Just got back to work to find 269 new emails waiting for me, which means until I've finished ploughing through them, a full Perrier report will have to wait.
But in the mean time, in case you don't know already, here are the winners:
Perrier News
and a piece that Ian (fellow panelist) has written up in the FT. I'm one the "three informed and committed winners of public competitions." Thank you very much Ian.
And Bruce Dessau, who I met sometime in the early hours of Sunday morning, has a blog of the event, which is here. Thankfully he doesn't say in his piece on Tim Minchin and his similarity to Ben Folds that it was me who was ranting about him. Still Ian's had a good moan in the FT about it. At least of two of us on the panel didn't vote Minchin. Miserable little man. But more on Minchin when I get chance.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
The day of the nominations arrives
So today over the most amazing breakfast we started the exciting job of deciding the final nominations for the Perrier and Perrier Newcomer.
Each eligible comedian's name was read out, and those in favour argued for why we felt they should be in the final 5. We all argued with a passion, and anti-passion for various people. I saw only a couple of mine fall by the wayside. A few others saw most of their's fall by the wayside.
We had a team of secretaries, and legal secretaries overseeing it all. And at the end they announced it was the best Perrier meeting they'd ever sat in on. Saying it was nice to see everyone argued their points so eloquently and without descending into namecalling or shouting, something other years have done.
And so the final list, as I'm sure you'll have read in the papers today looks like this:
Perrier Nominations
Chris Addison
Dutch Elm Conservatoire
Jason Manford
Jeremy Lion
Laura Solon (Kopfrapper)
Newcomers
Charlie Pickering
Mark Watson
Rhod Gilbert
Tim Minchin
Toulson and Harvey.
I'm now off to see all the main nominees again before Saturday, and have requested to see 3 of the newcomers again, as it's been a while since I've seen their shows, Charlie, Mark and T&H.
For those who don't know Caz is on her way up here tonight. I've got her some free passes to a few parties, and got tickets for a bunch of shows on Friday. We should have some fun.
Each eligible comedian's name was read out, and those in favour argued for why we felt they should be in the final 5. We all argued with a passion, and anti-passion for various people. I saw only a couple of mine fall by the wayside. A few others saw most of their's fall by the wayside.
We had a team of secretaries, and legal secretaries overseeing it all. And at the end they announced it was the best Perrier meeting they'd ever sat in on. Saying it was nice to see everyone argued their points so eloquently and without descending into namecalling or shouting, something other years have done.
And so the final list, as I'm sure you'll have read in the papers today looks like this:
Perrier Nominations
Chris Addison
Dutch Elm Conservatoire
Jason Manford
Jeremy Lion
Laura Solon (Kopfrapper)
Newcomers
Charlie Pickering
Mark Watson
Rhod Gilbert
Tim Minchin
Toulson and Harvey.
I'm now off to see all the main nominees again before Saturday, and have requested to see 3 of the newcomers again, as it's been a while since I've seen their shows, Charlie, Mark and T&H.
For those who don't know Caz is on her way up here tonight. I've got her some free passes to a few parties, and got tickets for a bunch of shows on Friday. We should have some fun.
Monday, Tuesday, Happy Days
So Monday I got to see the rest of those acts that were on the shortlist of 22 that I hadn't yet seen.
Dutch Elm - Funny sketch show with a scene whereby the moon landings were actually recorded in Ealing Studio, not the moon or Hollywood. Really enjoyed their show.
Rhod Gilbert - Welsh sardonic comedian. Found his style to grate on me after a while, as he tells us about his childhood growing up in 1984, none of which is true.
Alex Horne - I absolutely loved this show considering it's all about learning latin. But there is a reason for this, and it's not Alex Horne, but his side kick Tim Key, who I believe is a genius comedy actor. And was also the star of the sketch show I loved (no longer on the list) Cowards. Definitely a name to keep an eye out for. Whilst the show is fun, they are holding actual Latin lessons every day in the Slug and Lettuce. Someone from the panel went along. They'd taken over the entire pub, and it was chaos. She was told on entering that Hades was hiding under the coffee table? Bizarre.
DJ Danny - The idea is he's a teacher whose become a superstar DJ. Basically it comes across as if he's saying anyone can become a DJ. There is just one salient point, whilst he's up there pretending to mix tracks, it's obvious he's just actually playing a CD of pre-recorded mixed tracks. Disappointing, though he did get the crowd going in one giant body pop.
Tuesday I just had the one show to see, which meant I got chance to do some shopping. The act I saw was Tim Minchin. Overhyped, pianist on at the Gilded Balloon. Obvious to me but no one else that he's a failed musician sticking some crap comedy into his show, complete with a falling off stage routine and mad crazy hair cut. I'm being told it's cabaret. I think Ben Folds does it better, but no one else has seen him perform.
Look at that madcap hair.
Fools.
Fools.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Gossip from Sunday
So since Sunday I have some gossip about the list. Addison Cresswell, agent to the stars through his company Off the Kerb, such as Jonathan Ross has been bragging for months on end that his latest protégé is going to win the Perrier Award. Mmmm. The protégé in question is Alan Carr. A name we removed from the list on Sunday, after 5 of us saw the show and gave it a middling mark. Some of us thought it started off strong enough but failed 20 minutes in or so.
Now Addison is apparently a well-known agent hard-nut, and not one to be crossed. Cue phone calls and messages for Sarah from Paramount, Graham from Channel 5 and Ruby from Channel 4 basically saying that he expected them to attend that evening’s show, as they hadn't seen it. If they didn't, he would with draw all his acts from their stations. Now that's what I call throwing his toys out of the pram.
The message left for Nica, head of the Perrier was slightly more sinister, threatening to kill her. This isn't such an empty threat. Apparently this isn't the first year he has been upset by the judge’s decision and has used bullying tactics to get what he wants. He has previously smashed Nica's head up against a wall in the Assembly Bar. He is a bit of a coke fiend by all accounts.
The guys all went to see Alan's show. They said it was average, and had a lot of very old material in there padding it out to the 50 minutes.
Addison isn't actually arriving in Edinburgh until Friday night. He's apparently got my name as being a dissenter. I say bring it on. I've met one of his right hand men a couple of times over the past couple of weeks. He was in the bar last night, and said they were disappointed, but he was perfectly nice about it.
Now Addison is apparently a well-known agent hard-nut, and not one to be crossed. Cue phone calls and messages for Sarah from Paramount, Graham from Channel 5 and Ruby from Channel 4 basically saying that he expected them to attend that evening’s show, as they hadn't seen it. If they didn't, he would with draw all his acts from their stations. Now that's what I call throwing his toys out of the pram.
The message left for Nica, head of the Perrier was slightly more sinister, threatening to kill her. This isn't such an empty threat. Apparently this isn't the first year he has been upset by the judge’s decision and has used bullying tactics to get what he wants. He has previously smashed Nica's head up against a wall in the Assembly Bar. He is a bit of a coke fiend by all accounts.
