Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 12:20:58 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019

Started by Malcy, January 31, 2019, 04:08:25 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: typeforty on August 26, 2019, 11:51:42 PM
Well, I've finished my Fringe at last. A stupidly expensive month (fortunately I took redundancy just before coming up here), during which I saw 84 shows... I honestly don't know how those of you who've done more than that managed to see them and stay sane. Here's what I saw in case anyone's curious and wants more details about any of the shows or acts on it - but it's not a very CaB-y list (I actually had a ticket for Kitson that I'd booked on a whim when they went up... Then I didn't go because it was so long ago I forgot...):

...

What was Sooz Kempner: Mega Drive like out of interest? She's doing it next month in London and I'm tempted to go, but only if it's decent. Oh, and what did you think of Steve McLean? I knew him when we were on the open mic circuit together and would be interested to hear how he's doing now.

Quisby

Quote from: typeforty on August 26, 2019, 11:51:42 PM
Well, I've finished my Fringe at last. A stupidly expensive month (fortunately I took redundancy just before coming up here), during which I saw 84 shows... I honestly don't know how those of you who've done more than that managed to see them and stay sane. Here's what I saw in case anyone's curious and wants more details about any of the shows or acts on it - but it's not a very CaB-y list (I actually had a ticket for Kitson that I'd booked on a whim when they went up... Then I didn't go because it was so long ago I forgot...):

END

I'm curious about Edd Hedges - he did an interesting show a couple of years ago apparently based on a true and extraordinary story. Since he's presumably not had such a bizarre thing happen to him again I wondered what he's left with. I also thought this about Olga Koch's show last year but she seems to have found other sources of material.

After reading this review I'm also curious about what you made of Johannes Dullin:
https://www.chortle.co.uk/review/2019/08/26/44186/johannes_dullin_plays_the_devil

Blue Jam

Quote from: typeforty on August 26, 2019, 11:51:42 PM
Ollie Horn: Pig in Japan

What was this like please? I considered seeing it on Sunday but it didn't quite fit in with my schedule, and then I saw loads of people on Coogate carrying handfans with his photo on them, looking like they'd enjoyed the show. As someone who moved to Japan a little less accidentally I was intrigued.

JCR

Brian Logan has been thrown under the bus by Paul Sinha on Twitter, saying this year he reviewed 3 Underbelly shows, 2 The Stand, 2 Monkey Barrel, 1 Heroes @ Hive, 1 Just the Tonic, 1 Summerhall, 1 Assembly and 26 Pleasance.

Quite the eye opener.

DrGreggles

Quote from: JCR on August 27, 2019, 06:39:24 PM
Brian Logan has been thrown under the bus by Paul Sinha on Twitter, saying this year he reviewed 3 Underbelly shows, 2 The Stand, 2 Monkey Barrel, 1 Heroes @ Hive, 1 Just the Tonic, 1 Summerhall, 1 Assembly and 26 Pleasance.

Quite the eye opener.

Weren't all but 1 or 2 of the award shortlisted shows on at the Pleasance too?

EbbyVale

My thanks to all of you for posting your reviews and bitter laments. If I paste the back of machotrouts' head on my screen and watch a set on YouTube, it's just like being there but without the apparent stench.

How spendy an experience is it, range-wise? Not just the shows and the bucket-adds but also getting fed occasionally. What do you all budget for it?

DrGreggles

Quote from: EbbyVale on August 27, 2019, 10:16:54 PM
How spendy an experience is it, range-wise? Not just the shows and the bucket-adds but also getting fed occasionally. What do you all budget for it?

I transfer £25 a week into an account just for my week at the Fringe.
Everything (accommodation, travel, tickets, food, drink, hookers, etc) then comes out of that.
Probably do about a grand in total.

hummingofevil

Quote from: DrGreggles on August 27, 2019, 06:43:31 PM
Weren't all but 1 or 2 of the award shortlisted shows on at the Pleasance too?

