It’s All Happening at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 2017

Wednesday 16th August

Woke up starving so I made it my mission to find a Wetherspoon’s pub so that I could have a big full English breakfast. I ended up having a ‘Scottish Breakfast’ (which is basically a full English but with potato bread instead of toast).

My next move was to hit the Royal Mile to see some street performers and soak up the atmosphere of the festival. On my way there it started raining (of course it started raining, Welcome to Scotland!) but I didn’t let it bother me, even rain couldn’t rain on my parade. By the time I got to the Royal Mile the rain had gotten heavier and truth be told it did actually start to bother me. Nevertheless I carried on and ended up watching a guy juggle with three big, dramatic juggling knives while balancing on a plank of wood on top of two buckets, on top of another plank of wood, on top of another two buckets, on top of yet another plank of wood, on top of one bucket!……on it’s side!…….on top of a step/stool thing! Some people are crazy, quite entertaining though.

This was before he added another 2 buckets and another plank of wood.

By this point my hair was so wet from the rain that water had started running from my fringe and dripping into my eyes. Back to the hotel to dry off.

It was soon time for Show # 5. This was in another venue where they had converted small rooms into comedy clubs. They’re situated above ‘The Rowantree Bar’. What I love about this venue is that for some reason there’s a random cow’s arse sticking out the front of the building. It looks like a cow has tried to jump through the wall and just got stuck. Why is it there? I’m guessing it’s because the name of the street is ‘Cowgate’ but I still think it’s a random thing to have on a building. It’s pretty funny though.

Speaking of things that are funny Show # 5 (Jonny Awsum: Honey, I Promised the Kid) was great. Jonny came on stage and immediately set the tone of the show by starting it with a song. This was a great show for audience participation as he proceeded to give us lines to sing and actions to do. Everyone was well up for it and having a good laugh. His show was about him promising his young daughter that he would play at the O2 Arena and how he tried to keep that promise. He even had a little Jason Manford section in the show (which was convenient as he was the next comedian I was seeing). He talked about being a guest on Jason’s radio show and how Jason said he’d make his O2 Arena dream come true. At this point Jonny played a recording of Jason saying “I can make that dream come true”. He then played it over and over and it developed into a remix, at which point Jonny encouraged everyone to dance and rave to it. I was too busy laughing at it. Overall it was a very fun and genuinely heart-warming show.

After the show finished I had to power walk to Show # 6 (Jason Manford: Muddle Class). Luckily I had memorised the most direct route through alleyways and underpasses and got to the venue with about 4 minutes to spare. This was in an Underbelly venue which is basically a big, inflatable, upside down, purple cow (a cow again! What is it with the Fringe and their weird cow venues?).

 Jason Manford was his usual fun, jolly, cheeky self and I really enjoyed his set (even though I’d already heard most of his jokes/stories on his radio show). I’m really glad I managed to fit his show into my Fringe schedule. (Because when your favourite comedian is at the Fringe the same week as you there’s no question about whether you should go and see their show).

I still had some time before my next show so I got a drink from the Underbelly bar and just people-watched for a bit. Music started playing and I found myself watching an old man doing what can only be described as ‘old man dancing’ to ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by the Black Eyed Peas. Gotta love people watching.

Onto Show # 7 (Milton Jones Is Out There). This was at Assembly Hall which is easily the biggest venue so far. The theatre was like a low-key West End theatre. Milton Jones was absolutely hilarious! I was giggling throughout the whole show. His excellent one-liners and deadpan delivery were really hitting the spot. His show was quite creative as well using various props and voiceovers to link into jokes. One of my highlights was when he pulled out a British flag and a European flag and acted out a conversation/argument between them (complete with a dodgy French accent). He basically explained what was going on with Brexit. I like his work on Mock The Week but I had no idea how quick-witted he really is. Like when he said a word wrong instead of just carrying on (like most comedians do) he just made it into another one-liner. And at the end of the show he was asking the audience to give him a subject to talk about and he just delivered genuinely funny jokes/stories on each subject, even when someone suggested “a purple lama” as a subject. He’s a brilliant comedian and now officially one of my favourites.

As I started walking back down the hill I could hear a familiar tune in the distance. It was a bagpipes rendition of ‘Wish You Were Here’ by Pink Floyd. I started walking faster so that I could see where it was coming from. There were musicians performing at the bottom of the hill and as I got closer I realised that they were the same musicians I stopped to watch last night. I’ve seen them two nights in a row, I’m gonna start looking out for them now.

And that concludes my second night at the Fringe.

Joke of the day:

“I spent the afternoon giving out ice cubes to Jr. Doctors who were holding placards saying ‘Justice’”. – Milton Jones.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7