Yummers. And then to the Stand for Stewart Lee's "Vegetable Stew". I think this might be Stewart's best show yet. He certainly seemed more upbeat and happy, but without losing his trademark delivery. I never knew crisps could be so amusing, but they bloody are. There were no lulls in the gig, just constant comedy - brilliant. Plus he was really nice to me when I asked him to sign my book even though he was quietly having a fag and might not have felt like being asked. Unfortunately outside the Stand when talking to Stewart, we hadn't realised Jason Cook, who we know quite well, was nearby, and didn't speak to him. We didn'r recognise him with his new short hair. Apologised profusely later. Sorry, Jase. We still love you.
Then, back into the Stand for Sarah Millican's "Chatterbox". Expected this show to be fantastic and wasn't disappointed. It was a full hour of that sort of laughter where you have to make an effort to catch a breath in between. I love her delivery and the expressions on her face when she's talking about something really very vile. She makes the whole thing look very easy and although she doesn't cover anything out of the ordinary, she does it in a fresh, hilarious and often downright filthy way. She has so many lines that make you think, feck, I wish I'd thought of that. During the gig she gave me two bits of chocolate too, which is a win in anyone's book. Plus a badge with 'gobshite' on it on the way out. Double win. A lovely tweet from the Cake Pigeon later was sweet too. She is too nice.
Last show of the day, H Anthony Hildebrand's "Why Is A Lettuce?" back at the Gilded Balloon. I didn't know a great deal about him, but friends have recommended him and he's been chatty and friendly on Twitter. The room was small and fantastically hot, but pretty full. His show was funny, and thoughtful, and original, with just the right balance of intelligence/ridiculous whimsy (I'm a sucker for a pie chart or a stick drawing). I felt the crowd could have given more, they were rather oddly subdued for 11pm on a Saturday night - or perhaps they weren't that bright and just weren't getting it. I'd recommend the show, and hope it gets more up for it crowds, as it deserves.
Sunday 8 August
Top start to the day. Went to the Caves to Susan Calman's lunchtime chat show "Calman Chats Up". The guests were Josh Widdecombe, Keith Farnan and Sarah Millican. All were funny, but Susan and Sarah together is comedy gold. I wish they'd taken over from Adrian and Christine on the One Show. That would have been awesome.
Then to Urban Angel for a bit of lunch, actually brunch - toast, scrambled eggs and veggie sausages - which was delicious and came with an amazing chocolate brownie (well, it does if you order one, like I did). Yummers.
And to the Stand, to see Bridget Christie/A Ant. To be honest, I knew nothing much about her, other than that she's married to Stewart Lee, and we were really just taking a punt on that basis. She came on first as A Ant, "the UK's only ant comedian". I'm not normally a fan of this kinda stuff, but she really was funny as a pissed off, jaded ant who hates everyone and everything. The shambles that was her home-made ant costume made it funnier (with another comedy gold moment later when she tried to re-enter the costume). As herself, she was pretty good too - and seemed surprised the the (packed) room was enjoying it. Her material was well thought out and funny, definitely worth a recommend.
Then to the Canons Gait, where Robin Ince was doing a free show, Robin Ince Asks Why? In usual Robin fashion, he appeared to have nothing planned and yet what burst forth was still more intelligent and funny than most comedians can muster with months of planning. Sometimes Robin's intelligence can be a bit intimidating but he balances it nicely with the occasional rant about nothing in particular. If you go, prepare to be exhausted, for Robin barely stops to catch his breath in the whole hour. Great stuff, and amazing he has the energy for this given that he's doing three shows a day. We'll see them all over the course of the month.
Finally, to the Pleasance for Russell Kane's "Smokescreens and Castles". Being in the Beyond, he had a huge amount of space in which to prance around in his favoured style, and he made full use of it. His show was about his upbringing and, to a large extent, his relationship with his dad. The descriptions of his dad were so vivid you could imagine him sitting there complaining about Russell acting like a ponce (which he did, for a good portion of the hour). Russell's style is energetic and warm and the crowd were lapping it up - who wouldn't? With its poignant ending, the show was a lovely, warm, thoughtful one that I recommend everyone should see. Very heartwarming.
