Moving away from the themed shows of previous Edinburgh Fringe runs, comedian Stephen K Amos returns to the Pleasance with a mission to Find the Funny - or put simply, forget the themes, let’s just tell jokes. Of course not having a theme is a theme itself, and perhaps that’s lined up for next year.
For now, though, the emphasis is on the funny side of life - and yet again my own personal view that Prince Philip is the Uk’s greatest straight man (in comedy terms. naturally) is reinforced by the single line that Amos relates with glee to the audience.
Effortlessly funny, watching Amos is rather like rediscovering a long lost friend at the Fringe. For an act that balances a fine comedy edge, Amos keeps everything in perspective, jugglign issues of racism, sexism and family with a just enough danger to keep you in hysterics for the whole hour. A man at the top of his trade, and not to be missed.
And so the first full week of the Fringe draws to a close. Unlike other festivals though, there’s still 16 days of the programme left to go, and countless shows still on everyone’s must see list. And of course the podcast carries on bringing up the new shows and untapped talent to the world.
Known to watchers of the BBC Talent Search shows, Niamh Perry (I’d Do Anything) and Keith Jack (Any Dream Will Do) bring the house down in Only the Brave, which is debuting at this year’s Fringe. I catch up with them, and air some of the music from the show; Ladies in waiting have a thing for Brown and Yellow (and steroids) so how has that affected the first few shows of Brownie Re-Union; and finally Brian Luff talks to sketch group Delete the Banjax.
The sun is back! We can go around Edinburgh and not have to avoid a sea of umbrellas. Of course now there arte three days of flyering and promoting for people on The Royal Mile to catch up on, but you can’t have everything, can you.
Who’s on the show today? Well, ex-World Record holder Tim Vin (499 jokes in one hour) returns to Edinburgh after his spectacular poster of two years ago; Ella Hickson has a new theatre experience in Eight; and Brian catches up with Jon Brittain before his Chortle Student Comedy Final next Tuesday.
“Apres Mort, Le Deluge,” to corrupt a well known phrase. The rain cannot dampen our spirit, and the Fringe will continue, no matter the weather. Which is good because the best transport around town yesterday could have been a speedboat.
But the weather never stopped a podcast, especially one with comedian Nick Helm talking to Brian and Georgina, martin Oldfield and Mark Butt from Pierreppoint - The Hangman’s Tale, and Australlian comic Damian Callinan and his impotency.
The Edinburgh Fringe 2008 Show #6 - Lies and the Piping in the Library [38:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
The rain in Spain… has been exported to Edinburgh. It’s coming down in buckets, but that doesn’t dampen the spirits of the Fringe. The bars are all nicely under cover, so the only dilution is from the ice.
Speaking of bars (and the podcast visits a lot of them during August), Brian Luff catches up with some more acts from the Free Fringe in the Gilded Balloon Library bar, while I catch up with Philip York to talk about his portrayal of media tycoon Robert Maxwell, and performer Felix Dexter, in Edinburgh with his stand-up show Not Just Another White Guy Lost In The Shuffle.
The sun stayed out all day yesterday, which made it the perfect time to be bouncing around theatres and shows throughout the day - big hint for everyone is to bring a little bottle of water to any show, and if you have a program, use it as a fan. Thanks to the weather this year, sitting under stage lights, in makeshift theatres with lots of black curtains can be like a mini-sauna. So be prepared!
Which is a motto that would clearly be from Boys of the Empire, a comedy Boys Own adventure from Glenn Chandler, the creator of Taggart. Add in the delightful country sound of Wilson Dixon, and whoever Brian has found on the Royal Mile today, and you have another perfect day in Edinburgh at the Fringe.
Onto the first full week of the Fringe, and after a pretty good weekend for ticket sales (and not so good for weather), the buzz on hows perforers and places to be is building up. Charlie Victor Romeo is one of my picks for theatre this year, and I’ve made a point to see it (and interview the team behind it) as early as possible.
Fiona “One World Sapphire” O’Loughlin took on a massivly frustrating trip from Alice Springs to get to Edinburgh, and hadn’t even settled in before popping in for an interview on the Podcast. Finally Brian Luff chats to “back for the difficult second year at Edinburgh” sketch double act Girl and Dean.
Just before I sat down with Jason Byrne, I joked that all I needed to say was ‘Hi Jason… what do you think of something insignificant,’ and then leave him alone with the microphone - ten minutes, later, interview would be over. Turned out to be a bit more than that - more like thirty minutes.
And having listened back, while I could fight to get ten minutes out of this, I think it’s much better as a thirty minute special. And for all my promises of not doing anything this Sunday, it does leave a nice thirty minute-ish long gap to publish the interview. It’s almost like karma planned it.
So stand by for a shotgun of topics including, Jamie Lee Curtis, contract disputes, the price of a barrel of oil, Defender and 1942, Golf, Ronnie Corbett’s wife Anne Hart, jason talking seriously (ha!) about the work and preparation that goes into his show, and what Jason would like to do at the Fringe if he could choose to do any show.
The Fringe really is like an extended family, no matter where you look old friends pop up for a quick ‘hello’ (and the invariable flyer handed to you for their show), but that’s all part of the fun. Spot where I suddenly spy some people in today’s show.
Speaking of old friends, Stephen K Amos is the first interview of today - having appeared on the Fringe podcast every year I’m worried that if I don’t have him I’ll jinx the show. In any case he’s one of the stars of British stand-up, and deservedly so. I also caught up for the first time with The Stage’s review team, and ask them what shows have drawn their eye as they flip through the program.
Finally, Guy Hollingworth is one of the greatest close-up magicians Britian has produced. many years ago, he had a rough and ready show at edinburgh called ‘Expert at the Card Table.’ It’s now back, with Neil Patrick Harris directing a fascinating look into the world both of magic, and of cheating.
The Edinburgh Fringe 2008 Show #1 - Council Champions, Sowerby & Luff, and Martian Invasions [44:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
August the first, and the starting gun on both the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh Fringe Podcast has fired. Which means a month of daily podcasts from the biggest arts festival on the planet are going to be heading towards you at top speed (or whatever your broadband is capped at). For the opening show, I thought it was time to dig a little deeper into the relationship between the festival and Scotland’s capital city, so I spent some time with Councillor Steve Cardownie, the Edinburgh Festival and Events Champion.
On the show front, one of my favourite groups, Tha Martians, are back with a new show called Greyfriars Twisted Tales, and I caught up with them at a rehersal to talk about the show and grab some unplugged music from the show. It’s also your first chance to meet Georgina Sowerby and Brian Luff, who are running their own daily show at the Fringe - they’ll be popping back with their guests and thoughts on Edinburgh from a behind the scenes perspective throughout August.
