Tuesday 9 August 2016

Monday

This morning it was confirmed that Bear Jokes could have the next two Fridays at the Southsider from 8:15-9:15pm. A prime spot by anyone’s reckoning and one I set about maximizing by putting together a flyer by midday and getting printed for Tuesday soon after. Given there are no less than five performers in the flat all keen to get as much stage time as possible this left just two guest spots per show. By the end of the day the award winning Yuriko Kotani, Jon Long and Rosie Holt had nabbed three of them. I await responses from those other Bear Jokes regulars I messaged to see who gets the last one. If you're reading this and want it feel free to write.

Before Mirthquake I thought I’d drop into our venue and support some of the acts earlier on in the day. The 1pm show was shambolic with touches of promise and I’m sure that by the end of the run it’ll be really tight. Granted, the audience consisted of myself, a disabled man in a wheelchair and his carer so it wasn’t the easiest of shows. Let alone taking into account that, due to the venue layout, the two audience members who weren’t me had to sit right at the back as the corridor to the side of the chairs was too narrow for a wheelchair.

In contrast “Fuss” (pictured) at 2:05 was brilliant and well attended. Rosie and Phillipa are pretty much straight out of university but are well versed in the conventions  of comedy and its history that informed their sketch double act. Quite how they ended up with one particular (hilarious) sketch based on the song, “Three Lions”, is completely beyond me though. Clearly this soundtrack to people in their thirties is more enduring than I’d given it credit for. See them now.

After some flyering in the rain it was Mirthquake time and to an expectedly smaller Monday audience we had a great show. I opened for the first time and the crowd joined in with the actions and words pretty much instantly. James and Nick did similarly well and three people left with copies of “Straight Outta Leyton”.

From here I met my first guest of the fringe, Welsh Richard, who I’ve known since my fanzine writing days. Dropping off his bag we then acquired an air bed from a local store and subsequently hoofed it around the city for the next four hours as we went from The Street, where I performed “Chilling” to a single figure audience of Edinburgh’s loveliest arts community, to Moriarty’s for LJ Da Funk’s excellent show and then the Pear Tree for a pint before grabbing Britain’s most expensive donner kebab (£6.50!) and heading back to the flat.


Three shows tomorrow.

Shows Performed: 2 (8)
Bums on seats at Mirthquake: 11 (76)
Money in the Mirthquake bucket: £20.76 (£83.97)
Steps walked according to my pedometer: 14,737 (118,347) 

CDs Remaining: 95

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