Thursday, August 26, 2010

Sorry am late but I have an excuse!

Am STILL at the Edinburgh Fringe…its seems like ten weeks instead of four let me tell you. I have bonded with the white Scottie Dog called Hector who lives in our cobbled stoned mews area, he has a floppy ear and wee black button eyes and chases squirrels and loves cuddles. I am addicted to the dishwasher in the three floored mews we are staying in and I adore the juicer.

The shows have been awesome, I have bitched and whined about the McEwan Hall which seats over 1,000 folk sucking in all the punters but the basic truth is, people just want to go see people they have seen on the telly…I am not on the telly, so ergo people have no real interest in me, except the people who are fans of my comedy.

Though the numbers have been fabulous, I am aware that the glut of footfall has been avoiding the small shows, the interesting theatre and the fantastic musical shows. It kind of rings like a death knell for the fringe if the punters just want to go see people off the telly…that’s not a fringe that’s a TV comedy festival!

Ok, done moaning about that.

I am knackered just being here and it feels like some alternative life I am living, though getting to see loads of cracking comedy pals has been awesome, and making new pals is worthwhile.

Ashley is bored with me tweeting or reading in her company, she has gotten into an attention seeking vibe, much like when she was five years old. “Put that book down and talk to me Mum” she whinges…we have been together too long here in Edinburgh. She needs her own life back; she needs her room, her computer and her own pals.

My mate Monica calls and we can’t have a decent natter coz I am either in a show or going to a show, coming from a show or asleep.

The people coming to the show and chatting afterwards have been wickedly nice, how cool to meet people who like what you do?

Twitter, Facebook and the internet in general have changed the way comedians interact with their audiences, they now can let you know they are coming, they can arrange a gab afterwards and all those people you wished happy birthday to on the internet, or commented on their baby photos can now contact you and we get to know each other more. That’s awesome.

When I first came to the fringe in 1995 things were different, there were no 60 foot posters or faces on a taxi. A young long haired Ed Byrne was cutting a career out, a bouncy manic Brendan Burns was screaming at people in Late and Live, Johnny Vegas was crippled with nerves driving through with me from Glasgow and comedy was dependant not on telly appearances, or internet campaigns or adverts but on people making choices about what they fancied. Mobile phones weren’t that common,
how they hell did we survive? How did we know a gig was running late and who was next on, how did we contact venues about ticket sales, promoters tickets without email and text? No one held up a phone and took pictures of Ross Noble crowd surfing and let millions view it instantly on the web! It was the old days when word of mouth was king.

It was the days when people used watches to tell the time, but progress is an amazing thing people and it helps with comedy ticket sales.

Am looking forward to getting this weekend out of the way and getting back to normality, sleeping in my own bed and not checking stars on my reviews, there is a life outside Edinburgh and apparently it is dominated by a woman who threw a cat in a wheelie bin…that’s all the news I know…has anything else happened in the world since I have been here? No…didn’t think so.

Come see my last weekend at Pleasance Dome 7pm nightly.

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