Fred And Co
The queue of free ticket-holders for this morning's MacAulay & Co show snaked its way through the Spiegelgarden at George Square. There was also another, shorter line of people waiting to find out if there were any spare seats. No problem with audience numbers then, despite the reported chaos about the Fringe ticketing system. It was a full house as Fred appeared on stage to do his pre-show warm-up, which is actually funnier than some of the Fringe shows you have to pay to see. Quizzing the audience about how far they had travelled he discovered one man was actually a member of the Finnish Parliament.
Ìý"Is your part in power at the moment?" asked Fred
"Of course!" said the MP
"Ah..I can tell from that response that you must be a Conservative."
ÌýThe MP confirmed that he was, indeed, the Finnish equivalent of a Tory. As the show went on air, Fred introdced the Ivan Brackenbury. With broken glasses, dayglo t-shirt and headphones, Ivan's act involves the cruel but hilarious send-up of a hospital radio disc jockey. He left us all in stitches
Ìý
At 12 noon I sprinted up to the Gilded Baloon where I'd been invited to watch a recording of the new Guardian Festival podcast. It's being produced by former 91Èȱ¬ Radio Scotland producer, Richard Melvin and is presented by Miles Jupp. It's a lively mix of music and chat but I can't say I'm impressed by the endless stream of comedians who tell us how tired they are, or how they are losing their voices after a dozen or so shows. Who knew that today's entertainers were so fragile? More to the point, who cares? Luckily Richard has time to edit out some of that nonsense before the podcast goes live.
After that, back to the Spiegeltent for honest-to-goodness live radio, this time from our Festival Café programme presented by Janice Forsyth. A skilfully produced show which included interviews and performances from a new theatre group who are staging a play about the life of Vivien Leigh. The young actor who plays Laurence Olivier drew some gentle mocking laughter from the audience when he proclaimed that he and the great Knight of the stage "actually had a lot in common" As the Café came off air, the team were keen to show me one of the new audio slideshows that are available on the website during the run of shows in Edinburgh. They mix clips of the programmes with some first-class photography. Be sure to have a look. Then, a trek across the old town to the Pleasance where I had been offered free tickets to see the comedy double Act Will & Greg. Alas there was a tickets mix up here. A irl at the box office apologised and actually ran with me down to the venue in the hope that she could persuade them to squeeze me in. No joy. I was literally turned away at the door. Well, these things happen when you're not a genuine paying customer. At least I got some exercise. All was not lost, later that night Richard Melvin called and invited me to join him for a performance by Fringe newcomer Josh Howie. In his show - Chosen - he uses a projected slide-show to tell the story of how own bizarre upbringng and his forced or voluntary flirtation with Buddhissm, Judaism and hip hop. I laughed out loud several times, but I think I was one of the few who did. It wasn't a traditional stand-up show. Instead it fell like a very witty and intelligent lecture. Or like someone reading aloud from a New Yorker article. Josh admitted he wasn't on his best form.
Ìý"I have a sore throat, " he told us.
ÌýPah!
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