The guys all went to see Alan's show. They said it was average, and had a lot of very old material in there padding it out to the 50 minutes.
Addison isn't actually arriving in Edinburgh until Friday night. He's apparently got my name as being a dissenter. I say bring it on. I've met one of his right hand men a couple of times over the past couple of weeks. He was in the bar last night, and said they were disappointed, but he was perfectly nice about it.
Monday
People are still asking me if I'm ok after having to swap rooms with Vanessa. Still not sure what the big deal is. Vanessa has so far ignored our presence when she's in the house. We clearly are not for the likes of her. I should describe her to you all. She's like Carrie from Sex in the City. Perfect hair, clothes. She even has the long face. Excellent if you want to do the Vanessa walks into a bar joke.
So yesterday, after the meal, we all got back to it and saw a few more shows.
First up Russell Howard. Paul's friend. He was really good, but not hitting my top 5. I think a few people like him, but not sure anyone is really gushing over him.
Jason Manford. The new Peter Kay. Supposedly. Think that has a lot to do with his northern accent, and his slightly chubbyness and the fact he's very likeable and joly on stage. Pleasant hour spent, listening to Urban Myths and where they come from. A definite contender for the newcomer. Ali you'd probably like him....
Katy Brand. Oh dear, oh dear. Having seen her in Ben Willbond's show I knew not to expect a lot. Having heard a few people say it was the worst hour of their life watching this show, I really wasn't expecting a lot. Me, Sarah and Ruby sat through this excruciating hour, vowing to make sure it doesn't make any list other than the worst fucking list. Funny thing is, the only people who loved this show were Ness and Graham. Katy Brand, goodbye.
So yesterday, after the meal, we all got back to it and saw a few more shows.
First up Russell Howard. Paul's friend. He was really good, but not hitting my top 5. I think a few people like him, but not sure anyone is really gushing over him.
Jason Manford. The new Peter Kay. Supposedly. Think that has a lot to do with his northern accent, and his slightly chubbyness and the fact he's very likeable and joly on stage. Pleasant hour spent, listening to Urban Myths and where they come from. A definite contender for the newcomer. Ali you'd probably like him....
Katy Brand. Oh dear, oh dear. Having seen her in Ben Willbond's show I knew not to expect a lot. Having heard a few people say it was the worst hour of their life watching this show, I really wasn't expecting a lot. Me, Sarah and Ruby sat through this excruciating hour, vowing to make sure it doesn't make any list other than the worst fucking list. Funny thing is, the only people who loved this show were Ness and Graham. Katy Brand, goodbye.
Sunday
Sunday. The day of the first official meeting. 11am the Balmoral Hotel.
Things don't get off to a good start, after Vanessa has a hissy fit. I should explain yesterday she was supposed to move in to the house with me and Paul. I had 7 phone calls in the space of an hour. First she couldn't open the front door. Two phone calls to explain the door is just stiff. Me and Paul managed to work this out for ourselves. Then many more calls because she clocked she'd got the smallest room, and I have an en suite bathroom with all the trimmings.
So far I haven't had time to use the jacuzzi, and to be honest I don't really care much about the size of the room. The smallest room is bigger than my room back home for gods sake. So I agree to move. I also sort of agree to be home sometime after midnight, after seeing Phil Nichol, to move my stuff.
One final call to say she couldn't close the front door. As I said to Anthea who was mediating between us "how can I put this, you remember how the door was stiff when she couldn't open it. The same applies..." Anthea laughed, she suspected as much, but Vanessa was adamant there was a problem with it. I offered to go back to the house to help her, but she worked it out in the end.
As some of you will have realized by now, I didn't go home just after midnight, after all this is me we're talking about and it was Saturday night. It was more like 4am. Still technically after midnight.
Come Sunday, Vanessa is absolutely fuming. She pulls Anthea, the Perrier production assistant to one side, and is going mental for like 15 minutes. She's saying things like "it's a child's bed" - it's a single. "I have a bad back" - she's a liar. If we swap, she must have clean bed linen - because obviously she might catch something if she doesn't. "Must have taxi's to and from the house" - the house is a 15 minute walk away from Princes Street, but I guess her 'bad back' affects her walking ability.
I only lost a couple of my top 10, and majority of my top 5 are still in. Two of them I reckon have a strong chance of being in the agreed 5 nominations, 2 others are definitely in the running for newcomer at least. A lot of the big names have gone. Poor Graham, Channel 5ives head of comedy, he must have argued for 8 or 9 acts, saying they were definitely in his top 5. Each time they were kicked off the list. I asked him if he was adding in acts to his top 5 every time one got kicked out. Everyone laughed at that. Bless him, he's shit at arguing his point and was getting walked all over.
Having agreed the top 22, it is now necessary to make sure we have all seen all of these by Wednesday, so that when we sit back down again to whittle them down to 5 Perrier nominees and 5 Newcomers we can all argue either for or against. During our Sunday meeting quite often there was only half the panel who had actually seen an act. I luckily have seen the majority and have only 4 or 5 to see.
After the meeting we all went for a meal, paid for by the Perrier people. It's quite funny, we are now spending quite a bit of time talking to one another, trying to work out alliances, and whose supporting who on what, and getting everyone's top 5's. Wednesday I imagine is going to be very interesting.
Things don't get off to a good start, after Vanessa has a hissy fit. I should explain yesterday she was supposed to move in to the house with me and Paul. I had 7 phone calls in the space of an hour. First she couldn't open the front door. Two phone calls to explain the door is just stiff. Me and Paul managed to work this out for ourselves. Then many more calls because she clocked she'd got the smallest room, and I have an en suite bathroom with all the trimmings.
So far I haven't had time to use the jacuzzi, and to be honest I don't really care much about the size of the room. The smallest room is bigger than my room back home for gods sake. So I agree to move. I also sort of agree to be home sometime after midnight, after seeing Phil Nichol, to move my stuff.
One final call to say she couldn't close the front door. As I said to Anthea who was mediating between us "how can I put this, you remember how the door was stiff when she couldn't open it. The same applies..." Anthea laughed, she suspected as much, but Vanessa was adamant there was a problem with it. I offered to go back to the house to help her, but she worked it out in the end.
As some of you will have realized by now, I didn't go home just after midnight, after all this is me we're talking about and it was Saturday night. It was more like 4am. Still technically after midnight.
Come Sunday, Vanessa is absolutely fuming. She pulls Anthea, the Perrier production assistant to one side, and is going mental for like 15 minutes. She's saying things like "it's a child's bed" - it's a single. "I have a bad back" - she's a liar. If we swap, she must have clean bed linen - because obviously she might catch something if she doesn't. "Must have taxi's to and from the house" - the house is a 15 minute walk away from Princes Street, but I guess her 'bad back' affects her walking ability.
Anyway, Anthea comes over to me and apologizes for Ness's behaviour, she has bent over backwards to help find Ness accommodation at short notice none of which has been suitable, hence her moving in with us. Generally everyone on the panel has sided against Ness because they all know what a pain in the arse she is.
