Aug 28 (Day 26) Thats all folks.

In an effort to get my show tally up to 50 shows I booked two shows I had been intending to see all month. These were a comedy/theatre show called "Those Magnificent Men" and a tribute/impersonation show about Tommy Cooper called "Jus' Like That". I actually ended up going to four shows AND doing a tour of the vaults, so it was a big day and a great way to go out. 

The first show for today was "Those Magnificent Men", a comic theatrical production about Alcock & Brown, two English aviators who were the first to cross the Atlantic in a single flight. This was a great show, well played and with excellent stage setting, lighting and use of sound effects. There weren't so many "LOL" moments but it was light-hearted and just generally really well done, with the two actors actually constructing the main set-piece - their plane - as part of the story. A really great tribute to the two pilots and also to the hundreds of other names out there who were the "firsts" in their own field whose names are now fading into history.

I had a wait until the Tommy Cooper show started so in the mean-time I grabbed a ticket to a show I hadn't heard of previously but which was yet another one of those ones that turned out to be right up my alley. "The Fitzrovia Radio Hour" was a spoof of an old-time radio program with five actors on stage (3 male and 2 female) in which they play out their radio show as if it was going live-to-air. Replete with inventive sound-effects, stereo-typical 1940's radio voices, scripts of Nazi-hunting schoolboys, Cornish Mining dramas and the birth of product placement, this was one of the best shows I saw for the whole fringe. All actors played their "radio" parts really well and what made it even better was the "behind-the-scenes" drama happening for the live audience (one of the actors drinks a little too much and there is some serious flirting going on between multiple cast members etc) although I thought this could have gone even further. All took part in performing the sound effects as required and it was generally a brilliantly choreographed song-and-dance to ensure that everyone was where they were needed to be at all times. Absolutely fantastic.

I then went to see the Tommy Cooper show which was another highlight of not only the day but the entire fringe. The actor playing Cooper was amazing, taking on his every (and there are a lot!) mannerism, his delivery, his voice...everything about this was brilliant. If you don't know much about Tommy Cooper, he is well worth looking up because he had a truly original act that was a mixture of about a thousand different things all brought together seamlessly. Think slap-stick absurdist magician with a pun for every occasion and you're on the right track. What really highlighted this act was the opening scene, set behind-the-scenes in Cooper's dressing room which has its comic moments but highlights the sadness behind Cooper's on-stage persona and the drinking that eventually brought about his death. A wonderful show.

After my tour of the vaults beneath the city, I picked up a ticket to see Glenn Wool. Wool is a Canadian performer who has built up a solid following in the UK and Canada and has a slick, confident stand-up style that shows he has been doing this for years. I had never seen or heard of him before and went in with no expectations at all. He was very funny but as with a lot of the bigger names in the Fringe, I think that the laughter for a lot of their jokes is actually bigger than deserved. I found a lot of his jokes to be either very predictable or that I had heard them (or a variation) before and I wasn't doubled-over with laughter like a few people in the crowd. 

What a month it has been. There have been a lot of highlights, some amazing things seen and learned and generally it has given me a positive outlook about a lot of different things. With the writing I have been doing, it has given me the idea that I am at least heading in the right direction. Whether that is true or not will be seen sometime in the near future when I produce and host my first Burlesque/Cabaret Showcase in Adelaide. What I have seen has been overwhelmingly positive that even if the material you are working with right now doesn't quite work, that people will still find good in what you are doing, whether its from your performance personally or that they can see what it was you were trying to do. Whether that will be the case in Australia (where we are renowned for cutting down not only the tall poppies) is yet to be seen. But I will give it a crack and I know that at least one of the genres (from Stand-up, Sketch, Sitcom, Presentation and Cabaret) will resonate personally and hopefully with an audience too. Cheers!

Aug 27 (Day 25) The last day for a lot of shows.

Everyone here has what they call "Fringe Hangover". Its all coming to an end and everyone has been working so hard that they are now just rooted. Most acts take only one or two days off for the whole run (some doing two shows a day or more) and by the end of it they're dying to get out of Edinburgh and back to their real lives so they can take a rest. Even thought the Fringe doesn't officially finish til Monday night, most of the shows are now done.

The very first show I saw here was called "Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher" and I wrote at the time that I doubted I would see a show that was as good. Turns out I know my shit. Not only have I not seen an equal to this show (or the performance of its star - Humphrey Ker) but yesterday it was announced that Ker won the Foster's Award for being the Best Newcomer. Well earned, the guy is hilarious.

