My resolution to see a show a day has fallen into the dirt. I saw nothing today or yesterday - instead concentrating on my own shows, sleeping and getting the limited edition programmes put together (I have labelled up half of them, but none are yet in envelopes so there's a long way to go). I am not managing to get to the gym much this year and my show suit is getting gradually tighter. I am using a double espresso and a bar of chocolate as my pre show stimulant (it seems to wake me up), but maybe I should go for the safer diet version of this and finally get in to taking cocaines. If only there was some of that readily available in Edinburgh in August. I mean obviously there's loads up here, but I am not cool enough to find out where it is. I have only been offered the drug twice in all my 20 Fringes. Why am I only friends with uncool nerds? It's odd because I am not an uncool nerd. I am a really cool unnerd. I sometimes wonder if cool drug filled parties and orgies are just made up and if everyone in the world is just sitting at home, drinking herbal tea, imagining that everyone else is having a great time. But I think it's just that most of us don't get invited to those parties.
All the nerds could all get together and have our own drug fuelled orgies, but then again... who'd want to have sex with a nerd? Not even another nerd.
Damn the beautiful people and their charmed lives!
I am happier going to the Tempting Tattie than an orgy, but I haven't been there this year, partly because I am working at lunchtime and partly because our flat this year has an aga and we can make our own baked potatoes. Also every time I go in, Ian Tempting who runs the shop gives me a free "Richard Herring" (medium potato with orange cheese and mango chutney) and I don't want to bankrupt him. But I was planning on heading over in the next few days for my annual meal of stodge and cheese. But someone emailed me today to let me know that they'd been into the shop and Ian Tempting was wondering where I had got to this year and more shockingly that he has sold the shop and is only going to be there for another fortnight. I don't know if the shop will remain the Tempting Tattie, but to be honest, it's more about the people than the potatoes. I have been into that shop on pretty much every Fringe since 1988 and I think the same people have been running it all that time. It's the end of an era. I am quite sad about it. I have produced over 30 shows in that time, but how many potatoes has Ian Tempting cut and buttered? One would hope that the city of Edinburgh would sort out some kind of closing ceremony for the Tattie, but in life the familiar places and people come and go. I will have to pop in for one last Richard Herring soon. And so should you if you're in town.
I have been getting
great reviews and comments for both shows this year and the word of mouth is generally pretty great. But you can't please all the people all of the time, and there have been a couple of nights where I don't think I have connected as well. Aside from the 3 star review I had got from the Independent, all the What is Love reviews have been four or five stars, until today when I
got this review in Informed Edinburgh. It's worth remembering that any review is just one person's opinion and also that even a show that most people enjoy will leave some people cold. I quite enjoyed the total dismissal of ideas and routines that other people were raving about. It's a signal lesson to other acts that as with love, there is a lot of luck with reviews. Maybe the reviewer will come to a duff show or maybe it won't be the reviewers kind of thing. I didn't anticipate a 2 star review for this show (I was even a bit surprised to get a 3 star to be honest as I think it's the best combination of material and performance that I've ever done), but no comedian works for everyone and I enjoy the sniffly, superior tone of this review. It still stung for a second, because I am a vain and shallow human being, but then it made me laugh. The reviewer is a maverick. And maybe it's an emporer's new clothes situation and his one review will bring me tumbling down to earth.
Excitingly I am just a one star review away from the much prized rainbow of 1,2,3,4 and 5 star reviews. Daniel Kitson achieved this one year, but I am not sure anyone else has done it. I don't think I have what it takes to achieve that. But never say never.