So anyway that's the bitching part of Sunday. We all sat around a table, with a legal secretary, and convened as a committee to discuss the Perrier nominations. Everyone had to introduce themselves and declare any interests. John for instance has many, he is afterall the head of radio entertainment for the BBC. Paul got the piss taken out of him when declaring not interests, mainly because he has spent the previous 2 nights on stage with MC Russell Howard at the Late n Live show. And is now Russell's 'friend' slash 'favourite heckler.' Russell is in the running with his own show. He was also asked to declare if he'd slept with anyone yet. You might have seen him go red if it weren't for his freckles.
So anyway that's the bitching part of Sunday. We all sat around a table, with a legal secretary, and convened as a committee to discuss the Perrier nominations. Everyone had to introduce themselves and declare any interests. John for instance has many, he is afterall the head of radio entertainment for the BBC. Paul got the piss taken out of him when declaring not interests, mainly because he has spent the previous 2 nights on stage with MC Russell Howard at the Late n Live show. And is now Russell's 'friend' slash 'favourite heckler.' Russell is in the running with his own show. He was also asked to declare if he'd slept with anyone yet. You might have seen him go red if it weren't for his freckles.
Then we scuttled through the list of 260 odd acts, weeding out the majority fairly quickly. Then went through all those left on the list again and weeded out any more that weren't really top 5 material or great newcomers. Until we managed to get a long short list of about 22 acts.
It was all quite good spirited. Everyone has got their own top 5's, and many people had to concede some of there's after there was no other support for an act. When we got to Penny Spubbs for instance, I was convinced I would have to fight to get it out. (It's an awful show, but has had a lot of people fawning over them, because they are talented pretty girls.) But after I spoke up strongly against, several people backed me up, and it was out with relative ease on the first round. Get in.
I only lost a couple of my top 10, and majority of my top 5 are still in. Two of them I reckon have a strong chance of being in the agreed 5 nominations, 2 others are definitely in the running for newcomer at least. A lot of the big names have gone. Poor Graham, Channel 5ives head of comedy, he must have argued for 8 or 9 acts, saying they were definitely in his top 5. Each time they were kicked off the list. I asked him if he was adding in acts to his top 5 every time one got kicked out. Everyone laughed at that. Bless him, he's shit at arguing his point and was getting walked all over.
Having agreed the top 22, it is now necessary to make sure we have all seen all of these by Wednesday, so that when we sit back down again to whittle them down to 5 Perrier nominees and 5 Newcomers we can all argue either for or against. During our Sunday meeting quite often there was only half the panel who had actually seen an act. I luckily have seen the majority and have only 4 or 5 to see.
After the meeting we all went for a meal, paid for by the Perrier people. It's quite funny, we are now spending quite a bit of time talking to one another, trying to work out alliances, and whose supporting who on what, and getting everyone's top 5's. Wednesday I imagine is going to be very interesting.
Once we got off the subject of the actual list, a few of us got chatting about comedy in general. It's here that I hear the best news possible. Sarah, who works at Paramount Comedy Channel, admits to being a massive Dylan Moran fan. A friend of hers knows him and she has had chances to meet him but has always been too scared. And this is where she drops her bombshell. She said did know that he's left his wife and kids. She has promised to find out for me if he's seeing anyone at the moment and where he's hanging out. He lives in Edinburgh.
Saturday
Well I'm sorry I haven't been back to the internet cafe for a few days. What can I say, I am now in Edinburgh time. Rising around 11am and not getting to bed before 4am. And I have a fair amount of gossip.
So Saturday I saw, An Englishman, An Irish man, and Scotsman. It's actually one man playing all 3, telling the story of how the Englishman, an Irish man and a Scotsman walk into a bar in 1953, and created the joke we all know and 'love'. Such is moral at the time the government employs them to go around the country cheering them up with their act. We're taken through the next 50 years, and told how they went on to invent just about every genre of joke, e.g. Knock knock jokes etc.
Jo Caulfield, very much a comedian who relies on a good audience. Her act is generally to chat to everyone on her front few rows and take the piss out of them. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff.
Seymour Mace had a brilliant first 10 minutes, which we all loved, but sadly descended into some crap character comedy, with a shit Generation Game Conveyor belt moment at the end. Still loved his imaginary Friend stories.
Phil Nichol, a previous Perrier Nominee years ago with Corky and the Juice Pigs. All those who have seen and heard of him before are agreed he is on fire at the moment. He's not in my top 5 shows though.
After the shows I headed to the Assembly Rooms VIP bar with John Pidgeon. He introduced me to a few people, Hattie Hayridge was pleasant enough. Mark 'Joe Mangle' Little came over for a quick word. Sporting shocking hair. As soon as he left there was a large discussion about whether he's dying his hair or if he's wearing a wig. Hattie nearly convinced me to go and ask him, but I chickened out. Probably wouldn't do to get kicked out the bar this early on.
Rob Newman came over to say a quick hi to John. I was only able to utter a hello. Damn it.
And beating all that, I went to the bar and had Aiden Quinn, film star, to one side of me and Jim ' bullseye' Bowen to the other. Now you can't say that every day.
John introduced me to Andy Smart, the Comedian's Perrier Bookie, and the man I was warned about by Nica. Sure enough he tried subtly and not so subtly to get tips on whose going to make the short list. Cheeky thing, he started to rhyme off some of the top acts to see my reaction claiming he was an excellent poker player and could get all he needed to know just from my face. I pointed out that I too was an excellent poker player and he didn't have what he thought he had. He looked visibly taken a back, stupid idiot believed me. He was alright after that. He mentioned he was staying in Paul Merton's apartment, the largest penthouse suite apparently. Andy is credited with saving Paul's life back in 1987, a story I already knew. I explained I'm a massive fan of Paul's and he's agreed to introduce us at the Perrier Party on Saturday, and try and get us into Paul's aftershow at his Penthouse. Oh yes, Saturday is going to be fantastic.
Then just as I was agreeing to one last drink at the bar, I turned face to face with Chris Bartlett. No, he's not famous, but someone I went to school with! It turns out he's a reviewer for the Stage and not only that but has written a play about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore which is on at the Assembly Rooms. How bizarre is that?
So Saturday I saw, An Englishman, An Irish man, and Scotsman. It's actually one man playing all 3, telling the story of how the Englishman, an Irish man and a Scotsman walk into a bar in 1953, and created the joke we all know and 'love'. Such is moral at the time the government employs them to go around the country cheering them up with their act. We're taken through the next 50 years, and told how they went on to invent just about every genre of joke, e.g. Knock knock jokes etc.
Jo Caulfield, very much a comedian who relies on a good audience. Her act is generally to chat to everyone on her front few rows and take the piss out of them. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff.
Seymour Mace had a brilliant first 10 minutes, which we all loved, but sadly descended into some crap character comedy, with a shit Generation Game Conveyor belt moment at the end. Still loved his imaginary Friend stories.
