With the Fringe cold taking hold, I needed a pick-me-up and fortunately found two.

John Kearns’ Dinner Party is an odd show, in the best way. Not really stand-up; not really sketch. There’s lots of audience interaction (or at least the appearance of audience interaction) as the slightly deranged John Kearns attempts to host a dinner party (you may have guessed that part). The show also features newly-crowned Amused Moose Laugh Off winner Pat Cahill as John’s friend Pat. It’s a strange, funny concoction that reminded me of Simon Munnery – and that’s definitely a good thing.

My other pick-me-up was the always utterly brilliant Karaoke Circus which crashed onto stage at the Pleasance Dome for the first of three nights. Josie Long and Tom Bell singing Pulp; Phill Jupitus as Neil Hannon; Tiernan Douieb pwning the theme from The Wire; and Ed Aczel gloriously destroying …Baby One More Time, amongst others. Song sign-up administration was delegated by host Martin White to Thom Tuck, who refused to let me sign up for every song and insisted on a two song maximum. This makes young Mr Tuck a rapscallion and a blackguard, and those aren’t words I use lightly or without recourse to a dictionary.

The major job for the day was updating my master spreadsheet of shows to see. With only a few more days in Edinburgh, it’s time to recognise that I don’t have the time or money to see everything I’d like. I’ve pared it down to the absolute musts, so you can take it from my remaining blog posts this week that the shows I mention are suitably musty.

What I learnt today: Thomas Tuck is a bad man and should be refused dessert even when he really wants it.

Recommended show: John Kearns’ Dinner Party

Obligatory plug: I’m in Three Man Roast (★★★★ – whatsonstage.com), 2.35pm weekdays at Finnegan’s Wake on Victoria Street – free entry.

My throat’s been getting sorer each morning and I’m increasingly feeling like I’m getting The Fringe Cold. Alternatively, it could just be from performing every day, although it’s not like I’m doing an hour-long show. I mean, I am, but I only speak for about 15 minutes of it.

I’ve failed to go to the gym so far this week so, despite my malady, I dragged myself down to Holyrood Park for a run. I only managed a mile before slinking back home and then heading out for a fried breakfast. This weekend is more than making up for my sensible eating so far this month. Top marks to the pub where we ate, Holyrood 9A: they decided they had taken too long without our food and gave it to us on the house. We hadn’t even complained.

En route to our show, I popped into a barbers’ and got my hair and beard trimmed, along with some firmly-shared tips about how I should have been trimming my beard and moustache. Ahem.

The room was full for Three Man Roast. Sport of some manly variety was on the big screen in the pub but the noise generously kept itself outside and we had a cracking show.

Next stop was the Grassmarket to join Tricity Vogue‘s kazoo choir in a rendition of Blue Moon. Because this is the kind of thing that happens on the Fringe. Someone has already put it up on YouTube:

Such a beautiful noise.

A dash to the other end of the Grassmarket meant I was in time for Tom Webb Fixes 2012. I’ve done Tom’s open mic gigs a number of times and he’s an experienced and charismatic compère. This carried over into his one-man show which is a lovely little creation brimming with ideas, and a fair amount of silliness.

After discovering the difficulty in finding a table in any restaurant in Edinburgh city centre on a Saturday night in August, we booked ahead and grabbed a snack before Thom Tuck Goes Straight to DVD. Another lovely show, delivered with theatrical panache. Despite having seen none of the films referred to in the show (not even those released cinematically), I was particularly tickled by one joke about The Little Mermaid. Unfortunately, this lead to another Me Laughing Too Loudly incident.

Thanks to our reservation, we managed to eat properly afterwards. More than properly. I am, for the second night in a row, absolutely stuffed. The Baileys cheesecake probably wasn’t entirely necessary, but…

And then back to the flat, where I won my first game on apterous. Must… switch… off…

What I learnt today: I should be trimming my beard much more lightly.

Recommended show: Tom Webb Fixes 2012 and Thom Tuck Goes Straight to DVD

Obligatory plug: I’m in Three Man Roast (★★★★ – whatsonstage.com), 2.35pm weekdays 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).

The Edinburgh Fringe can be a bit of a bubble at the best of times. As you dash around performing shows, seeing shows and napping (not so much while dashing around), it’s easy to miss the news. I got the feeling a collective jolt went through the ex-pat Londoners up here yesterday evening as the enormity of what was happening back home fought its way through the fog of ticket stubs, alcohol and street performance.

On the one hand, I’m glad to be well away from the rioting. On the other, I feel – entirely irrationally – like a coward, as if I’d run away. My city under attack, I had an unexpectedly macho desire to be there to protect it. In practice, “defending” would probably have involved switching off the lights, peering through the curtains and pontificating on twitter, and there is plenty of pontificating on there without my adding to it. My best plan to get back at the criminal mobs is to put it about that they’re organising everything through Grindr.

Still, I worry about my friends and wish I was closer to them.

Immersing myself back in the silliness of the Fringe was a welcome distraction. Having enjoyed seeing Ben do ukulele cabaret yesterday, I’d snapped up a spare spot and so took my uke down to do a couple of songs (Media Gay and Jim Bergerac: A Love Song). They went well – not aided by a coughing fit just before going on – and I only muffed a couple of chords. It’s a lovely, supportive show and I’m looking forward to doing it again on Thursday (leaning towards doing My Favourite One Off of Thundercats and Why Aren’t There Dolphins on Only Connect?).

The highlight of the show for me, though, was the final singalong on stage with host Tricity Vogue and fellow Uke of Edinburgh contestants Pure Joy and Penny Dreadful and regular Karaoke Circus star Thom Tuck (who’s up here with his first solo show, Thom Tuck Goes Straight to DVD). We did Hit the Road, Jack, which consisted of four chords I could play. Win.

I bumped into Thom again later at Comedy Countdown, where he faced off against We Are Klang’s Steve Hall. That was an excellent show, mixing the obvious pleasure of a words and numbers game with which you could play along with, well, comedy – not least hilariously grumpy host Dan Atkinson, combative Carol Vorderman clone Paul Sinha and prize neologist and Richard-Stilgoe-alike James Sherwood in dictionary corner. Very tempted to go again tonight as it’s only a fiver.

What I learnt today: I am not the only comic up here to have actually been on Countdown. Alex Horne also has that claim to fame. Damn him.

Recommended shows: Conor O’Toole’s Manual of Style and Comedy Countdown.

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).