Fringe highlights and lowlights
Here are the best and worst things I experienced at the Fringe, in no particular order:
HOT: They let me do 10 minutes on this fancy stage at the Three Sisters:
NOT: Liz Kingsman’s One Woman Show didn’t win an Edinburgh Comedy Award. I know nothing about Sam Campbell who did win so maybe he’s even better. I kept recommending One Woman Show when I saw it last year so I just wanted to be able to say “I told you so” and get some clout for championing women in comedy. Nobody has done more to support women in comedy than I have, whether it’s paying them to make weird videos with me, or letting them publically humiliate me in roast battles. Actually when I write it down it sounds like I have some kind of sexual agenda with this, but I can assure you I don’t.
HOT: The Scottish chip shop delicacy called a “munchie box”, which consists of a pizza covered in a few of whatever else they serve at the chip shop: pakoras (a thing they serve at chip shops in Scotland, apparently), kebab meat, salad, whatever chips they have swept up off the floor, etc. Delicious for the price.
NOT: The Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe winner was this: "I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn't get pasta". I’ve shat funnier things (after eating a munchie box). Goes to show that the best person doesn’t always win.
HOT: Getting to do four roast battles in two weeks. This was the best roast battle ever:
For technical reasons I can’t show you the part where I lost the panel vote 2-1.
NOT: Doing mainly late shows, with the inevitable subsequent late-night drinking, meant that I was too knackered to see some shows I had booked tickets for, including Shannon Matthews the Musical.
HOT: Seeing Stewart Lee, Al Lubel, Alfie Brown, the plays Hey! That’s My Wife with Caroline Hanes and Pearly Gates with Calum Macleod, the Peter Bazeley half of What Women Want, Radu Isac, Nick Everitt’s show Quiet, Stay On The Bus You Cowards, a production of the 2003 musical Avenue Q (still holds up, if anything it’s more relevant in today’s climate) and some other stuff probably.
NOT: Failing to see a lot of people’s shows that I had promised I’d come to because everything kept happening at 10 o’clock.
HOT: Winning a medal at Mark O’Keefe’s compilation show Tree Fiddy. The premise of the show is that there’s a topical theme that changes each day, and the best joke on the topic wins a medal. The theme of the day was dogs because it was International Dog Day. I was dressed up as a dog doing stand-up about being a dog, so I felt like I was in with a shot. Also the other, better comedians had left by the end to do other gigs or go to the toilet. Goes to show that the best person doesn’t always win, but I was delighted to win this:
HOT: Edinburgh has a branch of Jollibee, the Filipino fast food chain, and their fried chicken is excellent. Worth checking out their London branches IMO.
Thanks to the lovely French guy at Drinkmonger for his recommendation of an affordable champagne to pair with fried chicken. He gave me a discount because “it’s good to have artists around”. Remember, when I’m on a stage talking about my dick, that’s art!
Gig date
Reminder that you can see me TONIGHT:
Tuesday August 30th at 8pm - Vauxhall Comedy Club
6 S Lambeth Pl, London SW8 1SP
And then I have nothing booked for a couple of weeks.
Recommendations
Louis CK’s new film Fourth of July is available to buy directly from him. Yeah, I know, but it’s a good film.
The new Jordan Peele movie Nope is in cinemas and it’s very good. Better than US, not quite as good as Get Out would be my reductive summary, but it’s definitely worth seeing. Go to an IMAX screening if you can.
Someone reminded me of Wonder Showzen and it really holds up. There is no way to watch it legitimately in the UK so you’ll have to pirate it.