Evidently not...

Here's me at the Comedy Store last Monday, and the audience were happy for me to bring Chris Langham up and laugh at it. A few people made the 'oooh' noise, but hey, if they laughed first, it doesn't count.

It's worth adding that this was a charity gig for disabled children and children with terminal illnesses, and most of the charity's staff were there too, so I consider this a moral rubber-stamping.

Stephen

At the back end of this year's fringe, TheLondonPaper approached me asking to see if I could have a go at posting stuff onto the new www.constantcomedy.com clip sharing site to see how it differed from other video portals. Here's what went horribly wrong...

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/lcsearch/article/1157148999950?packedargs=suffix%3DArticleController

Stephen

Yes, I'm proper rubbish, not having blogged in 5 days. But I've never known such a roller-coaster Edinburgh in just the first week; I've now felt the lowest lows I ever have, and just 20 minutes ago, the highest high too.

Good news first. Basically, I've just received that most coveted of gongs - a 5 star review from Chortle. I won't pretend it doesn't mean the world to me - I'm exhilerated; and am punching the air a bit. I'd love to phone everyone I know who'd care enough to listen and share in the feeling of triumph, but I've lost my voice somewhat, and am resting it for tonight's show, which has two more reviewers in. I've got this eery feeling that things are about to get even more hectic.

The bad news relates to the death of a great comic from this year's Cape Town Vodacom Funny Festival, at the ridiculously early age of 24. I want to write something seperate about Wayvinne and not tie it up in this blog entry as they are the polar opposites of my emotions right now and I want to gather my thoughts about his loss at another time.

Stephen

Well, there you have it.

4 stars in Fest for the show on my opening night. Obviously that's nice, but they came to a properly shabby show so I should be wildly grateful! Their criticism seems odd, as I don't have jokes about drunk calls to exes or avoiding fights - I do have an invention to avoid *making* drunk calls to exes, but that's about it. But the Daily Mail bashing is spot on, so I hold my hands up to that.

Today (well, Yesterday) was a very up and down day, and this has sweetened it a bit. I'll post more tomorrow, but you all probably guessed that already.

Here we go then:

http://www.festmag.co.uk/sections/comedy/73

Nice start. Could have been a five with some effort methinks, but that's a platform to build on. At least I didn't have Helen Pidd review me, possibly the worst informed reviewer in the history of the Fringe*.

:)

Stephen


* She accused me in 2004 of not knowing what Nazi stood for, even though I gave an explanation during the show that is word for word identical to the COD definition. What did she possibly think it stood for?

OK, here's a question for you.

How long is the Edinburgh Festival?

Now the lazy answer here is, 'a month'. Of course, with the preparation, travelling and logistics involved, if you are a performer who is committed to the fringe, August is a write-off. But there is never 31 consecutive days, so that's not an accurate response.

Likewise, 'three weeks' (as implied by Caro's wonderful publication of the same name) is also not accurate, as the festival as outlined by www.edfringe.com starts officially on the 5th and ends on the 27th - that's 23 days inclusive. Not the 21 days that three weeks would imply.

But it isn't 23 days, either. Because there are always additional days tagged onto the beginning. Since 2004 I have been a Gilded Balloon act, but this year I have returned to the Pleasance; who start doing shows on the Wednesday. The 1st of August. Not the 5th, then.

So, are these shows in the festival? Yes, of course they are; but they are considered *previews* - even though, as I am discovering, they have absolutely no correlation to the two months of previews we bang out across the UK in preparation of our festival shows over the month. So the answer is a bone crunching 27 days - 1 day short of four calendar weeks. Caro may need to rename her publication.

Because tonight, I have a 'preview', and yesterday and Thursday, I had 'previews'; but I have also now had three sets of reviewers in (Metro, Fest, Scotland on Sunday) and this is irking me somewhat. My approach to these shows has been 'preview based' - for a start, the ticket price is half (so surely people's expectations are different) and I am in a room that is new to me with a crew that is new to me, dealing with the technical nuances that are unique to this environment and trying to judge the running time specific to the crowd. So I have been chopping and changing sections, modifying the style of the start, and putting a completely different finish in. And yet I have only just recently found out that these have been reviewed (in the case of Fest, maybe not, they were in just by chance and asked if I minded getting reviewed off the back of it. I chanced my arm and said, "fine, no problem".)

So how did those shows go? OK - if you approach them from a preview mentality. I never shirk on the effort required in a preview and I don't take a script on stage with me (just a crib sheet, more as a safety net) so it wouldn't have *appeared* as a preview; but the fact is I know I am capable of so much more in the smoothness of delivery and the polish of the material. Hence I'm a little worried the reviews won't be representative.