Another show I saw early on was ending today so I went back for another look to make sure I was right about that too. "Rom Com Con" starring Juliette Burton and Lizzy Mace is one where they road-test the RomComs to see how well they work in the real world. It was even better the second time around. The girls performances were slicker and they both hit their punchlines better. Its a sweet, charming show that goes from funny to poignant to sad and back to funny again and leaves you with nothing but positive feelings about love and possibilities. Word of mouth, some awesome flyer-ing and two 4-star reviews had worked a treat and the small room was packed with people clearly loving it. Excellent!

After that I had more Nachos than there are in Mexico and drank enough beer to drown in. After that I had a stomach ache and regretted the Nachos. Then I didn't have much to do but had agreed to go for a drink with some friends, so I went to the venue I knew one of them was performing in and watched the "Fresh Faces of the Fringe" show (9 new acts) while waiting. Again, some good new guys, some not-so-good, but I know they'll get better as long as they stick with it.

Daily Show Count : 2
Total Shows Seen: 48

Tomorrow and Monday - See at least 2 more shows to get to 50.

Aug 26 (Day 24) Bert Maverick: International Stand-Up Comic

Today was a big, big day. Firstly it was the last day of the comedy course I had been taking and that took up a good chunk of the day, spent mostly going over and over the material until it was drilled into my head and I could recite it almost verbatim. The "debut" show for the course was due to be on that night at about 11pm in a place called The Beehive, down in the Grassmarket so I had a few hours to kill. So I went to a nice pub and rewarded myself for sticking with it with a nice big rib-eye steak, which was delightful. 

I am starting to think that Scots only recognise one form of vegetable - the potato. They serve it with everything, in its many disguises but mostly either as mash or hot chips. And they do have about a million brands of chips and a stack of great flavours to choose from (including my favourite, Pickled Onion!) but for fuck's sake what about something GREEN?

After that I went to a venue called "Rush Bar" off Cowgate where a friend of mine, Elise Harris, was hosting a show called "Fresh Faces of the Fringe". I walked in and they were about to wrap the show up early as the two other acts had been on already and Elise made me go on stage, regardless of how unprepared I felt. There were only six people in the crowd and they seemed to enjoy my stuff (or at least laugh politely), even if I did miss a couple of lines. So my International Stand-Up Debut had been performed! And it wasn't the worst thing I have been through in my life. The show ended and the same show was due to start again in twenty minutes but with the promise of a few more fresh comics who were due to turn up. So I stuck around and had another go at it, this time to about 25 people in the crowd. It felt more comfortable already and got a more positive response from the crowd. An OK second effort.

After that I stuck around to have a drink with Elise and we sat through the next show on in the venue, an Irish comedienne named Grainne (pronounced "Gronya") Maguire. She was very funny but I think she went for too long. She reminded me of a cross between Joan Cusack and Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter in a charming, instantly likeable way.

By now I had been at Rush Bar for about 3 hours and I had a ticket to see a show at 8.30 called "The Manipulators" which stars two Aussie magicians, Simon Coronel and Vyom Sharma who dissect what "manipulate" really means and present various forms of manipulation throughout the show. Not a comedy but still full of laughs, this is a quality magic duo that work together well as they present clever sleight-of-hand with thoughtful back and forth. I'm a fan of magic acts (not all!) as long as they're not tacky and present well and this one was spot on. These guys will both be presenting their own shows in the Adelaide Fringe and I would say they are both worth a ticket.

By now it was time to head over to the Beehive and psyche myself into my 3rd set for the day. I met the host and the other acts, took a seat and prepared to give it another crack. I was on Fourth and the smallish room (about 50) was full to the brim. The first act after a good warm-up from the host was quite good - a guy with a bit more experience who held the crowd really well. The next guy was a deliberate fail...adding nothing worth listening to and seemingly only for his own amusement. Not sure what his story was but what a fucktard! Next was my course colleague Anneli Ritari who did a great job with her material (which I had heard a thousand times over the past four weeks) in a room that I then realised was largely filled with her friends, thanks to the cheers. Then I was up. Thankfully Anneli must have encouraged them to welcome me and they did so enthusiastically (which made me feel pretty awesome). The room was in a good mood and I hit more of my jokes than in the previous two shows and left feeling great. 

Then I left and when I got near the Bedlam Theatre I realised I had time to get in an see "The Improverts", an improv comedy show that had been getting very good reviews. Of all the different types of comedy show out there, Improv is usually my least favourite because I sit in the crowd often thinking of things faster or funnier or seeing exactly where theyre going before they do (I'm not a comedy genius, but if I get in before you, you should realise that maybe you're not all that sharp) than the people on-stage and I just find it isn't usually all that funny or clever. This was better than most but still didn't hold me for the duration. Not bad but still a bit meh.

