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Archive for 2011

Edinburgh: Day 16 Aug 19

Yesterday evening did not go according to plan. It’s nothing very exciting but I thought I’d tease that up front.

Actually, I have nothing else to add. We did our show. I had an evening nap then went out for a curry and then decided to have an early night. As I was going to bed I got a text asking if I’d like to go to a bar. I said no because I was having an early night.

I couldn’t sleep. I got up and went to a bar for an hour. That hour became nearer five hours. The end.

In the absence of anything more interesting to say, here are a selection of other blogs from the Fringe:

And here is a photo of me as a spaceman. Enjoy.

Me with a stupid tinfoil "space helmet" on

What I learnt today: Sleep is for tortoises. And I wish I were a tortoise.

Recommended show: Sleeping.

Obligatory plug: I’m in Three Man Roast (★★★★ – whatsonstage.com), 2.35pm weekdays and Saturday 20th at Finnegan’s Wake on Victoria Street – free entry. Also at Tricity Vogue’s Ukulele Cabaret at 9pm on Sunday 21st at The Three Sisters (that’s free entry too).

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Edinburgh: Day 15 Aug 18

Not only does the Edinburgh Fringe operate in a different time zone from the rest of the country, it also bends spacetime itself. Without the anchors of news, television and office life and with the same shows running daily, it’s very easy to lose track of which day it is. And where you are. And who you are. And why.

Amused Moose flyerI’ve had to remind myself what I did yesterday by looking at my calendar. I may have left my brain on the Royal Mile. Right now, it’s probably being juggled with an apple and a football to an audience of intense indifference.

After our show (nice once again), I hotfooted it over to the Pleasance Dome to do the Amused Moose Comedy Awards Showcase. After two weeks of doing a long set almost daily, it was a bit weird going back to a tight five minutes, but it was nice to get the chance to see a range of other stand-ups I’d never seen before, including Zoe Lyons, Sy Thomas and BBC New Comedy Award winner Angela Barnes.

The main event of the day was another one-off (ish) event: the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society. Hosted and curated by John-Luke Roberts and Thom Tuck, it was a entertainingly random as that combination suggests.

Redacted ScrabbleHighlights included Tom Bell’s interrupted storytelling, Marcel Lucont morphing into Alexis Dubus, Isy Suttie’s bizarre songs, Joe Lycett’s rubbish American comedian John Roast, and the unique Tony Law. Meanwhile, Michael and I were provided with a redacted Scrabble set for additional entertainment during the evening.

Oh! Wait! I have forgotten something important. Something that happened right at the beginning of the day.

This from whatsonstage.com:

Though I had uncertainty as to whether this show would be an extremely diminished reinterpretation of a Dean Martin event, or some kind of bizarre Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall-esque feat of comedic contortionism – Three Man Roast turns out to be an extremely solid compendium of nerd-centric standup by Alex Holland, Will Howells and Dan McKee.

We are now officially a four-star show. w00t!

What I learnt today: The ASCII code for a star is 9733. As in ★★★★

Recommended show: The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society at 11pm on Tuesday 23rd August.

Obligatory plug: I’m in Three Man Roast, 2.35pm weekdays and Saturday 20th at Finnegan’s Wake on Victoria Street – free entry. Also at Tricity Vogue’s Ukulele Cabaret at 9pm on Sunday 21st at The Three Sisters (that’s free entry too).

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Edinburgh: Day 14 Aug 17

Another nice show (I know I keep saying that but thankfully we have had a lot of nice shows). It was also the second outing for my as-yet-unmentioned new cardigan, which, it has to be said, is getting pretty much the same reaction as my old cardigan (nothing – it’s just a bit of knitwear).

One of my uni mates was in the audience so I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with her before heading to Helen Arney, Matt Parker and Steve Mould’s comedy science show Festival of the Spoken Nerd.

I’ve been to several editions of FotSN in London, in a lovely but cramped room above a pub. The Edinburgh “Best of” show was in a much, much larger room – and still cramped, as nerds from across the city poured in, attracted by the promise of maths, physics and fact-checked jokes.