Phil Nichol, a previous Perrier Nominee years ago with Corky and the Juice Pigs. All those who have seen and heard of him before are agreed he is on fire at the moment. He's not in my top 5 shows though.
After the shows I headed to the Assembly Rooms VIP bar with John Pidgeon. He introduced me to a few people, Hattie Hayridge was pleasant enough. Mark 'Joe Mangle' Little came over for a quick word. Sporting shocking hair. As soon as he left there was a large discussion about whether he's dying his hair or if he's wearing a wig. Hattie nearly convinced me to go and ask him, but I chickened out. Probably wouldn't do to get kicked out the bar this early on.
Rob Newman came over to say a quick hi to John. I was only able to utter a hello. Damn it.
And beating all that, I went to the bar and had Aiden Quinn, film star, to one side of me and Jim ' bullseye' Bowen to the other. Now you can't say that every day.
John introduced me to Andy Smart, the Comedian's Perrier Bookie, and the man I was warned about by Nica. Sure enough he tried subtly and not so subtly to get tips on whose going to make the short list. Cheeky thing, he started to rhyme off some of the top acts to see my reaction claiming he was an excellent poker player and could get all he needed to know just from my face. I pointed out that I too was an excellent poker player and he didn't have what he thought he had. He looked visibly taken a back, stupid idiot believed me. He was alright after that. He mentioned he was staying in Paul Merton's apartment, the largest penthouse suite apparently. Andy is credited with saving Paul's life back in 1987, a story I already knew. I explained I'm a massive fan of Paul's and he's agreed to introduce us at the Perrier Party on Saturday, and try and get us into Paul's aftershow at his Penthouse. Oh yes, Saturday is going to be fantastic.
Then just as I was agreeing to one last drink at the bar, I turned face to face with Chris Bartlett. No, he's not famous, but someone I went to school with! It turns out he's a reviewer for the Stage and not only that but has written a play about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore which is on at the Assembly Rooms. How bizarre is that?
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Friday
Another busy day.
Kopfraper - Laura Solon. Character comedy. A definite for newcomer. I'd heard it was good from a few others beforehand. A wheelchair bound woman possessed by Princess Di. A Wedding Planner from Rotherham who's won an award after planning Eammon Holmes 2nd Cousins wedding. All good stuff.
Gutless. Another comedian who is on stage to tell me all about their problems, smiling through the pain. This guy literally. He has Crohn's disease and has had most of his intestine removed, and so carries a rucksack that he is hooked up to, feeding him liquid through his chest. A high point was his description of the time he tried and failed to commit suicide. It actually wasn't that bad, but I really didn't need to hear about some of it.
Dan Tetsell - writer of According to Bex, guess how good this was? This show is about how is Grandfather was a Nazi. All very well meaning stuff but well.. Enough said. He managed to fit in every obvious Nazi joke. 'Allo 'Aallo, Fanta and Prince Harry, twice. Disappointing.
Ciamh Mc Donnell. A slightly better show using Powerpoint than Tetsell's. Based around the fact his last girlfriend dumped him after a psychic told her to, he goes off in search of the future. (Dave Gorman has a lot to answer for.)
Brendan Burns. Another Dumped one. After his girlfriend dumped him for a DJ, Mr Burns goes to Glastonbury to get everyone high on Mushrooms. Actually surprisingly good. Normally I avoid him, as he is too shouty, in your face and sweary, and not much else. But he was on form. Apparently the other day he did a show, and someone left to go the loo 10 minutes from the end, so he and the rest of the audience followed him and finished the show at the urinals. Nice. And let that be a warning to all audience members, go the loo beforehand.
Alan Carr. His whole family are footballers. He is a camp, short sighted comedian. With the aid of Top Trump cards he explains why he is a disappointment to his family. Not a bad show, but some of his jokes are too contrived for my liking. And some just too old.
Dave Fulton. American living in London. His best gags are actually quotes from Bush.
Kopfraper - Laura Solon. Character comedy. A definite for newcomer. I'd heard it was good from a few others beforehand. A wheelchair bound woman possessed by Princess Di. A Wedding Planner from Rotherham who's won an award after planning Eammon Holmes 2nd Cousins wedding. All good stuff.
Gutless. Another comedian who is on stage to tell me all about their problems, smiling through the pain. This guy literally. He has Crohn's disease and has had most of his intestine removed, and so carries a rucksack that he is hooked up to, feeding him liquid through his chest. A high point was his description of the time he tried and failed to commit suicide. It actually wasn't that bad, but I really didn't need to hear about some of it.
Dan Tetsell - writer of According to Bex, guess how good this was? This show is about how is Grandfather was a Nazi. All very well meaning stuff but well.. Enough said. He managed to fit in every obvious Nazi joke. 'Allo 'Aallo, Fanta and Prince Harry, twice. Disappointing.
Ciamh Mc Donnell. A slightly better show using Powerpoint than Tetsell's. Based around the fact his last girlfriend dumped him after a psychic told her to, he goes off in search of the future. (Dave Gorman has a lot to answer for.)
Brendan Burns. Another Dumped one. After his girlfriend dumped him for a DJ, Mr Burns goes to Glastonbury to get everyone high on Mushrooms. Actually surprisingly good. Normally I avoid him, as he is too shouty, in your face and sweary, and not much else. But he was on form. Apparently the other day he did a show, and someone left to go the loo 10 minutes from the end, so he and the rest of the audience followed him and finished the show at the urinals. Nice. And let that be a warning to all audience members, go the loo beforehand.
Alan Carr. His whole family are footballers. He is a camp, short sighted comedian. With the aid of Top Trump cards he explains why he is a disappointment to his family. Not a bad show, but some of his jokes are too contrived for my liking. And some just too old.
Dave Fulton. American living in London. His best gags are actually quotes from Bush.
Thursday - In the spotlight
Back In Town Again. Finally I have made it on stage. Hiding on the 2nd and 3rd row sadly didn't save me this time. Was slightly worrying, as he was describing what to do if you find someone unconscious and he said to check there airway by sticking your tongue down their throat. Luckily there was no physical contact.
The Trap. This was all a bit panto, having to shout "Get on with it" everytime they said The Trap. The 3 of them having cycled on stage on a bike,have been proclaimed the new Goodies. (It's actually the Goodies bike I've since found out. Bought off eBay.) I don't think the Goodies would have done the ill-conceived joke concerning an 8yr old rapist, whilst there were young kids in the audience but still.
Jeremy Lion. An amazing act. Not particularly funny or groundbreaking, but he has an uncanny ability to neck Special Brew and spirits. A character comedy show, he is a "secret" alcoholic kids entertainer, who slowly gets drunk throughout the show. The high point of the show for me was the fact he handed out 6 bottles of whiskey during the show for us to pass round. Guess it's one way of getting a good review, get your audience pissed.