Daily Show Count : 4
Total Shows Seen: 46

International Stand-Up Debuts: 3

Aug 25 (Day 23)

Another workshop today that was about adapting your Fringe show for screen. Didn't really apply to me because I haven't done a Fringe show (...yet) but it was worth going to anyway. Saw some good people do their stuff on stage and screen, heard from clever people like Tim Key and Miranda Hart and had a good time in general.

Then I went and caught a random sketch show called "Friends With You" by a female duo called Christmas For Two. As has been the case with a lot of the sketch shows, there was a lot of good stuff to see but pretty much an equal amount of "not quite" stuff that could have been dropped altogether or that went on far too long past the point of "we get it". Admittedly, a lot of them write, produce and direct themselves and this may be where they fall down - a writer would either cut it earlier or improve it when seeing it performed or  a director would probably tell them to cut it or at least put them in a different juxtaposition that would improve a weak sketch. And there is also the question of time - shows have to be at least 50 mins long, so when the comedians are doing it all, I'm sure they know some of the material will be weaker but they might need it to make the show go for long enough. Both performers were again excellent (the TALENT in Edinburgh is astonishing) and there were some really great sketches but if I were to tell them one thing, it would be to focus less on punchlines and strengthen the characters, because as with Brown & Corley when the characters are mental, the punchlines don't matter.

After this I went to the Spiegeltent for a (non-comedy!) vocal group called The Magnets. This is a beat-box/vocal/acapella group and they are just incredible. When you understand that the only instruments on stage are their voices, it is really amazing what they are capable of doing. They had just finished a tour of Australia starting with the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and will be back for Adelaide Fringe and if you get a chance, go and see them.
The last show I saw after watching the second Hearts vs Spurs game on the TV at a pub called "The Southsider". As luck would have it, they had comedy on there too and I didn't even know before I went in and the next show on after the football was a young Kiwi comedian named Nick Gibb in his show "Crumpled Antipodean Dandy". The flyer said Gibb was the 2011 Winner of "New Zealand's Biggest comedy award the "Billy T" which I previously had not heard of. The show proved to be a good one, with Gibb taking us through his life with Tourette's syndrome and his dealings with drugs, rough neighbours and his life in Palmerston North. He is a very funny young bloke and will only get better. The only criticism I can think of was that he digressed too often, digressing within digressions and getting too far off the track and then struggling to get back on it. But other than that, excellent stuff.

Daily Show Count : 2
Total Shows Seen: 42

Workshops Count: 2

Aug 22 (Day 20) Sam Simmons and Casual Violence

My Melbourne Comedy Festival highlights were two acts this year - a duo called "The Underlads" who I had no expectations of. There were only four of us in the crowd and they still killed it. The other was Sam Simmons, the master of random. Both acts heavily featured random-ness and extreme unexpected silliness and I didnt laugh harder than in these two shows in Melbourne. Looking back on the shows I have enjoyed the most at Fringe, they almost all seem to follow these themes. Caroline Mabey, Born in the 80's, The Truth (explained in doodles)...all feature loads of silliness and have all stood out for me. Maybe that says more about me than anything else, but I quite often find I know where a joke is going before I hear it and if I find it predictable it does nothing for me. I'm not alone in this - I spoke with a comedian the other night who said the exact same thing. Repetition of joke types without something new to push it further or add something new now shits me. And I rarely find anything funny the second time around either, so when people quote old jokes or movie stuff over and over, its just not funny. In movies, quite often what makes a quote funny is the character anyway (eg Ron Burgundy or Derek Zoolander etc) so quoting them without the character to back it up just isn't worth anything. BUT with Sam Simmons, the rule about something not being funny twice doesn't seem to count. I had seen Simmons' show "Meanwhile" in Melbs earlier this year and as I said, laughed hard. Its so random, you just don't know what is going to happen next. And seeing it again last night just makes his act/style even stronger for me. He has a commanding stage-presence even if his style is awkward. All his material is based on his stage persona working and I don't think some people would "get" what he is about - looking around the crowd, I could see a number of people who just looked baffled, both at Simmons and at the other people who were doubled over with laughter and that included me at my second viewing of the same material. Hilarious.

After this I went to see a sketch show called by a group called "Casual Violence" in their show "Choose Death". This is the darkest comic material I have seen performed at Fringe and it included a disappointed father on his death-bed, a suicidal "bubble-gun" salesman and a more traditional tragi-comic clown taken to extremes...all very dark stuff done really well by six very talented young blokes, accompanied by a very talented pianist. The clown, while a tragic comic figure that represents the dark heart with a comic exterior, was played so well that women in the audience were actually crying. Fantastic! My favourite was the criminal "Jimmy Bad-legs", an armless mad-man, played with menacing brilliance. Not everyone's cup of tea, but awesome if you like your comedy with a tea-spoon of arsenic.