Which also explains why I only saw one of them (Catherine Cohen on my only trip to the Pleasance). I have to conceed it does have excellent programming but I loathe the experience of going there.

Would be very interesting to cross-reference the nominees with their agents/bookers etc but suspect its not some grand conspiracy. Normally I would look at who is on the panel but TBF this year it looks relatively well balanced so can't really complain.

http://www.comedyawards.co.uk/the-panel

A friend of a friend is one of the scouts and had a brief conversation with her last year about Nate and she said half off the panel hated it, which I find bizarre, and half loved it so it didn't make the cut.

I think the real trick is to just try to pretend the award doesn't exist. Reducing The Fringe to a competition is nonsense anyway.

---

For example, Lazy Susan's show last year was one of the best things I have ever seen and this is what has come of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07gy8t8/comedy-shorts-lazy-susan

It really doesn't do them justice. It takes a 5 star hour and turns it into a 15min BBC3 meh TV short.

JCR

I don't think there's some grand conspiracy, but I don't think it's good for the Fringe if you have to get into an expensive venue to get noticed, and even Heroes isn't gonna get you there (let alone PBH or Laughing Horse). That's just going to push more Cambridge Footlights type acts at the expense of everything else.

CaledonianGonzo

Tend to agree.  It may look particularly lazy but to an extent Logan's just following his nose like the rest of us, though maybe with a slight preference for flashier American imports or household names who're trying something new.  If Gilded Balloon had had more hype acts this year then I'm sure the figures would look different.

I'd take seeing a show in Pleasance Courtyard over Underbelly Cowgate, The Hive or the George Square Lecture theatres any time.

up_the_hampipe

Jordan Brookes is doing a week at Soho Theatre starting next Monday, as well as some dates in February https://sohotheatre.com/shows/jordan-brookes-got-nothing/

JCR

The fringe sent out a survey that suggests they are wanting to get rid of paper tickets in favour of barcodes on phones.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on August 28, 2019, 06:51:14 AM
Tend to agree.  It may look particularly lazy but to an extent Logan's just following his nose like the rest of us, though maybe with a slight preference for flashier American imports or household names who're trying something new.  If Gilded Balloon had had more hype acts this year then I'm sure the figures would look different.


That's the way it goes with most reviewers of any artform who work in mainstream printed media. The readers "generally" want to read about people they've heard of or what the latest buzz is, so that's what the editorial gives them.  Another possible draw for an unknown getting reviewd can be if the show is dealing with edgy or way out subject matter or is biographical about somebody everybody has heard of. Still waiting for The Henry McGee Story.

Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that there are too many shows, too many venues and this has been the case for some time now.

zomgmouse

Quote from: JCR on September 02, 2019, 05:25:59 PM
The fringe sent out a survey that suggests they are wanting to get rid of paper tickets in favour of barcodes on phones.

I am for this. Paper tickets are just wasteful nowadays. Same goes for flyers and posters, but fuck knows there's a long way to go before those go out of the norm.

Are any of these 'shows' funny? I seen a few over the years and I always feel like I should have just gone out with my mates and had more laughs and more thought provoking time.

Very mundane a lot of this stuff.

touchingcloth

Quote from: The Boston Crab on September 03, 2019, 06:07:05 AM
Are any of these 'shows' funny? I seen a few over the years and I always feel like I should have just gone out with my mates and had more laughs and more thought provoking time.

Very mundane a lot of this stuff.

Good job.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: The Boston Crab on September 03, 2019, 06:07:05 AM
Are any of these 'shows' funny? I seen a few over the years and I always feel like I should have just gone out with my mates and had more laughs and more thought provoking time.

Very mundane a lot of this stuff.

I've been out with The Boston Crab & His Mates and found them rather a curate's egg. It was very slow to start and you had the feeling they were enjoying themselves more than us. There was a strong round in the middle (bought by Steve), the "shitting yourself in public" anecdotes" was a highlight but some of the gamer references went over my head. It got very self-indulgent by the end, the bit about the variety of pizzas springs to mind, but ...

