I had another crack at Late n Live in the early hours of this morning. It was delayed because a gig before over-ran. But I didnÂ’t mind as the gig was by
Beergut 100, a punk band comprised of comedians including Bill Bailey and the actor Kevin Eldon. They used to play at the Fringe years ago, but have reformed for three gigs this year. It was a spectacular life-affirming event, bringing nostalgic feelings both for the music they played (largely 70s stuff) and also for the times that I have seen them before. Kevin is an amazing front man and a great singer and they were musically very impressive. There were guest appearances from people like Robert Newman and Owen O’Neil. It was what the Fringe is all about and just made me feel enormously happy. Had I not been doing Late n Live I would probably not have caught this. The highlight was the encore where Bill Bailey performed his mini-rock opera “Insect Nation”, about insects taking over the world. The best line is something like, “Spiders are not insects, but in a war they would side with the insects.”
Late n Live itself went relatively well (based on the benchmark of failure I have previously had there). I was on first and the first fifteen minutes went well, then there was some heckling, but I laid into the offenders and came out of it slightly better overall. I threatened not to leave if they didnÂ’t stop heckling. It felt good not to give a fuck.
My sister is up here with her school who are putting on a musical, so it was an early start after late night swearing to go and see their show. ItÂ’s great to see the other side of the fringe, to see kids experiencing this madness for the first time (though hopefully they donÂ’t get to experience the seamier side of drink and substance abuse and all night parties, because if they do I guess my sister will lose her job). They ranged from about 6 up to 10 I guess and one of my favourite Fringe moments this year came at the end, where the two youngest girls were standing at the front in one of the big numbers and suddenly got the giggles. They knew this was wrong and one of them struggled to control her mirth, pulling faces and crossing her eyes. It was unbearably sweet and amusing. All you adult comics can try and be controversial about the war on terror and the death of the Pope, but nothing is funnier than a small child stricken with the giggles. The more she laughed, the more we laughed, which made her laugh even more.
The first year I was in Edinburgh I performed in play for kids called “Old King Cole.” It was an anarchic bit of silliness full of custard pies and giant inflatable bananas. It was great to have a room full of kids laughing stupidly at loads of nonsense. But today reminded me of one show, where it got to the point where I had to construct a trap of some kind to catch a villain of some kind. I asked the audience what I should do and usually they didn’t have much of an idea and I just built my trap out of odds and ends. On this day though a child piped up, “Use the giant banana and then he will slide on it and be caught.” It was a lovely moment of genius child imagination. Had I been more on my toes I would have incorporated the banana into my own trap, but I just went ahead with my own plan as the script dictated.
It struck me today that that child will now be in their twenties. Edinburgh does conspire to make you feel old.
I have had a great week with the show as well and all the blues have flown away. I sold out tonight, even though it was a Thursday and people seemed to like it. I still don't know if I am going to do the extra gigs and the extended yoghurt gigs next week, but you will be first to know if I do.
