Edinburgh Festival Fringe Day 2

Tuesday 13^th August



Today was the day of Richard Herrings Edinburgh Fringe Podcast (or as it’s known by all the cool kids RHEFP).  This show is mainly an interview show with a few jokes and ‘emergency questions’ thrown in.  2013 is the third successive year for this podcast and it is always entertaining and fun.  This year was the first that Richard Herring had welcomed two guests of the comedy world onto the stage plus a five minute stand up set showcasing an up and coming talent. His guests today were one liner extraordinaire Milton Jones and American YouTube sensation Bo Burnham.

The journey there was an eventful one, including my trip and subsequent fall up the path leading to the venue.  The first part of the journey took in a thirty mile drive to Newcraighall train station, which is ten miles from Edinburgh itself. Then a train ride into Edinburgh.  That all worked out fine and we seemed to have plenty of time to get to The Stand comedy club.  Having paid for tickets a few months ago via the Edinburgh fringe website I thought it sensible to leave them at the box office, ready for collection on the day of the show.  As I understood from the website there would be box offices and collection points all dotted around the different venues.  That certainly seemed the case when we got near to The Stand. However, they failed to mention that tickets bought through the website could only be collected at a specific box office.  So the first box office we try, situated outside the Assembly Rooms was only for shows held at that venue.  We were told to go directly to the stand box office where they could print them out.  Time was getting on and we were in danger of missing the beginning of the podcast recording.  When we reached the box office I was asked if I had purchased the tickets through their website, to which I responded ‘no I got them through the main fringe site.  This it seemed was the wrong answer, and the girl behind the computer harrumphed as if to say it was my fault.  I took an instant dislike to this girl and her attitude.  It was made all the more difficult as she had to find my order and then print off a pair of their in-house tickets off.  All the time I was made to feel as if I had gone about the whole process in the wrong way.  I could only take exception to that. 
Due to the time wasted upstairs the show was so close starting that me and my friend had to, ironically, stand up throughout.
Richard Herring, his guests and the emerging stand up comedian made up for that by being very funny and we still managed to enjoy it. What I loved the most was the ‘emergency question’ ‘If you HAD to marry a Muppet which one would it be and why?’  This question was only put to Milton Jones and he answered with Beaker, Dr Bunsen Honeydew’s assistant. And why? ‘Because of the sounds he makes.  It would just be funny living with someone like that!’

From The Stand we headed over to the Gilded Balloon, which is situated in amongst the University of Edinburgh site, to see Michael J Dolan.  After having to navigate a number of stairs leading to UYianni’s show on Monday, this venue known as The Turret had even more leading up to it.  I appreciate that Edinburgh is an old city but I am also getting old and stairs are no longer a friend to my knees. 

My friend and I were some of the first to go into the room, and typically we were the only ones brave enough to sit at the front. Even though we knew full well Michael wouldn’t pick on audience members.  He’s not that kind of comedian.  He even admitted to not wanting to make eye contact with anyone specific as it made him nervous. 
I think this is the case with most stand up comedians unless it’s part of their act or are coopering.  This was not one of those shows.  For the most part they prefer to look into the middle distance.
Michael’s show, called ‘Nothing Will Ever Be Alright Again, Ever’, consisted of storytelling with jokes, from a darker world view. These included his hatred of most things and his time spent taking Prozac for depression.  With some comedians it’s difficult to tell when they are being themselves and when they are still in their on stage persona.  Some of the content of a show like this was likely to turn some people away; however, I’m not one of those people and thoroughly enjoyed the darker nature of his stories.  They say comedy is truth and I could tell that everything he said was the truth or at least very close to it.  The set ended early and at forty five minutes did seem a little short.