Chris Addison. Ahhh little Chris Addison. One of my favourites. His show was on my wish list of shows. And he didn't disappoint. Having seen a preview show before coming up here it was good to see the finished product. There was even a mention of the preview in the show, as it was on the day of the attempted bombings and we, being Londoners, still turned up in Hammersmith to see him.
Mark Watson. A little disappointed by this show. As I've heard so much about him whilst I've been up here. He did a marathon 33 hours show a few days ago, and so has become a must see act. His voice was a little hoarse, and he was visibly knackered, so I guess that might have affected the show. I sat with Nica for the show, and was introduced to Jenny Eclair beforehand. Not that exciting but still.
Brendan Burke. One of the strangest gigs. The show was in a pub back room. The audience was a whopping 12 people. All of whom were so weird that Brendan never really got around to telling any of his trademark irish stories. We were all more interested in why a guy at the front's wife had just left him. Married for 16 years she's walked out the day before. When asked who the lady he was with was, he said my sister-in-law, the reason his wife left him. Brilliant. Whether it was true or not, how can you follow that?
Improverts. An improvisation show with a bunch of students. Good fun. Though one poor player had no idea where or what Azerbaijan was. And since Paul was shouting that out for every request for an object or place she was really struggling.
The Trap. This was all a bit panto, having to shout "Get on with it" everytime they said The Trap. The 3 of them having cycled on stage on a bike,have been proclaimed the new Goodies. (It's actually the Goodies bike I've since found out. Bought off eBay.) I don't think the Goodies would have done the ill-conceived joke concerning an 8yr old rapist, whilst there were young kids in the audience but still.
Jeremy Lion. An amazing act. Not particularly funny or groundbreaking, but he has an uncanny ability to neck Special Brew and spirits. A character comedy show, he is a "secret" alcoholic kids entertainer, who slowly gets drunk throughout the show. The high point of the show for me was the fact he handed out 6 bottles of whiskey during the show for us to pass round. Guess it's one way of getting a good review, get your audience pissed.
Chris Addison. Ahhh little Chris Addison. One of my favourites. His show was on my wish list of shows. And he didn't disappoint. Having seen a preview show before coming up here it was good to see the finished product. There was even a mention of the preview in the show, as it was on the day of the attempted bombings and we, being Londoners, still turned up in Hammersmith to see him.
Mark Watson. A little disappointed by this show. As I've heard so much about him whilst I've been up here. He did a marathon 33 hours show a few days ago, and so has become a must see act. His voice was a little hoarse, and he was visibly knackered, so I guess that might have affected the show. I sat with Nica for the show, and was introduced to Jenny Eclair beforehand. Not that exciting but still.
Brendan Burke. One of the strangest gigs. The show was in a pub back room. The audience was a whopping 12 people. All of whom were so weird that Brendan never really got around to telling any of his trademark irish stories. We were all more interested in why a guy at the front's wife had just left him. Married for 16 years she's walked out the day before. When asked who the lady he was with was, he said my sister-in-law, the reason his wife left him. Brilliant. Whether it was true or not, how can you follow that?
Improverts. An improvisation show with a bunch of students. Good fun. Though one poor player had no idea where or what Azerbaijan was. And since Paul was shouting that out for every request for an object or place she was really struggling.
Catch up....
Well it's been a while since I've had time to give my thoughts on the shows I've seen. Wednesday was another mixed bag.
All In The Timing. Began on shoddy ground with a sketch of 3 monkeys in a room with typewriters, but picked itself up with a sketch about Trotsky, which became the same set up for the next sketch, different ending, and so on, until they'd done 14-15 sketches all about Trotsky dying from a Mountain axe in his head. Cleverly done.
The Defiant Thomas Brothers A duo from Chicago. There was some clever stuff here too, but again it wasn't sustained all the way through. There best sketch was based around a French horn player in an orchestra. The conductor was half way back in the audience conducting an invisible orchestra, whilst on stage all we can see and hear is a lone French horn player, playing just a few notes occasionally. It's hard to explain, but it worked.
Andrew Maxwell He's one of those tipped to get a Perrier nomination. (The first meeting is tomorrow.) He's in my top 5, but whether the other judges agree I do not know. He covers an amazing amount of ground in the hour he is on stage. An on going sound fight between him and the 12 year old drummer of the Trachtenburg Family Slide Show, playing in the venue above means that as the Trachtenburgs threaten to drown out Maxwell on stage, he asks his sound guy to hit them with the creaking door. And sure enough there is a deafening sound of a creaky door, and silence from above.
Ben Willbond. Character comedy, helped out by other Fringe stars Katy Brand and Jim Field Smith. It was alright, but hardly cutting edge. No doubt he's being tipped as the next big thing.
Jackie Loeb. Oh dear one of the worst shows I've seen. Stripping at the beginning down to your pants and bra on some flimsy pretence is not necessary, especially if your in your 40's and on the fat size. Supposedly she does singing impressions. They were amazing. I had no idea Bjork was a cockney. Her Shakira was just another excuse for her to take her clothes off again and waggle her belly around. Again sounding nothing like Shakira. And as for her Shirley Bassey, that to me sounded more like Jackie singing very loudly, and that's it. Awful. God spare me from ever seeing the woman again.
All In The Timing. Began on shoddy ground with a sketch of 3 monkeys in a room with typewriters, but picked itself up with a sketch about Trotsky, which became the same set up for the next sketch, different ending, and so on, until they'd done 14-15 sketches all about Trotsky dying from a Mountain axe in his head. Cleverly done.
The Defiant Thomas Brothers A duo from Chicago. There was some clever stuff here too, but again it wasn't sustained all the way through. There best sketch was based around a French horn player in an orchestra. The conductor was half way back in the audience conducting an invisible orchestra, whilst on stage all we can see and hear is a lone French horn player, playing just a few notes occasionally. It's hard to explain, but it worked.
Andrew Maxwell He's one of those tipped to get a Perrier nomination. (The first meeting is tomorrow.) He's in my top 5, but whether the other judges agree I do not know. He covers an amazing amount of ground in the hour he is on stage. An on going sound fight between him and the 12 year old drummer of the Trachtenburg Family Slide Show, playing in the venue above means that as the Trachtenburgs threaten to drown out Maxwell on stage, he asks his sound guy to hit them with the creaking door. And sure enough there is a deafening sound of a creaky door, and silence from above.
Ben Willbond. Character comedy, helped out by other Fringe stars Katy Brand and Jim Field Smith. It was alright, but hardly cutting edge. No doubt he's being tipped as the next big thing.
Jackie Loeb. Oh dear one of the worst shows I've seen. Stripping at the beginning down to your pants and bra on some flimsy pretence is not necessary, especially if your in your 40's and on the fat size. Supposedly she does singing impressions. They were amazing. I had no idea Bjork was a cockney. Her Shakira was just another excuse for her to take her clothes off again and waggle her belly around. Again sounding nothing like Shakira. And as for her Shirley Bassey, that to me sounded more like Jackie singing very loudly, and that's it. Awful. God spare me from ever seeing the woman again.
You'll never believe who I've just been at the bar with...
