Warming Up

Going from watching Ted Lasso to Man City vs West Ham and this season has really taken it out of Nate. I know his hair was turning grey, but his face has collapsed into a Gollum face now….

I can do football jokes.

You won't necessarily get them though, as you don't like football.

I was idly thinking about the Edinburgh Fringe today. You will remember that I am not going this year, having led a boycott that has been supported by literally ones of performers (just for journalists reading - I am not boycotting it, just feel uncomfortable with the direction it has taken and worried for my own mental health, but given my initial blog which said that led to articles saying I was boycotting the Fringe, I suppose this qualification is pointless). It struck me that it's 36 years since I first went up there in 1987. It suddenly struck me that the idea of me going to the Fringe was like someone who had performed in the 1951 Festival turning up to do a show in 1987. What would I have made of that? It would have obviously predated Python and Beyond the Fringes which seemed like ancient history to us in 87 (in fact I had been prompted to think about this by a tweet from Eric Idle saying he'd met Michael Palin at the Fringe in 1964 - a mere 23 years before my fledgling outing).

I tried to find out who would have been performing in 1951, but I could only find news about classical musicians and orchestras and choirs who weren't well known to me (and might still have been there in 1987 - I wouldn't have known, having no interest. You can see the Festival programme here.

I don't think people would really get the point if I said “Me performing at the Fringe in 2023 would be like Dimitri Mitropoulos performing in 1987”. 

I did find this titbit about 1951 from a Scotsman article from 2013 

"1951 – Edinburgh University students set up a drop-in centre giving Fringe performers cheap meals and a bed for the night; the first official organised facilities provided for the fledgling festival.”

How things have changed and how amazing it would be if there could be something like that now. Imagine people in Edinburgh welcoming performers and trying to help them.

Though the reason why it might have been a bit easier to organise back then is perhaps revealed in this entry

"1962 – Edinburgh University complains that their telephone system is struggling to cope with Fringe-related calls, when 34 groups show up to perform.”

Imagine there only being 34 groups up there. But I suspect that in 1987 it was still at a stage where you might be able to see nearly every show at the Fringe if you had nothing else to do that month. It has swollen up into a monster of theatre and jokes and nonsense and no wonder nobody is offering free food and beds to that monster. It's like the Tiger That Came To Tea. That fucker would empty the fucking larder.

Anyway glad I am not going to Edinburgh, though I am going to be at a different Fringe in July!

Another work in progress gig announced - I am doing a Can I Have My Ball Back? gig on 27th July at 5.30pm at the Ventnor Fringe on the Isle of Wight. Small venue (though not sure what my following on IoW) BOOK NOW

Also warm ups at the Angel, in Wells and Leeds (this one is selling fast) and one to announce soon in Balham. Details here.

RHLSTP with Mark Gatiss is now up wherever you get your pods.

Hoping to announce a few more guests for the upcoming shows soon.