Edinbrugh Shows 5 to 7 (plus 1)

At the Zoo, we picked up a sheet of reviews and found a couple of extremely favourable reviews for free Fringe events. We opted to go to one at 1:40 at a pub called the White Horse. Around 12:30, it began to absolutely tip it down and so Jamie and I decided to go there early, shelter and grab lunch. It is only now (or more accurately, this afternoon as I was composing this in my head) that I remember that Scottish pubs don't serve food. And so it was we were surprised to go in there and find it was basically a couple of shabby rooms with a long table with bottles of alcohol behind it.

And without warning, I found myself ushered into the back room by a man and told to sit on some chairs facing the stage er... corner.

I was not about to go back into the rain storm so I decided to stay and watch the gig. It was “Coolfun” and began with the compère/ warm-up guy getting the audience to do silly things. I think most people were there to keep dry but everyone seemed pretty generous (particularly the self-confessed hung-over chap sitting next to me who was possibly still drunk) and played along with clapping/ giving names and inane banter. One guy said he made instruments for surface science which took the guy back a bit and he fumbled for jokes. Alas, he didn't ask me what I did.

Nicely warmed up we got into the stand-up acts. The first two guys were not all that great. They got less response than the warm-up guy who didn't even attempt any jokes. One of them did rather odd knock-knock jokes while the other acted like he was on something and laughed at his jokes much harder than the audience and often even before he said them. But still, as un-great as they were, I tittered a few times and never grew uncomfortable. In fact, it was better than I expected for a free gig as the men pursued their own style and were prepared.

For your information, these three men were Ed Gamble, Tom Neenan and Jez Scharf but I am not sure which is which.

The fourth guy that came up... Nish Kumar... was brilliant.

Nish was good enough that I would pay to see him. I think he was as good as Matt Kirshen. He had an attitude and an ease about him and his stories/jokes were engaging and hilarious. It was just slick and professional and I hope he does well in comedy. His material was unspectacular in a sense- what I remember was about his home town and getting into fights- but the delivery made it seem like it had some meaning to it. Like instead of “here's some funny things that happened to me” the routine was about the way people lived, their prejudices and attitudes.

I left the gig happy to pay for it. I like that way of seeing shows. You pay what you think it is worth when you leave. I would perhaps go one year and only see Free Fringe shows.

We never saw the comedy we wanted to see. We could have stayed for it but we were buzzing from Nish and anyway, we wanted lunch.


That doesn't count as a show though. Our fifth paid-for show was at 5 that day. Ben Moor.

This was the highlight of my festival. It was always going to be. I fell in love with his work last year and there is honestly nothing in the comedy world that can surpass it in my mind. It ticks all my boxes: Word play, not necessarily puns- alliteration suffices; Twisted reality, my brother likened it to Pratchett in that respect but any fantasy or scifi with elements of parody will do; epic journeys of the human spirit. Or something.

We got seats in the front row. Just off-centre so not to be too insane about it. A little angle to watch by adds something, I think. Ben Moor came on stage as before in a suit and tie. And barefoot.

He performed Coelacanth which is the first story in his small collection published this year. He brought it to life with exquisitely perfected gestures and whole-body movements and let the emotions of the piece channel through him. The story of finding and losing love set against a back-drop of competitive tree-climbing with a father-son relationship made me laugh and then, towards the end, it almost made me cry. I blinked the tears away before they could form.

I blathered like an idiot at the book signing but he was sweet and tolerated me especially after I revealed my link to Mike of Transreal Books. I contemplated telling him that we wrote “Not Everything Is Significant” in the sand on Bamburgh beach last year. In a code that no one could read.

I did not.


The sixth show was at 9:45 at the Pleasance. We got tickets for this based on a recommendation from Matt Kirshen. Nick Doody. We didn't expect much as the room (Upstairs- where Ben Moor was last year) was only half full. But like Nish earlier that day, I liked him as soon as he stepped out and started talking. He was another personable comedian and he started off by talking about doing stand-up which felt like an open and honest way to begin. Not that other ways were dishonest (well, I suspect Rich Hall's was) but it did allow us to understand his motives.

He told us how since submitting his entry to the Fringe, his mother died. And that made it difficult for him. He told us how he questioned the point of comedy (and acknowledged how “wanky” this was). It wasn't funny but there were murmurs of laughter. Mostly, I was fascinated. He didn't really acknowledge his audience. He seemed to be in his own little confessional, speaking from the heart.

He motivated his theme for the gig in this way and then went on to embrace it: black and white (in opinion terms). He used the subject of the state of the country and declared that he hated the country. He went on to tell anecdotes to illustrate how bad it was and to litter it with quick jokes too. He ranted and raved and then stopped.

He declared how much he loved the country. And continued to say what he admired and to look at other countries and to be grateful he could be in Britain.

This approach made the act different from the others I saw. It had a forced persona to it in a sense but he opened honestly and said that he was going to do this. And it looked at our choices in attitudes just like Nish did earlier that day. But Nick also answered his question and found the point of comedy.

It wasn't as laugh-out funny as the other stand-up gigs but it meant a lot more to me. It certainly meant more than a man tormented by a fly or a man attempting to get by on very little French. It actually moved me. This was the best stand-up I had seen at the Fringe and it beats much of what I have seen outside it too.


The final show on the final day was Helen Keen's “The Primitive Methodist Guide to Arctic Survival”. This came at the recommendation of someone Mike knew and was indeed a charming show to end on.

It began with shadow puppets. A very strange start but they were pretty good. It then moved onto a cross between an enthusiastic lecture and stand-up as Helen Keen talked about her family and various explorers of the Arctic (going via a Christmas Carol parody on the way). It was full of facts, all fascinating or amusing (usually both) and I was quite entranced. She also played with the audience, making one member represent an explorer and all the audience members around him had to wear white (vaguely) conical hats on their heads to make him feel besieged by icebergs.

She was excellent and unique though she abruptly ran out at the end and caused some confusion by not following up on the “God helmet” she made an audience member wear. It was a refreshing change from stand-up and I do feel like I learnt some things that may appear one day on QI. If “How 2” or some similar show was still running, she'd be perfect for it.


All in all, we saw some excellent shows. There were also some street performers who got our attention (and our money). It was a brilliant festival performance.