Well, it's the Fringe again and I'm currently limbering up for the show I'm involved in which kicks off on Saturday 11th August at 5.15pm at the Jekyll & Hyde bar in Edinburgh which goes under the monicker of "The Free Mousketeers".
My whole attitude to doing a show at the Fringe has drastically altered from my wide eyed enthusiasm of my debut at this event in 2005.
I am a tired old cynic this time round...
Thankfully the venue is so central and well located that a minimum level of flyering is required...
Audience numbers have been very strong for this week's Mouseketeer show in the same slot (with 3 different comics).
Hopefully they will get a great review at the end of their run and we will get the benefit of it in audience numbers next week...!
Hey,one thing I've learnt is that nothing in comedy is fair...If you get a break,just take it...
Mind you,if they get a stinker of a review....??? (but I'm sure they won't...it's a good show and is working really well)
Interesting Fringe moments?
A comedian I know chatted to me in a bar for a few minutes then left me with a flyer for their show...
The comedian then returned 15 minutes later to find I'd made a rather cute paper aeroplane out of the aforementioned flyer...
That was a bit embarassing...
I was stopped on the street twice yesterday by people asking me for money.
They both asked me for a pound.
I am shocked at this example of begging hyper-inflation.
It seems absolutely everybody increases their rates exponentially at Festivaltime in Edinburgh.
I was chatting with a fairly famous comedian who'd had a four star, a five star and a one star review in the same day.
It became clear that the annoyance of the one star review very much outweighed the satisfaction of the other two great reviews.
I was surprised.
I thought the reaction would be "Fuck it...who cares?"
The chances are that the review was written by some spotty journalism undergraduate who has probably never been to a comedy club in their life and who is desperately trying to stand out from the pack by slaughtering an established comedian with a shitty little petulant review.
The review system is all bollocks and it's crazy that people should become so obsessed with this stupid "star" system, but that's the way it is...
I also had a bit of a chuckle at a few shows' reviews on www.edfringe.com
The site allows audience members to submit reviews...
Of course,this means that people actually involved in shows (or family and friends) can also submit ludicrously fawning, OTT reviews.
However,the right technique is not to go mental and say things like "the funniest show I've ever seen in my life" or "Jim Park is a comedy genious without peer"...
Just be positive overall,but maybe make a couple of minor criticisms to disguise the fraudulent nature of your contribution...
(I did this 2 years ago but now view the devious act as fundamentally pointless)
Some shows have got loads and loads of transparently "friendly reviews"...I feel embarassed for them...
This is pointless...the great British public aren't going to fall for this...in fact I'd say it would make me less likely to go and see a show...
Oh,and I said hello to Nina Conti...she is stunningly attractive,not that there's anything wrong with that.
It's good to meet a lot of fringeys,but it's not so good to speak to people who just drone on and on about their show and their experiences bla bla bla and fail to realise that the best conversations usually include contributions from more than one participant...
Call me old fashioned...
Yes I'm a fan...but Richard Herring's show was awesome and I heartily recommend it...the boy is a genius...
I turned out for the Chortle Comic's football match today...great stuff...I met the legendary Chortler Tony Cowards...
He asked me if I was Jim Hobbit...
I told him I wasn't...
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