Critical Faculties

It is mean and horrible as a comic to revel in the bad reviews that others get. And if your show got one star and it said it was under-rehearsed, badly written or poorly delivered I feel for you. We've all been told these things at one time or another and I would urge you to take it as an opportunity to rehearse more, write better and work on your delivery (Maybe take the brilliant stand-up comedy course at City Academy...). And anyway just because one reviewer doesn't like it doesn't mean there aren't people out there who will love it - play to them and enjoy it.

However.

Yes however.

I often feel that there is a lot of comedy out there that is not only unfunny but actually offensive. Not clever-offensive, trying to shock in order to make important valid points or even just a bit crude and rude and childish but just dull out of date stereotyping and general awfulness. Sexism, racism, homophobia, ableism, etc. And it always annoys me when the critics don't pick up on it. So ten out of ten (five stars) to Julia Chamberlain at Chortle and Ian Mitchell at Scotsgay for these two well deserved drubbings (linked to their names). Maybe the future's brighter than we thought...?

On a side note a woman at my show today came up afterwards and thanked me not only for the show but for my protest at Sebastian Horsley's funeral (see my main blog if you don't know the full story). That was cool.

FIVE STARS!!

Oh yes! My afternoon political panel show The Comedy Manifesto got it's first review of the fringe today from Scotsgay magazine: five stars! Not as surprising as all that - we got five stars last year for the same show from Broadway Baby so we know it's a great show. In case your computer is slow or index finger tired here's what it says:

COMEDY

*****

The Comedy Manifesto

The Beehive

Definitely proves that just because a show is part of PBH’s Free Fringe doesn’t mean it’s rubbish. Nor once you get a good format do you need to change it, for I saw this show last year and went back for more.

The idea is simple, Kate Smurthwaite, a brilliant comedian, hosts two teams each of two comics. Each team is led by the same people each day, Jules Constant and David Mulholland, and there are two guest comics each day. After a witty warm up by Smurthwaite the comics are asked to tell us a bit about themselves. They are then asked a series of questions about things in the news and have to come up with witty and accurate replies. They are then set a challenge, on the day I was there it was to come up with a test of Britishness. The penultimate part of the show is to come up with a new law they would like to see enacted, and finally they are given a chance to sell their main show.

Audience participation is encouraged – the audience can get points as well as the panel – and is helped by the small intimate size of the crowded room.

This really is a superb show.

The Burlesque Debate

So after I put my little sign up outside the show last night (which worked great by the way), this morning I have an email from one of the burlesque performers saying, well actually I'm not going to go in to what she was saying, but essentially engaging me in debate about burlesque. Initially I replied and she responded suggesting we continue the debate in person. Well honestly I don't see the point.

I've had this debate before. Approximately one million times. In fact some of the many instances of the debate on this are in my show, others are on my main blog. Clearly I'm not going to convince this woman to cancel her show. Clearly she's not going to convince me to cancel mine. If we each hold our views strongly enough to make them our full-time job, what is the point of the debate. If someone wants to hire a venue and sell tickets I'll be happy to have the debate for the benefit of a wider audience. Even this though has already been done many times - on TV and radio, usually featuring me, a few burlesque acts, some "proper" strippers or club managers and some random fundamentalist Christian who keeps shouting "fornication!". It's cracking TV but I'm trying to do three shows a day and I don't really have the energy to recreate it in Starbucks for the benefit of one person whose opinion won't change anyway. In fact all I'd really be doing is giving her a chance to hone her debating skills. After all these years mine are pretty sharp...

Downs and Ups

So I've done my first two shows now. The first one had a few teething troubles. Some feminists I half know from Edinburgh were coming along and arrived early. They headed in to catch the end of the show before mine which turned out to include burlesque complete with twirling nipple tassels! They weren't very impressed. After their show quite a lot of the audience for the burlesque stayed for my show and gave me evil stares and some mild heckling. Shortly after the show (no doubt by complete co-incidence) my posters in the bar had grown Hitler moustaches. The show was fine but didn't feel zinging like it had in preview. I felt I was rushing a bit, being less playful than I can be.

Today was much better. I put a sign up outside warning my audience that if they came in early the show before mine had some partial nudity in it and no-one came in early. Plus I did more flyering ably assisted by new member of the News At Kate team Amandine who is a young French feminist living in Edinburgh and will be on the Royal Mile now regularly handing out my flyers to interested parties. An older feminist couple (Mouse and Alison - hello) spotted me flyering with Amandine and we had a long chat, when they arrived a the show they'd brought me flowers which put me in a great mood. My friend comedienne Bianca Arlette also came along and a few friendly faces meant the show went great. Afterwards a young Polish guy told me in 5 years coming to the Fringe mine was the best free show he'd ever seen! So feeling much better now. Off to host Midnight Hour as usual tonight.

Late and Great

Did one of my more unusual (but hugely enjoyable) spots of the festival today. The Magic Faraway Cabaret show, which is an excellent show (though comes with the warning: may contain burlesque just in case that's not something you're comfortable with), has a feature in which a dead celebrity rises from the grave and performs. I was reviving the memory of one of my all-time heros: Joyce Grenfell. For afficianados - I did the First Flight sketch which is one of my favourites.

My solo show opens tomorrow and between now and then as well as the afternoon Comedy Manifesto show I'm going to be personally trained at a place that looks more intensive than I was really expecting. The website is all six-packs and athletes. Hopefully I'll still be able to walk by showtime. Please come if you're in town - 8.25pm speakeasy@voodoorooms (venue 68). It's free, collection after the show, pay what you think it's worth! Arrive in good time for the best seats.

Radio Daze

So I've done three radio shows since I've been in Edinburgh. Firstly I was on Talk Sport last night talking about Lily Allen's pregnancy. Now I don't quite understand how on hearing a woman who wants to be pregnant is pregnant you could be anything but delighted. But of course there was someone who'd been rounded up to argue with me. It was Stephen Green from fundamentalist Christian group Christian Voice. Of course he's disgusted that an unmarried woman is pregnant. But I had the chance to push him on a couple of other subjects - homosexuality for one and his group's desire to legalise marital rape for another. Fun times.

This morning I was on BBC Ulster talking about Gary Neville getting his £150,000 car towed after he put petrol in a diesel! We were just generally talking about "Doh!"moments. The flat I'm in up here has a bathroom light switch outside the bathroom and then a shower on-switch cord just inside the door and I'm proud to say I have yet to turn the shower on while nipping for a midnight pee! So far so good. First shows tomorrow - thought my solo doesn't open til Monday so I'm still fairly chilled.

And then this afternoon I was hosting my own show (with Ian Schofield) on LeithFM. And it was a lot of fun. I'm on air at Leith every Friday 2pm to 3pm, please tune in if you're in the area!

Other shows inspired by me...

The preview edition of ThreeWeeks contains an interview with the comedian Eric, who is a good friend of mine and a regular panellist at my Comedy Manifesto in London. In it he credits me (at length) for coming up with the idea behind his new show Eric's Laws of the Land, which thinking about it, in absolute fairness, I rather did... You can read the full interview here.