So, were back from the madness and mayhem that is Edinburgh Festival. We had three hugely enjoyable days of trekking around the streets of the city - with only one afternoon/evening in the rain, despite the forecast predicting rain the whole time we were there - watching and listening to comedy, variety and street performance acts. Some good, some not so good. Best of all, by a light year, was Hennessy and Friends, a comedy sketch act trio we saw in a cosy (tiny) intimate (cramped) subterranean theatre room on Cowgate, which was hilarious from start to finish, and surely it cant be long until they have their own sketch show on TV. The lead, Miranda Hennessy, was frighteningly talented, like a blonde grenade hurled on stage. Other acts we saw were ok, but seriously, there must be a How to be an Edinburgh Fringe Comedian, because almost all of them we saw followed the same routine... 1) get to know your audience for the first quarter of your act by talking to them, one at a time, and then make generic jokes about/insult their towns, 2) Swear. A lot. Cos, well, thats cool! 3) Use the C word as often as you can. Cos, well, thats anarchic and edgy and shows *youre* edgy and anarchic! Yeah! 4) Keep checking your watch. (Why?) and 5) dash off the stage at the end. Having said that, almost everyone in the show Joke Thieves we watched (coming soon to a TV near you! Very funny format, and will be a big hit unless they just use the same old acts trotted out on Mock The Week every week) followed that format but it worked for a few of them cos they were genuinely funny and had original material. But others were just doing comedy by numbers. One act we saw - wont name him, that would be cruel - was just bloody awful, about as funny as watching a lame, blind kitten trying to cross a busy motorway. He obviously thought he was - or should have been- in The Mighty Boosh, but...no, mate, just... no... Other than that, we went on a very enjoyable tour of the caverns and graveyards; ate a lot of Chinese; saw a fascinating exhibition in the National Museum of Scotland all about the Ming Dynasty - ruined by two old women who yakked and gossiped and prattled on, loudly, about bugger all, the whole time we were there; walked miles and miles and miles and miles (insert Proclaimers joke here) and enjoyed our quiet corner of the campsite which, miraculously, stayed free of noisy chav families and their demon-spawn kids and yappity dogs the whole time we were there. Edinburgh looked beautiful, a riot of colour, and with music everywhere you went, and the Royal Mile crammed to bursting with acts from all over (including, again, many choral groups who clearly spend all their time watching Glee) it was just a joy to be there. Already looking forward to next year.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 08:52:06 +0000
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