Saturday 9th - Day 7
Heady times, Saturdays show was full, and it really was a belter, best one yet. My dad came to see it, which was pretty important to me, as did my girlfriend Bron. Bron’s upset that she’s not in it, and it honestly didn’t occur to me in the edit the way it turned out, but the truth is she spurred me on to do the show and runs through it like letters in a stick of rock.
You can tell it’s a good one when the hour just flys by and the cheer at the end drowned out the last few lines, but it didn’t seem to matter. Yesterday I made a fiver on the door, today I was into three figures of donation, the crowd really do vote with their pocket, (even if on other days they’ve been somewhat tight). I never made eye contact with my dad for fear of getting a bit emotional, there’s bits in the show that are pretty close, and I’m sure he remembers that they were utterly unfunny at the time. I may be doing the free fringe, but doing this show, a show in a sea of shows that are sexy and trendy and all topics populist. My little hour about growing up with eczema, being a geek and smiling through it is really one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my whole comedy career.
Casualty
Saw my first comics death on saturday night too, I was closing the gig and the first act did 20 minutes of what went past stage death, into therapy, and out the other end where he was sweating so profusely I thought osmosis would take place.
Phonebooth
Edinburgh had another one of it’s instant downpours and I ran to take refuge in a phone box, just as I got their another chap had the same idea and we both squashed together as strangers in the cover. Unfortunetly the door had been ripped off and I had to wedge it in front of the exposed door frame giving the whole incident a survivalist overtone of man against the elements. We talked about the festival awkwardly and halfway through clunky conversation, and with him being quite taller than me, I noticed I small bogey sticking out of his left nostril which I couldn’t take my eyes off. He noticed my staring which made it more awkward. Eventually the rain ease and we went on our way with a firm handshake. I can’t remember his name, I lost the flyer, but I’ll never forget where I was for 3 minutes on Sun 10th August.