Alan and Hannah had gone through to Edinburgh earlier in the day to watch a musical about sex trafficking, so Tony and I followed on a few hours later. The plan was to meet at the Pleasance Courtyard for Paul Merton's Impro Chums, a show we had seen a few years ago and we were therefore confident of another fun packed hour of improvisation. The Grand was packed to the rafters, testimony to Merton's popularity as a performer and comedian. His chums included Greg Proops (Tony and I exchanged anxious glances as he bounded on-stage), Mike McShane and a few others whose names now escape me. Proops proved to be a much better improviser than stand up comedian. He was as witty and sharp as the rest. But Merton was probably the funniest of the lot, outshining his chums. Some sketches worked better than others, and if they were not laugh out loud funny they were at least amusing and we could admire the performer's quickness of thought. Afterwards we went somewhere for a pleasant pint and then a bit of dinner at the Assembly Courtyard. As I chomped on my gluten free chicken burger the rain started to come down and for the rest of the day the weather would prove to be as mercurial as Paul Merton's wit. And I mean that as a compliment to Paul. Our next show was Nina Conti at the Assembly Roxy, a venue which was new to us all. It turned out to be an attractive church which is now used as a theatre. But maybe a modern venue would have been better and more immune to the rain lashing down. When we arrived we discovered that The Roxy had suffered a power failure, possibly due to the weather and the old wiring circuits within the restored 19th century church but we will never know. We sheltered from the wind and rain for about half an hour, using Tony as a human shield, but eventually abandoned ship and headed for the luxury of a bar and the necessity of a few pints. It was disappointing to miss the Nina Conti show, she's a very talented and funny ventriloquist, but there was nothing that could be done. Such is life. So instead we sat in the aptly named Rascals bar for a couple of hours nursing pints of cider and chatting amiably. We braved the wind and rain once more and charged to the McEwan Hall in Underbelly's Bristo Square, another new venue for us. Back in the 1990's there was a popular British television show called Whose Line Is It Anyway?. It was basically the same idea as Paul Merton's impro chums and this year they had reformed for a festival run. Clive Anderson was host, Philip Pope was on keyboards for any sketches that required music, and the performers were Phil Jupitus, Stephen Frost, Greg Proops (again) and Richard Vranch (again from Improv Chums and I am conscious that I have probably misspelt his name). The show was in memory of the great Robin Williams, who had tragically died a few days earlier, and I thought this was a nice touch and indeed it got a warm round of applause. The show was certainly as good as Impro Chums, despite the overlap of performers and sketch ideas. The audience lapped it up and I can imagine that Whose Live Show Is It Anyway? will be sold out for the remainder of the festival. We headed home after this show, catching the 10.30 pm bus and thus avoiding any drunken idiots. Not my favourite festival day but that is not to say I didn't enjoy it. Oh, for the darling buds of May, and not the cold rain of August.
Host Clive Anderson
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