I found a spot right at the back of the room where I could see the screen (not wanting to miss a single graph) and ended up sat on the bar for the duration of what was (unsurprisingly, based on previous experience), a funny and educashunal show. And I’m now one Helen Arney CD heavier – hurrah.

(I use parentheses too much in these posts, don’t I? It probably says something deep about how my mind works. And the lack of redrafting.)

Wordy on Look and Read

Photo: Wikipedia

The day concluded with the antidote to Edinburgh, the always fun Comedy Countdown.

Dan Atkinson’s misanthropic hosting is a joy; James Sherwood makes a wonderfully scatological Susie Dent; Paul Sinha was in suitably abusive form, especially when the audience shouted down his solution to one of the numbers rounds, which was frankly much more elegant than theirs; and Danny Pensive nearly had me on the floor with laughter when he reached into a Poundland bag and pulled out a homemade Wordy outfit.

What I learnt today: How super-absorbent polymers work. And how to spell “objector”.

Recommended show: Comedy Countdown (again)

Obligatory plug: I’m in Three Man Roast, 2.35pm weekdays and Saturday 20th at Finnegan’s Wake on Victoria Street – free entry. Also at the Amused Moose Comedy Awards Showcase at the Pleasance Dome, 4pm on August 17th (book online).

Edinburgh: Day 13 Aug 16

Bruised thighI have been monitoring the progress of my thigh, bruised heavily in my Exciting Fall last Thursday. As you can see, it only needs a few more shades to function as a Dulux colour chart. The bruise covers pretty much the entire front width of my leg and is, unsurprisingly, still a bit tender. But I’m soldiering on. Like the two little boys in Two Little Boys, there’s room on my horse for me.

A virtually full room for Three Man Roast made for a nice gig. I went for a drink with Billy afterwards and had a rare pint of beer (a Brew Dog IPA). Despite having a ticket to another show, profligately (and slightly weary of sitting in warm rooms for an hour) I decided to carry on chatting and have another pint of beer. And who can turn down a Trashy Blonde?

I can’t quite remember where the evening went (always a good sign) but after a quick curry at the very convenient Mosque Kitchen, it was time for the day’s main event: The Wrestling.

Crazy mofos Max and Iván (and I don’t use the word lightly: they really were crazy) decided to organise an Edinburgh Fringe wrestling match featuring comedians and professional wrestlers. It was incredibly foolish. It was also awesome.

The Wrestling
The likes of Colin Hoult, Humphrey Ker, Tom Rosenthal (on extremely creepy form) and former wrestler Max Olesker himself took on a host of well-built and very athletic scantily-clad pro-wrestlers. And if that wasn’t enough of a feast for the eyes, ringside announcer Nick Helm, roving reporter Matthew Crosby and commentators Brendon Burns and a gloriously-pitched Andrew Maxwell made the whole stupid spectacle hilarious.

I benefited from having recently got into WWE a bit (much to the chagrin of my 15-year-old self), so I recognised elements of the genre being imitated more than I’d’ve done a year ago. I also knew what a clothesline was (get me), although when massive wrestling fan Dan McKee started talking about tombstone piledrivers or rhinestone cowboys or whatever, I did get lost.

Dan was really getting into it, leaping to his feet and (as a very tall man) blocking the view of the people in more distant rows. I think this is what he does instead of drinking booze. His perspective was:

I was with Will Howells and when I was up from my chair practically foaming at the mouth he was sat rather demurely having a bit of a clap.

Which is what I get for showing some consideration for the ladies and gentlemen behind me. I mean, I’d’ve been most annoyed if the man in front of me had blocked my view of Mark Haskins. To pick a random example.

What I learnt today: Professional wrestling would be much more entertaining if the commentators were sarcastic, drunk comedians.

Recommended show: Three Man Roast (Yeah! As there’s no point recommending The Wrestling now…)

Obligatory plug: I’m in Three Man Roast, 2.35pm weekdays and Saturday 20th at Finnegan’s Wake on Victoria Street – free entry. Also at the Amused Moose Comedy Awards Showcase at the Pleasance Dome, 4pm on August 17th (book online).

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