Oh yes, Thursday night I was in a little exclusive performers bar at the Gilded Balloon rubbing shoulders with Jamie Theakston. That's literally rubbing shoulders with, I had to squeeze past him to get to the bar.
But then tonight has completely blown that out of the water. Tonight I was in a bar half the size of the Mixer with none other than Aiden Quinn and Jim Bowen. Oh yes, the big guns are in town. Old Theako has now slipped down into third in the celeb spotted ranking.
Actually have seen a stack more comedy celebs, Jimmy Carr, Russell Brand, Fred McCauley, have been introduced to Jenny Eclair. But none of them are as impressive as Jim Fucking Bowen.
But then tonight has completely blown that out of the water. Tonight I was in a bar half the size of the Mixer with none other than Aiden Quinn and Jim Bowen. Oh yes, the big guns are in town. Old Theako has now slipped down into third in the celeb spotted ranking.
Actually have seen a stack more comedy celebs, Jimmy Carr, Russell Brand, Fred McCauley, have been introduced to Jenny Eclair. But none of them are as impressive as Jim Fucking Bowen.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Late start today
So Wednesday started late due to a hefty lunch which started at 1 and finished at 3.30. I have now met everyone on the panel. Interesting bunch of people. Very interesting to hear what they've come away with liking so far. A few people are standing out for us all, then there are others we're at opposite ends of the liking spectrum. Certainly one act I've slated hear I overheard two judges raving about further down the table. God forbid.
Anyway more of that later.
Acts I saw Tuesday.
Genius for Dummies. Another sketch show. Another sketch show starring two girls. Another sketch show starring two girls who could do accents from around the country. Another sketch show starring two girls who could do accents from around the country, who didn't really have any jokes. Nevermind.
Next Chris Neil. Bit of a gay middle class snob. And that was his act. He called the show Monopoly but only introduced the Monopoly board into the show 10 minutes from the end and then rushed through his interpretation of the squares. A few of us have seen the show and think he should have run the theme of Monopoly throughout his show.
Bennett Arron . Bennett bless him had his identity stolen and thousands of pounds worth of money stolen in his name. He decided to hold a seminar, sorry comedy show on how it happened. His show started well having Howard Read come out pretending to be him and then another comedian, but thereafter was basically a warning against identity fraud and how it can ruin your life. Interesting but ultimately not funny.
Fiona O'Lauchlin. I'm beginning to see a pattern amongst the women comedians here. They've all had messed up lives, surrounded by alcoholic parents, anorexic, obsessive compulsive siblings. And this one's no different. Bought up in Alive Springs, she did have some great stories to tell about being invited to a dinner party held by a middle class couple, who ran the local chemist. Being poor she went to the local charity shop and bought a nice smart skirt and matching blouse. It was only 2 weeks after the dinner party when she went to the chemists did she find out that it was their uniform.
Umbilical Brothers They've changed their act for this years festival. Though I saw them a few days ago doing their usual sound effects and mime during late n live, their actual official show is more visual. The show was a little flat, though the general consensus is the final 15 minutes is genius. All done with a video camera and a giant screen, a brilliantly choreographed fight between a koala hand puppet and the brothers. Great.
Charlie Pickering An unknown Aussie comic who has funded himself over here. Has no manager, press, or anyone to help him. He's apparently out on the Royal Mile flyering everyday for hours before his show. And it paid off, he had a full theatre. And he was brilliant. And dedicated his show to Elliott Smith, which is always going to win me over.
Super Elvis. Oh dear oh dear. My final show of the day. What can I say? A guy behind us said it would be the best show we saw all festival. Mmmmm. He turned out to be the manager. Great Elvis impersonator, of that there is no doubt, so I thoroughly enjoyed that. But the awful puns delivered with very little conviction in between... Even he knew they were a bad idea. At one point the audience were heckling him with better puns, he looked like he might cry. I did have a great time though, just a shame I was laughing at him. Met him afterwards, he looked so dejected. If I ever need a party act, I'd probably book him. Just because it would be funny.
In reply to Ali's questions, I'll keep you posted about the talent. So far it is above the Underpants but we shall have to see. I mean look at the above photo. Who wouldn't.
Anyway more of that later.
Acts I saw Tuesday.
Genius for Dummies. Another sketch show. Another sketch show starring two girls. Another sketch show starring two girls who could do accents from around the country. Another sketch show starring two girls who could do accents from around the country, who didn't really have any jokes. Nevermind.
Next Chris Neil. Bit of a gay middle class snob. And that was his act. He called the show Monopoly but only introduced the Monopoly board into the show 10 minutes from the end and then rushed through his interpretation of the squares. A few of us have seen the show and think he should have run the theme of Monopoly throughout his show.
Bennett Arron . Bennett bless him had his identity stolen and thousands of pounds worth of money stolen in his name. He decided to hold a seminar, sorry comedy show on how it happened. His show started well having Howard Read come out pretending to be him and then another comedian, but thereafter was basically a warning against identity fraud and how it can ruin your life. Interesting but ultimately not funny.
Fiona O'Lauchlin. I'm beginning to see a pattern amongst the women comedians here. They've all had messed up lives, surrounded by alcoholic parents, anorexic, obsessive compulsive siblings. And this one's no different. Bought up in Alive Springs, she did have some great stories to tell about being invited to a dinner party held by a middle class couple, who ran the local chemist. Being poor she went to the local charity shop and bought a nice smart skirt and matching blouse. It was only 2 weeks after the dinner party when she went to the chemists did she find out that it was their uniform.
Umbilical Brothers They've changed their act for this years festival. Though I saw them a few days ago doing their usual sound effects and mime during late n live, their actual official show is more visual. The show was a little flat, though the general consensus is the final 15 minutes is genius. All done with a video camera and a giant screen, a brilliantly choreographed fight between a koala hand puppet and the brothers. Great.
Charlie Pickering An unknown Aussie comic who has funded himself over here. Has no manager, press, or anyone to help him. He's apparently out on the Royal Mile flyering everyday for hours before his show. And it paid off, he had a full theatre. And he was brilliant. And dedicated his show to Elliott Smith, which is always going to win me over.
Super Elvis. Oh dear oh dear. My final show of the day. What can I say? A guy behind us said it would be the best show we saw all festival. Mmmmm. He turned out to be the manager. Great Elvis impersonator, of that there is no doubt, so I thoroughly enjoyed that. But the awful puns delivered with very little conviction in between... Even he knew they were a bad idea. At one point the audience were heckling him with better puns, he looked like he might cry. I did have a great time though, just a shame I was laughing at him. Met him afterwards, he looked so dejected. If I ever need a party act, I'd probably book him. Just because it would be funny.
In reply to Ali's questions, I'll keep you posted about the talent. So far it is above the Underpants but we shall have to see. I mean look at the above photo. Who wouldn't.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
And yesterday... That's Monday (?)
