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.
