Edinburgh Shows 1 to 4

The first show my brother and I attended was chosen based on time and place and of course availability. And thus it was that we saw Matt Kirshen at the Pleasance. He started off by “getting it out of the way” that he looked a lot younger than he was and declaring that the show was not about his age but, this time, his height. He went on to ask for the mike settings to be changed and to apologise for the noise from the (ineffective) air con unit. This kind of procrastination didn't really endear him to me and I braced myself for a bad act. He looked out at the audience with a huge grin and bobbing head, begging us with his wide eyes to applaud him, to like him. And as the show went on, I liked him more and more.

He wasn't offensive. It's a huge plus with me. Comedians that get by through criticising others leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. He also didn't go anywhere crass or lewd which was also a plus, not because I have any particular problem with that, it's just a girl can't really understand a boy's experiences so well.

But so far that is faint praise. I think I started to believe it was going to be a good gig when people started leaving. No, really... I thought that they were walking out but Matt Kirshen realised straight away that it was a toilet trip and gently chided them for interrupting him at a bad point as he was about to reach his punchline. He used the interruption and got back on track seamlessly without losing momentum. There was more than one interruption as another person went to the loo and of course people had to return also and each time Matt commented on it and made it into a joke and worked his way back to the routine without any problem.

It was pretty amazing.

The routines were about things that had happened to him and were mildly amusing on the whole occasionally becoming raucously funny. I especially enjoyed the comments on speaking French to a GCSE standard (and the time at which you know to call someone vous and not tu).

He made me laugh throughout and even though the material felt under-inspired, his manner felt experienced and I came away thinking the show a hit.


Our second show was “After the Bomb”, a play at the Zoo. I saw two comedy plays last year at the Fringe and this one felt rather typical. It was sometimes funny and it was sometimes unable to get a laugh. I wasn't bored when watching it but I'm not going to rush out and insist that anyone else see it either.

The plot has something to do with Soviet spies setting off a bomb on a train... on which are other characters one of whom is an alien who escapes suspicion by claiming to be Welsh... and unrequited love and professional rivalry and the search for the perfect electrical appliance to settle down with. It's a slight mess but it leads to some good jokes and all the actors were committed to it. I class the experience a hit simply because I find comedy plays a hard thing to get right and this group certainly didn't get it wrong.


The third show was our first mistake. I understand that not every show will be enjoyable and so was willing to take a gamble. My brother was kind of eager to see this act as he had heard good things about it (and my casual hints about seeing Richard Herring fell on deaf ears) despite me saying “but I won't get any of it...”.

It was one man “Lord of the Rings” (condensed to an hour).

I kind of hoped it wouldn't be utterly obscure and impossible for me to enjoy. At the very least I would find out what happened in the second and third films, right?

It was utterly obscure and impossible for me to enjoy. The performer took on all roles plus sound effects, score, special effects and the part of geeky commentator who knows all the differences between the books and the films. At a break-neck pace, I couldn't follow a thing. I believe it required detailed knowledge of the films otherwise you would never know who was speaking or what the mime was meant to represent.

I got a few of the jokes. There was a good joke about Elvis and another about Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The performer also incorporated the sound of a siren from the street outside as it interrupted a death scene, appropriately enough. Plus I was amused by the running gag of people ignoring Sam's presence.

But that was it. I couldn't even follow to the extent of finding out how the films ended. I thought Frodo died at least three times only to be in the act again. Maybe if I cared enough I could read the plot on wikipedia but... I don't.

Rather disappointingly, my brother didn't like it either. Not sure why he didn't and I didn't want to press it because he shouldn't feel bad about choosing a dud show. The rest of the audience loved it from which I draw the conclusion that actual fans adore the show. I certainly did admire the performer. His energy was remarkable as he leapt and rolled and threw himself all around the stage. Plus he was sensitive enough to apologise to me and the other member of the audience who hadn't seen the films (he asked the audience whether there were any of us between films 1 and 2). That was nice of him, I felt.


Before wrapping this post off and having dinner, I will talk about the fourth show. This was Rich Hall. He came out onto the stage a touch too early and pointed out all the people still trying to make it to their seats. I wonder if this was done on purpose, whether he considered it the best way to start his act. I wasn't keen on it. It seemed to me that he could have easily waited thirty seconds for everyone to settle (the show ran over anyway). He told them off and pointed at various people in the audience he recognised (why exactly? Not much fun for the rest of us) and then he got started.

Once he started his routines, he was hilarious. He talked about Edinburgh (and the tram) at first and went on to talk about midges and caravans besieged by them from which you could by coffee. And as his criticism of midges mounted, he was attacked by a fly.

The fly was a bright speck in the spotlight and it came at Rich Hall perfectly on cue. He reacted brilliantly and soon I was crying with laughter as he riffed off it. The fly was soon joined by another fly and the hysteria mounted.

But the fly didn't go. Or rather it did, but it came back again and again and when it was away you couldn't help but let your eyes rove around, searching it out. Rich Hall was more distracted by it than I was and never really got into the rhythm of his routine. The show sagged and though what he said was mildly amusing, the punchlines never properly hit. I am not sure that his finale was what he planned it to be. I know that I had heard the story of how he met the Queen before and suspect he just fell back on old material as he lost confidence in the new stuff.

It was a shame.

I left the show feeling like I had laughed more than ever before at Edinburgh and yet I was disappointed that the show was so hollow and essentially was just about a man being distracted by a fly.