Daily Show Count : 2
Total Shows Seen: 40

Aug 21 (Day 19) Magic, Tim Key: Masterslut and Successful Flyering for Gemma Goggin

After a big day yesterday I got out of bed late and thought I would have a quiet one and why do I feel like I have to explain myself to you anyway? Mind your own business. I only had one show planned for today, called "Masterslut" by Tim Key. I knew nothing about this show and hadn't even heard of Key but bought a ticket anyway. While I was waiting for the show to start I got a drink at the Speigeltent and went in to a tent called the Mess to see a 15 minute magic/comedy show that was really pretty awesome by this guy named Paul Zenon. Then it was time for Tim Key. 

I really like going to see something with no expectations because I think its the only true way to be impartial about what you're looking at. This show was awesome and quirky, not quite as left field as Sam Simmons or Caroline Mabey but still had loads of quirkiness that appealed to me. The show is really well thought out and well delivered especially the integration between live action and the clever film clips...he uses the bath for this and you would have to see it to fully understand. Brilliant!

After this I was walking around looking for somewhere to get a drink with a couple of friends and we ran into Gemma Goggin (she has two shows at the Fringe) who was doing some flyering to get people into her next show "Gemma Goggin's Celebrity Sleepover". We had a chat and a laugh with her and so on the spur of the moment, we decided to help her hand out some last minute flyers to get crowd into her show. This was great fun and we got rid of them all for her, so she gave us free tickets to her show! Woo! My 2nd random "Fringe Moment"! (My 1st random Fringe Moment was one night when walking home and this guy was drumming on a metal bollard, which I then joined in on the next bollard and then one of the guys riding those cycle-taxi things jumped off his bike and joined in on another bollard! This went on in a mini rhythm-storm for the next minute or so until the first guy sort of led a finish and we all just went our separate ways, not a word spoken between the three of us)

Anyway, my two companions and I went into Gemma's show and it was a cracker! Basically she is sitting in bed and then brings up a few different comedians for a chat. In the bed...then more join, then more until the bed is literally bursting with comedians. Apart from some fairly inane questions that Gemma uses to prompt her guests, its all ad-libbed and on this night was particularly hilarious. Guests included two guys from a sketch show called "The Dregs" who were really funny and who I will now go and see, a woman from a show called "How to be Awesome: An Introduction" who was really the one who kept the gags rolling and who I will also buy a ticket for, someone named Alfie, another guy playing a German Hasselhoff impersonator whose bit was scripted and felt laboured and then a guy from a cabaret act whose name and show I have forgotten but who was also very funny. One of those really awesome unplanned Fringe moments turned into something even more awesome...this is why you really just have to "do" the Fringe.

Daily Show Count : 3
Total Shows Seen: 38

Aug 20 (Day 18) Sport to bring me back to reality and Spencer Maybe to take me away from it again.

I hadn't planned to see any shows today because there was another World Cup warm-up match at Murrayfield on in the afternoon and before that I knew I would be occupied watching the Magpies vs Lions game at the Oz Bar. Plus lots and lots of beer. Afternoon sorted. And by the time the rugby had finished, I should be well and truly smashed anyway, so not much point planning anything. As usual though, the "planning phase" of my plan was the only thing that went according to plan. Well not really, but this time, after the rugby was done I was still up and about and so decided to go see something. After walking back into the city after a good win from the Scots over Italy in which a lot of scoring happened at both ends (Magpies had also earlier beaten the Lions) I found myself just looking around for the right show to finish my night. As I sat there between strangers eating over-priced, sobering-up, late-night pizza (the BEST kind) I was offered a free ticket to go and see the whole show (I had seen ten minutes the night before in Kitty Cointreau's show) of a guy named Spencer Maybe, called "The Last Trilogy". This is like watching a cross between a political rally and a burlesque show if you can imagine that. Maybe plays three characters in the show, one a singer trying to make a difference, the next as The Devil and lastly as God. The show revolves around his music and Maybe's stage presence is pretty full-on and totally commanding as he presents himself in various costumes and various stages of undress throughout the hour of burlesque/musical/comedy-with-a-message. Seriously, this guy has some ridiculous sex appeal and if INXS are ever looking for a Micheal Hutchence replacement (again) ...this is the guy. Its also the reason the show works. I don't always appreciate "sexy dudes" or "stuff with a message" type shows but this one is a trip!

Daily Show Count : 1
Total Shows Seen: 35

International Rugby Games Tally: 2