The weather at the bus stop in Glasgow was sunny and bright, so the omens looked good. But as Alan, Tony and I headed east on the bus the grey clouds rolled in and ruminated over Edinburgh for the rest of the day. Rain threatened but never really materialised, a welcome reprieve. Our first show was John Lloyd's Museum of Curiosity at the Cowbarn, Underbelly's Bristo Square. We smuggled our pints of Strongbow into the Cowbarn, even though it is legal to drink in the streets of Edinburgh and were not in any danger of being thrown into a police car. As we took out seats we read various interesting facts from a screen at the back of the stage. The only one I can remember is that J.D Salinger carried the first six chapters of Catcher In The Rye in his backpack as he stormed Utah Beach on D Day. John Lloyd is a British writer, presenter and producer, best know for being involved in such shows as Blackadder, Not The Nine O'Clock, Spitting Image and QI. He is currently presenter of The Museum Of Curiosity on BBC Radio 4, where guests (usually an author, an academic and a comedian) are invited to donate an object that fascinates them into the virtual museum. The four guests at our live show were comedian Jimeon, academic Simon Singh, another comedian called Tim, although his surname escapes me, and a youngish guy called Dan who works on the radio show. I had seen Jimeon advertised about Edinburgh during the Festival but had never experience his comedy before. This Irish/Australian was probably the least interesting and funny of the quartet. Tim was interesting but not particularly funny. He donated a paper canoe to the museum, as he had sailed one 60 miles up the Thames, setting some kind of record. Dan chipped in now and again but I don't think that he donated an item. Simon Singh, the academic, proved to be the most interesting of the lot. I can't remember what he actually donated, but he talked about the enigma machine and codebreaking at Bletchley Park and then about the link between mathematics and The Simpsons, the popular cartoon show. I could quite happily have listened to Singh for the full hour, he was very interesting, articulate and insightful. So a good start to the day. After another pint we headed to Assembly George Square St for Jack Dee's Help Desk. Leaflets were handed out before the show and audience members wrote down problems that they were having, the idea being the Jack and his panel of guests could help to solve some of the problems. The panel consisted of unknown comedians, some funnier than others, but Jack's quick wit kept the laughs coming. The audience members participated well, especially some guy who, I hope in jest, wanted to save money by installing a shute for his elderly mother instead of an expensive chair lift. Laughter works up quite an appetite so after a huge KFC dinner we were refuelled and ready for the next show, which was comedian Mark Nelson at the Gilded Balloon Teviot. We had seen Mark perform a few years before, so we knew what to expect; a funny and lighter version of Frankie Boyle. Nelson's show was called Please Think Responsibly and most of his material was garnered from being a husband and father. It was a solid set, and Mark can be genuinely very funny, but I was a bit put off by his crudity and bad language. 90% of it was unnecessary. It left a slightly sour taste in my mouth, so I was glad to have another pint in the Gilded Balloon and ruminate with Tony and Alan over the successes and failures of the Festival. Today had probably been my most enjoyable outing of this years festival. My favourite: Tim Vine. Biggest disappointment: Animal Farm (mainly because it was in a foreign language and the subtitles were out of synch). Surprise package: either Mitch Benn or John Lloyd. Another good year. Plenty of laughter, interesting conversations and pretty girls.
No comments:
Post a Comment