This is the case with most shows that I do, though I bumped into Markus Birdman (below) who has told me that his show is pretty much exactly like how it will be for the whole run. I can't understand how people can rehearse and engineer an end product so close to what it will be in Edinburgh when actually away from the festival, but he's managed it. Big props him.



Anyway. It's going OK, but the overall show has a promise of much, much better to come. Most of my teething problems come from the fact that I have a new team to deal with in both management and venue, and that I don't have the fallback of going through my agent Lisa White, as she's a teeny bit distracted right now (having just given birth two days ago to her first daughter; Cosima. 17lb 13oz, doncha know. Well done Lisa).

Anyway, as I'm trying desperately to bring this blog bang up to date, let's hit some of the concurrent threads of my life all at once.

1. Edinburgh.

Currently smells of the brewery again. The water is STILL YELLOW as well. Does nobody up here notice this?



It's a light tinge, but it's far from clear, oh no no.


2. Wireless LAN.

OK, I am now writing this on my T-mobile hook-up because the company opposite got wind of me allegedly 'piggy backing' onto their wifi and cut me off. The guy next door at first said I couldn't use his, but now says I can, if I pay him a tenner (bargain!) and speak to Rowan, his flat mate, who has the username and password. Unfortunately, I have yet to call round when Rowan is in. Hence status is as follows: 5 days, still no wifi.


3. The AAA stand-up team.

Are lovely. Tom, Sully, Diane. What a nice bunch. :)



That's a bargain of a show. Def. worth seeing straight after mine.


4. The White Belly room at the Underbelly.

I did Political Animal last night and it was fun, even if the audience seemed to have a bit of a lapse for no apparent reason, which they were probably more aware of than us (!). But it was a good bill and everyone did well; myself, then James Sherwood, then Russell Howard. Never seen Russell do PA and his set is 'loosely' political but it really doesn't matter because it's so much fun. Marbles up the arse turns you into a wizard? Give that guy an award, he's brilliant.



The best thing of all though - the room. I've been doing stuff in this room for Neil Masters and his late show for a few years now and it is always the hottest, most condensation-soaked room of the fest - but not any more! It's pleasant, airy, and cool, with fantastic non-noisy aircon. Result!



See this pipe? That's all the rubbish hot air that used to make it sweaty for the CROWD let alone the acts. All gone.



And here's one of the members of staff who installed it. Considering how short she is, she has every right to be proud.



Andy was telling the crowd that the room is haunted. With me having no flash on (hence the three person pic above being so stupidly blurry), this ghost appeared in the shape of Russell Howard. Here we go.



Also worth noting that I am back there for the late show tonight, doing that rarest of things - a set. After I go compere Jongleurs Edinburgh.


5. Fans

The majority of people who have actively seeked me out and saw me so far have been people who know me ... from Brighton. This is the upshot of playing to 1000 people a week for 8 years in your home town - bit tough to get that sort of Edinburgh following without a massive amount of TV under your belt. Those Brightonians, by the way, includes Edinburgh venue staff. This is Sam who does the bar at the Underbelly. Hi Sam!




6. Launch parties.

So far, have missed 3. 4 if you include The Stand's party, which I wasn't invited to, but was invited to by Carey Marx, who interestingly, probably also wasn't invited to it. Thanks for the invite Carey.




7. McDonalds Princes St Mall.



Is this not the narrowest front door for a McDonalds you've ever seen? How the fuck do half of their customers get in?


8. Spiced Chai Latte.

OK, where the hell are you hiding this, Edinburgh. I can't buy it at Tescos... I've travelled to a full size store, and there's no sign of it...



... and nor can you get it at Costa's, unlike the rest of the UK. It wasn't at the Prince's St Mall:



(and no, I'm not interested in this space, even though the rental is probably a fifth of my room at the courtyard)

Nor was it available at the Costa within the station itself.



I did manage to find 'Whittards instant chai latte'.



Unfortunately, being whittards, it was designed for the elderly and so full of sugar it tastes like a mildly cinnamonned molten marshmallow mixed in with green tea. Rrrrank.

For God's sakes, where can I find some? I would stamp my feet on the ground, but I just found out that the house I am staying in, is on stilts. I'd go straight through the junkies who are living under my flat, but still technically Al-fresco. Des res in every sense.




Right, up to date now, thank God. Gotta go get ready for the show and pace myself for tonight's roster: My show, Compere Jongleurs, Launch Party, then set at the Underbelly late show. Whew!

Stephen