As time flies by, I've lost track of what day it is. Drinking has started at 1 o'clock every day, and finished at the other 1 o'clock in the day. Money is dwindling fast. Ok that's not true. But there have been complaints that I've not mentioned the amount of alcohol consumed. But this is me we're talking about. I think you can safely assume I'm not doing this fortified by cups of tea.
So yesterday. Dave Skinner. Mmmm. Liked the idea of his friend interviewing him as Brian Beloved, star of Brash Gordon. But to be honest that was about it. There were some funny voiceovers in between the sketches which were funnier. But then, mentioning being shafted by Sean Connery, whilst being interviewed is always going to be funnier.
Howard Read and Little Howard. I asked to see big and little Howard. The basic premise is big 'human' Howard is on stage, little Howard on the screen and they interact. LB is not quite 5yrs old, so a lot of the humour comes from his childish misunderstandings. It's amazingly clever. LB can even interact with the audience. No really. Unfortunately in the show I saw LB was in a coma, and so he was played by Dara O'Brien. They decided 2 have a laughter appeal to try and get him out of the coma. Wogan and Pudsey even showed their support. Ok all that sounds like I've gone mad. It's good, trust me.
Penny Spubb's Party. There isn't a lot I can say about this, disappointing is one word. Shameful, another. It had a good review somewhere, god knows where, but it was sold out and all the people in the queue were telling me it was supposed to be fantastic. That same audience bolted at the first chance through the fire exit 30mins in. Leaving me suffering. Thanks guys. I'm assuming the ones left are family members, friends, paid monkeys. They had 3 one minute sketches which were funny but ultimately not their own. Party games gone wrong. Such as musical chairs, but someone forgets to take away a chair. Etc. Enough said.
Toulson and Harvey. I really enjoyed. Set around a news team. Slight impersonations, names changed for comedy affect, ever Robert Righteous Self, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Kilroy. Blair, being kept in a cupboard by evil Blair. Two impressions of Blair, at the same time. What more could you want?
Angelo Tsarouchas is a good polished Greek Canadian. His stand up revolved around fat jokes, he himself is fat. Most jokes were a little too obvious for my liking, and I like a little variety in my life. An hour of fat jokes is a little testing. There was a McDonald's joke in there for those of us who like our McDonalds (Ali.) He wanted to know why the seating in McDonalds wasn't made for people who ate in McDonalds. E.g. If he hiccupped he would have given himself the hiemlich manoeuvre against the seating which was too close to him.
Janey Godley is one of the funnier women I've seen so far. She's written a book about her mad life which I want to read. Seeing the stand up show makes me want to read the book even more. She's very good at story telling. Whilst none of this will sound funny, it is. She was abused by her Uncle at a young age, her parents were alcoholics, her mother was murderd, she married a sufferer of Asperger Syndrome (See Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nightime by Mark Haddon), oh and her husband is related to the mafia, he possibly had her mother's killer killed. (That bit is still on going.) She's currently having scans for Breast Cancer whilst she is up here, so that's been written into the show too. Throughly enjoyable show, though not as laugh out loud as some of the other shows I've seen.
And so that was Tuesday.
Other little notes. I've seen Arthur Smith walking around, which I understand is an Edinburgh must. He is an institution here. I believe he isn't doing the naked thing any more, which is probably a blessing.
I've met John Pidgeon, who's chairing the Perrier this year. Seems a very nice and I can see him being very fair. Don't think he actually gets to cast a vote though.
Anyway must get cracking. 18 shows in 2 and half days. Plenty more to go.
So yesterday. Dave Skinner. Mmmm. Liked the idea of his friend interviewing him as Brian Beloved, star of Brash Gordon. But to be honest that was about it. There were some funny voiceovers in between the sketches which were funnier. But then, mentioning being shafted by Sean Connery, whilst being interviewed is always going to be funnier.
Howard Read and Little Howard. I asked to see big and little Howard. The basic premise is big 'human' Howard is on stage, little Howard on the screen and they interact. LB is not quite 5yrs old, so a lot of the humour comes from his childish misunderstandings. It's amazingly clever. LB can even interact with the audience. No really. Unfortunately in the show I saw LB was in a coma, and so he was played by Dara O'Brien. They decided 2 have a laughter appeal to try and get him out of the coma. Wogan and Pudsey even showed their support. Ok all that sounds like I've gone mad. It's good, trust me.
Penny Spubb's Party. There isn't a lot I can say about this, disappointing is one word. Shameful, another. It had a good review somewhere, god knows where, but it was sold out and all the people in the queue were telling me it was supposed to be fantastic. That same audience bolted at the first chance through the fire exit 30mins in. Leaving me suffering. Thanks guys. I'm assuming the ones left are family members, friends, paid monkeys. They had 3 one minute sketches which were funny but ultimately not their own. Party games gone wrong. Such as musical chairs, but someone forgets to take away a chair. Etc. Enough said.
Toulson and Harvey. I really enjoyed. Set around a news team. Slight impersonations, names changed for comedy affect, ever Robert Righteous Self, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Kilroy. Blair, being kept in a cupboard by evil Blair. Two impressions of Blair, at the same time. What more could you want?
Angelo Tsarouchas is a good polished Greek Canadian. His stand up revolved around fat jokes, he himself is fat. Most jokes were a little too obvious for my liking, and I like a little variety in my life. An hour of fat jokes is a little testing. There was a McDonald's joke in there for those of us who like our McDonalds (Ali.) He wanted to know why the seating in McDonalds wasn't made for people who ate in McDonalds. E.g. If he hiccupped he would have given himself the hiemlich manoeuvre against the seating which was too close to him.
Janey Godley is one of the funnier women I've seen so far. She's written a book about her mad life which I want to read. Seeing the stand up show makes me want to read the book even more. She's very good at story telling. Whilst none of this will sound funny, it is. She was abused by her Uncle at a young age, her parents were alcoholics, her mother was murderd, she married a sufferer of Asperger Syndrome (See Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nightime by Mark Haddon), oh and her husband is related to the mafia, he possibly had her mother's killer killed. (That bit is still on going.) She's currently having scans for Breast Cancer whilst she is up here, so that's been written into the show too. Throughly enjoyable show, though not as laugh out loud as some of the other shows I've seen.
And so that was Tuesday.
Other little notes. I've seen Arthur Smith walking around, which I understand is an Edinburgh must. He is an institution here. I believe he isn't doing the naked thing any more, which is probably a blessing.
I've met John Pidgeon, who's chairing the Perrier this year. Seems a very nice and I can see him being very fair. Don't think he actually gets to cast a vote though.
Anyway must get cracking. 18 shows in 2 and half days. Plenty more to go.
It's been a while
Well it seems like i've been here for two weeks already. I didn't get chance to write yesterday. By the time I had some spare time all the net cafes were shut. Even the Easyeverything, which apparently isn't easy after 8.
So on Sunday I saw just 6 acts. First up Matt Tiller. Two words, Austin Powerpoint. He made some great use of Hasselhoff and the Flumps, but his show was basically him trying to get a date out of his audience. There's something of a theme with that this year.
