I'M well aware that in my last few entries I've simply recounted my days in Edinburgh and not really written much of insight or value.
'Yes, Stanley. Where's your normal incredible insight?' all six of you ask.
Well, I wanted to write down all my memories of Edinburgh as much for me as for all six of you and that's why the last few days have read a little like a teenager's diary; 'Today I went to see comedy. And it was good. And I saw Howard. And I was drunk. And it was cool.'
Today will be no different because I saw so much good comedy I'm simply going to recount it.
Firstly I saw Simon Munnery at The Stand. He's a very admirable man, absolutely steadfastly refusing to use his epic comedy brain to devise anything that TV executives ask of him. They HAD to put him on TV of course, because he's so good and so important, but then seemed to rapidly cancel the shows. The idiots. The League Against Tedium was a fine show and I know it won a lot of devoted fans but someone in a penthouse apartment didn't understand what the hell it was about so it got pulled.
His show's extremely good. There's a short interval where members of the audience write down 'motions' on slips of paper to be discussed in the second half. In the event, he only gets through about five of the fifty-odd before having to finish and so suggests that we reconvene in a pub opposite the club to continue. About fifteen members of the audience take up the offer and we spend a pleasant two hours sat around reading out forms with Simon in the occasional sunshine of the afternoon.
What was lovely about this is that there were a couple of very young men there (18, say?) who were clearly big Munnery fans and couldn't quite believe they were sat around having a drink with him, getting a private show. They probably couldn't quite believe they were drinking.
The next show was Danny Bhoy at the Assembly Rooms. I know absolutely nothing about this man but every Edinburgh Festival he seems to be consistently sold out. And how! His show was in the main Music Room at the Assembly, which has a capacity of about seven or eight hundred. Packed solid. The mutterings I'd heard from other comics and promoters about him were odd; 'Very smooth' they'd say, unenthusiastically. 'Yeah, professional.'
I'd never heard the words 'good' or 'funny' attached to him which is grossly unfair because he's exceptionally good and wonderfully funny. But I understand why comics don't like him. Not just because all comedians are jealous animals, but because Danny Bhoy seems to know exactly what buttons the audience want him to press and he happily presses them. He doesn't lead them down any dark, unfamiliar paths or offer up any great surprises but I can't see anything wrong with that. His material is masterfully constructed, delivered as if devised by Emeritus Professor Of Stand-Up at King's College, Oxford - absolutely perfectly.
But maybe this is the complaint? Maybe it's all a bit too perfect. There are absolutely no rough edges with him, but I can't see a problem with that. I loved the show, and a routine about the bagpipes' contribution to the global orchestra had me back in the same state I was enjoying yesterday - banging my knee and drawing short intakes of breath through the laughter.
The show I was most looking forward today came at Ten O'clock. Alan Carr is undoubtedly going to be a big star within the next couple of years (although his durability might be in question) and I was expecting great things from his solo show. It starts fantastically, but he just can't keep it up for an hour. The last comment would have been met with gleeful rolling of the eyes by Carr himself. You get the idea.
I've just noticed how all my 'reviews' of comedy shows use the same sort of language that you see plastered on the promotional posters. I must be infected with Edinburgh Critique Syndrome. It's making me as bad as the reviewers. Oh - on that point, if one of the six of you thought it was a bit out of place of me slagging off Gavin And Gavin on Wednesday, seeing as they've got a sell-out Edinburgh show and I haven't, I read a review of their show today in Fest and it got one star, saying it was utter rubbish. So it's not just me. But it further puts me into bed with the reviewers I suppose. I can never win.
Went to the Café Royal and met with Liam and Issey, both comics. They took me down to The Speiglegarden, an outdoor complex of bars next to the relocated Guilded Balloon. Met with a few of their respective friends and all was dandy, all good folks. That shut at three and I, unselfishly, recommended we move closer to my hostel to give me a short walk home from the bar I finished up in on Wednesday, The Music Room.
It was a lovely, confessional, boozy session in there. We played a game whereby each takes it in turn to say a statement about themselves that is either true or false. Whoever guesses wrong has to have a drink. I now know stuff about Liam and Issey that would curdle your milk and will have absolutely no issues with using this to blackmail them in the future if the need arises.
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