Other things of note were:
-spotting Alex Horne in the Pleasance Courtyard with an awesome dog that looked like a black lab but in the shape of a beagle/bassett;
-spotting David O'Doherty, again in the Courtyard, with a line of children following after him like rats after the Pied Piper;
-saying hello to Scod from Tripod (SCOD!!!) in the Courtyard as he queued to go into a show;
-discovering the delight that is Crabbie's alcoholic ginger beer.
I bloody love the Fringe.
Monday, 9 August 2010
I am nothing if not easily led
Ok, so, my boyfriend did a blog. So I decided I wanted to do a blog as well. It's a good thing I don't apply this logic to my entire life with him, or I'd be watching sc-fi, eating marmite and dabbling in stand-up. None of these are things I care to do no matter how cool one of them might be. I think we all know which one.
Aside from a few (ancient) blogs I did on Myspace (for which I don't even recall my password), I've never blogged before. I always thought it was because I had nothing to say, but my voluminous tweets suggest otherwise. I'll qualify the statement, and say it's because I generally only have vacuous and ranty things to say. But sometimes people like to read that, and I evidently like to write it, so this blog is as much for my own amusement as anyone else's.
My name's Helen, but if you follow me on Twitter you'll know me as Glamlovinkitty. I've often thought about changing the name, even though I've used it for years, because people have told me it sounds a bit arrogant. Let me clarify. I'm not suggesting that I am glamorous. I'm really not, and have never thought I was. I am 'glam lovin' in the sense that I love glam, the musical genre. And the 'kitty' part is from the other name I sometimes post under, Metalkitten. Now that I'm 38 (for another 8 days at least), they seem stupid names. But it's too late to go back now.
So, I love glam (and other rock, and classical, music). I hate manufactured pop crap, and particularly any 'reality' TV show that suggests that turning up to audition with 20,000 other imbeciles before letting 6 million imbeciles decide by phone which imbecile is the best, is the reality of the music business (apply this as necessary to the dancing/skating/living in a house with other imbeciles/being famous for no evident reason business).
I live with my boyfriend and love our three cats, and comedy. I bloody love comedy. I also bloody hate some. Some of you will already know what falls into which category. Others will doubtless find out from future blogs.
Talking of future blogs, they'll cover comedy, music, books and the generally irritating things that happen to me on a daily basis. Rarely will they be deep. Occasionally they will be ranty. Always, they will be typed in the Verdana font. I don't know why, I just like the word.
The title of this blog comes from a song I like by the Only Ones. It seemed apt.
Aside from a few (ancient) blogs I did on Myspace (for which I don't even recall my password), I've never blogged before. I always thought it was because I had nothing to say, but my voluminous tweets suggest otherwise. I'll qualify the statement, and say it's because I generally only have vacuous and ranty things to say. But sometimes people like to read that, and I evidently like to write it, so this blog is as much for my own amusement as anyone else's.
My name's Helen, but if you follow me on Twitter you'll know me as Glamlovinkitty. I've often thought about changing the name, even though I've used it for years, because people have told me it sounds a bit arrogant. Let me clarify. I'm not suggesting that I am glamorous. I'm really not, and have never thought I was. I am 'glam lovin' in the sense that I love glam, the musical genre. And the 'kitty' part is from the other name I sometimes post under, Metalkitten. Now that I'm 38 (for another 8 days at least), they seem stupid names. But it's too late to go back now.
So, I love glam (and other rock, and classical, music). I hate manufactured pop crap, and particularly any 'reality' TV show that suggests that turning up to audition with 20,000 other imbeciles before letting 6 million imbeciles decide by phone which imbecile is the best, is the reality of the music business (apply this as necessary to the dancing/skating/living in a house with other imbeciles/being famous for no evident reason business).
I live with my boyfriend and love our three cats, and comedy. I bloody love comedy. I also bloody hate some. Some of you will already know what falls into which category. Others will doubtless find out from future blogs.
Talking of future blogs, they'll cover comedy, music, books and the generally irritating things that happen to me on a daily basis. Rarely will they be deep. Occasionally they will be ranty. Always, they will be typed in the Verdana font. I don't know why, I just like the word.
The title of this blog comes from a song I like by the Only Ones. It seemed apt.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)