SPOILERS 

...all of us leaving the pub and trooping off to a late-night comedy show at the Underbelly was an unexpected twist.
I think with a few more pub crawls under your belt, you and your mates show promise but need to be open to explore territory that hasn't been as regularly furrowed by more established groups of pissheads. This crab needs to start moving forward rather than sideways.

Verdict?

***

hummingofevil

Quote from: zomgmouse on September 03, 2019, 06:03:39 AM
I am for this. Paper tickets are just wasteful nowadays. Same goes for flyers and posters, but fuck knows there's a long way to go before those go out of the norm.

The main problem I can see with this is that whilst 4G coverage in Edinburgh is good it is so busy it is often unusable. If it's QR codes then I would just screen grab them and stick them in my photo album on phone but they risk having long queues of people trying to access email or app through internet then it will be a total nightmare for the bigger venues.

Timothy

I would prefer Eticket PDF's with a QR code. My 4G never seem to work in Edinburgh.

Can't they do what The Stand does and have a list of people who have bought advance tickets on the door and you just give your name?

zomgmouse

Yeah pdfs would work, though doesn't the Fringe app do QR codes? Or is it just to browse the programme and buy tickets and you need to still collect the hard copy? A lot of festivals now just do it all through an app. I guess if there's no coverage that's a different problem.

Cheesewogg

Quote from: DrGreggles on August 27, 2019, 10:54:08 PM
I transfer £25 a week into an account just for my week at the Fringe.
Everything (accommodation, travel, tickets, food, drink, hookers, etc) then comes out of that.
Probably do about a grand in total.

£7.00 return ticket to Glasgow on some odd days and you'll spend remarkably less on food and drink.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: An Actual Propeller on September 03, 2019, 01:41:45 PM
Can't they do what The Stand does and have a list of people who have bought advance tickets on the door and you just give your name?

Don't think they do that during the fringe though. If you book direct you still need to collect your ticket from the office.

up_the_hampipe

In addition to his 2016 show 'The Making Of', Next Up has just released Jordan Brookes' 2017 show 'Body Of Work' https://watch.nextupcomedy.com/watch/35225336

hummingofevil

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on September 03, 2019, 05:59:37 PM
Don't think they do that during the fringe though. If you book direct you still need to collect your ticket from the office.

This year at The Stand they were letting people in on the door with their names even if they didn't have tickets (like I presume they do on normal nights - they certainly do that in Newcastle). I forgot to pick up my Michael Legg ticket and just got off the train and they were cool about it. There used to be that edfringe.com pick up on St Andrew's Square so I suppose it's easier for them to do it that way than have people having to go back to Waverley if they forgot.

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on September 03, 2019, 05:59:37 PM
Don't think they do that during the fringe though. If you book direct you still need to collect your ticket from the office.

I know. That's what I'm saying: if all venues just had a list of names on the door for those who have purchased advance tickets you could do away with advance paper tickets themselves.

zomgmouse

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on September 03, 2019, 10:38:38 PM
In addition to his 2016 show 'The Making Of', Next Up has just released Jordan Brookes' 2017 show 'Body Of Work' https://watch.nextupcomedy.com/watch/35225336

Do you have to subscribe to it to watch videos there?

DrGreggles


Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: hummingofevil on August 11, 2019, 08:29:53 PM
Rach has decided that Tom Ballard is the best comedian she has ever seen. Her take that it never hit the peaks of other shows she had seen but in her words "not only was I not bored but it just got better and better as it went on". She isn't wrong.

Please go see. I need someone to talk to about him.

I'm off to see him at the Soho Theatre tonight on the strength of your recommendation (and your recommendation alone), so if I don't like him I'm afraid I'm going to have murder not only your good self but Rach too.

hummingofevil

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on September 05, 2019, 11:36:10 AM
I'm off to see him at the Soho Theatre tonight on the strength of your recommendation (and your recommendation alone), so if I don't like him I'm afraid I'm going to have murder not only your good self but Rach too.

She is in London right now on business. Probably not far away actually. I will send her round for you to get started.