Then I saw a sketch show, Cowards, these guys have been on Radio 1 apparently. I really enjoyed these. They were doing something different, using minimal but effective props.
Christie and Doyles Axis of Evil on the other hand was ok but wasn't a great 50mins of material. There was one good joke where the mixed up the Middle East with Long Eaton (East Midlands see?)
The Bicycle Men is a play that's transferred from New York. Had a few good songs, but because it had narrative it'll probably be ineligible. It will however I predict have a cult following by the end of it's run.
Next up a duo previously nominated a few years ago, Priorite a Gauche. To me they seemed to be doing the same old schtick. It's surprising that they are still managing to get a laugh out of the French accent.
Second to last was Reggie Watts. I couldn't work out if he was a genius or shit. Certainly there were bits said in a mad rambling style that suggested Eddie Izzard. But then there were bits where I thought he's on drugs and he's just mumbling. What are you saying?! There was a great line he said "In 1941 everyone in Germany was super into hiding." His show was interrupted by a fire alarm and an evacuation, which meant I was late for...
Nicko and Joe. A little embarrassing, begging to be let in to find the smallest room ever, 5 audience members and two performers. Still they were all a friendly bunch. We all knew each others names by the end of the show. They basically did funny little acoustic numbers. Sweet and a nice way to finish the evening. Whilst this would never sway my opinion, it helped that Joe was nice to look at. Believe me there has been a distinct lack of that kind of talent so far.
So on Sunday I saw just 6 acts. First up Matt Tiller. Two words, Austin Powerpoint. He made some great use of Hasselhoff and the Flumps, but his show was basically him trying to get a date out of his audience. There's something of a theme with that this year.
Then I saw a sketch show, Cowards, these guys have been on Radio 1 apparently. I really enjoyed these. They were doing something different, using minimal but effective props.
Christie and Doyles Axis of Evil on the other hand was ok but wasn't a great 50mins of material. There was one good joke where the mixed up the Middle East with Long Eaton (East Midlands see?)
The Bicycle Men is a play that's transferred from New York. Had a few good songs, but because it had narrative it'll probably be ineligible. It will however I predict have a cult following by the end of it's run.
Next up a duo previously nominated a few years ago, Priorite a Gauche. To me they seemed to be doing the same old schtick. It's surprising that they are still managing to get a laugh out of the French accent.
Second to last was Reggie Watts. I couldn't work out if he was a genius or shit. Certainly there were bits said in a mad rambling style that suggested Eddie Izzard. But then there were bits where I thought he's on drugs and he's just mumbling. What are you saying?! There was a great line he said "In 1941 everyone in Germany was super into hiding." His show was interrupted by a fire alarm and an evacuation, which meant I was late for...
Nicko and Joe. A little embarrassing, begging to be let in to find the smallest room ever, 5 audience members and two performers. Still they were all a friendly bunch. We all knew each others names by the end of the show. They basically did funny little acoustic numbers. Sweet and a nice way to finish the evening. Whilst this would never sway my opinion, it helped that Joe was nice to look at. Believe me there has been a distinct lack of that kind of talent so far.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
The First Day
Hi everyone,
So I've been here a day. Arrived at 1.30 Edinburgh time. And so far I've had a fantastic time.
The house is lovely. Big. Met Paul, the other Punter Panelist. We tossed a coin for the main bedroom, which I hadn't actually seen at that point. I won. The room is huge, with an en suite bathroom, complete with shower, jacuzzi, and bidet. Oh yes, I could have some fun here.
Here is a picture of the room:
So I've been here a day. Arrived at 1.30 Edinburgh time. And so far I've had a fantastic time.
The house is lovely. Big. Met Paul, the other Punter Panelist. We tossed a coin for the main bedroom, which I hadn't actually seen at that point. I won. The room is huge, with an en suite bathroom, complete with shower, jacuzzi, and bidet. Oh yes, I could have some fun here.
Here is a picture of the room:
Anthea was at the house to meet us, and gave us our itineraries for the day. She did it so we could meet up between every few shows, which is good. They all seem a friendly bunch. So far I've seen The Circus of the Future, http://www.chortle.co.uk/edfest2005/edshows.html?http&&&www.chortle.co.uk/edfest2005/circusoffuture.html which was ok, two women doing sketches based around a circus from the future.
Michael Mee, http://www.gildedballoon.co.uk/2005/fringe_show_review.php?show_ID=32 which was alright, treading that path of Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan.
Natalie Haynes, http://www.nataliehaynes.com/ who's show is based around Logan's run, and is said a warp speed. Boy can she talk fast.
Paul Chowdhry, http://www.chortle.co.uk/edfest2005/edshows.html I enjoyed the most from the day. Mainly dealing with racism, but without being too political. It was good fun.
Congress Of Oddities, I didn't enjoy so much, maybe that was because it was nearly midnight, but it was all a bit Acting School for me. http://www.chortle.co.uk/edfest2005/edshows.html
After the shows finished we went over to the Gilded Balloon to use our special bar passes. Introduced ourselves to someone running things, and got seats at the front for Late n Live. There was a fight there on Friday night, with an Aussie comic beating up a heckler. It's that sort of place. But last night was quiet by comparison. Only a few hecklers. The acts we saw were Simon Munnery, Jimeoin, and the Umbilical Brothers. Good night. We left when the band came on at 3. Got home around 4. Had to get up at 10.30 this morning to hand in my reviews and ratings for the acts I'd seen the day before.
Today is looking like another long one. I have 7 shows to see starting at 3.15pm, finishing around 1am.
So far it's been as I expected, a little mad. Everywhere I turn there are comedians walking around. Seen Daniel Kitson, Robin Ince, and a guy from the Smoking Room. As you can imagine, I'm in my element.
Catch you soon.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
I'm on a train
Well things were going well. I'm half way there, trains just stopped at Darlington station. When who should i get a call from but Barrie. He's got a phone bill and was just checking the numbers. He 'lost' his phone a while ago and my number with it apparently. Yeah right.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Betting on the Perrier
There is a website http://www.perrierbet.co.uk which is taking bets. They don't seem to have bothered checking out the rules for the Perrier though, yet the eligibility rules are here: http://perriercomedyawards.com/ Guess they are just going to take money from people too stupid to check.
One day to go....
I've just been reading this and getting excited (again):
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/features/article305269.ece
Glad I've already seen Mr Addison. Will be gutted if I don't see Zaltman and Oliver. Will have to make a concerted effort to see them when I get back in which case.
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/features/article305269.ece
Glad I've already seen Mr Addison. Will be gutted if I don't see Zaltman and Oliver. Will have to make a concerted effort to see them when I get back in which case.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Pictures and everything
It worked. Yay!
So it worked. Though a little time consuming. If I can find a net cafe, that has definitely got to be the better way to go. The mobile thing is handy though.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
First post by my mobile
So I thought this might be a great way to keep in touch with everyone. And if this works I won't need to find a net cafe as i can update by mobile.
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