Free Fringe

A bugbear, minions and music

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As the Fringe gets ever closer, the rain gods are once again perfecting their sudden deluge from nowhere techniques, so don’t forget to bring a brolly (a sturdy one, it can get very windy here). Oh, and don’t forget to bring some commonsense too, honestly, you would not believe the number of people wandering around Edinburgh who clearly leave theirs at home (we have enough local numpties, and, well, it looks bad when the headline says “tourist in Edinburgh….”, okay?); but that’s a rant I’ll save for another time.

The town is noticeable more bustly now, not what I’d consider busy yet just bustlier (not bustier as spellchecker tried to insist). Heck, there were even people drinking after ten in George IV Bar on Friday evening – it’s busy through the day while people are coming in to eat, but it does seem be very quiet once the kitchen close. Oh yeah, that reminds me! A bugbear. Pubs that have that sign “Please Wait To Be Seated” just inside the door and don’t remove it after dining is over? Sure, some of us know when to ignore it, but some hover, glancing around, trying to appear nonchalant but we can all see the embarrassment in their eyes. A quick timely removal of that sign wouldn’t take a minute, well, maybe two or three.

I’d been to the cinema to see Minions & Monsters, wow, such bloody good fun and so many cheeky wee film references, had me grinning and guffawing right the way through it. The voice cast was perfect with Christopher Waltz and Jeff Bridges in there, and of course, Pierre Coffin (the man is a genius); the story skips and trips along, aided by hilariously wonderful montages. There’s been plenty of films about the beginnings of Hollywood, honestly, this could be my new favourite (Friday evening was the second time I’d seen it, so ).

Feel that passion, yeah!

Anyhoo. It made sense to head to George IV Bar – bluesman Louis Crosland was playing there before heading to Whistlebinkies for the midnight slot (plus band), total sense. How good to hear acoustic then electric versions of All Along the Watchtower, brand new to Louis’s setlist and an old favourite of mine (I do incline towards the Hendrix version). I’ve put a reel that incorporates both on my Instagram, please do check it out. I was also treated to Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Alone Again Naturally, another new one on the setlist, nice, I liked Louis’s take on it. FYI, Louis will be playing the Canons’ Gait at nine o’clock on Wednesday nights through August.

The Canons’ Gait and Whistlebinkies are once again venues for PBH’s Free Fringe along with plenty other pubs in the city, the rest are part of the Laughing Horse stable, nah not really, but it can feel like every pub in Edinburgh becomes a Fringe venue! Of course, it helps if there’s an actual separate room available and plenty of the old pubs have weird and wonderful spaces!

Time I was creeping off to bed. Back to Fringe nuggets tomorrow.

Sweet dreams, mes amis!

Possibilities of laughter

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I’ve been away to Yorkshireland again, got back Sunday evening, a very drizzly drive up, but hey, the rain was needed, and looking at the forecast, the rain gods are getting some practice in ready for August! If you’re coming to Edinburgh for the Fringe don’t forget your brolly, and don’t go leaving it in a pub like I almost did Sunday evening; well, after that long drive I needed a drink and it just so happened that Louis Crosland was playing in George IV Bar. It’s a nice enough bar but it’s very much a place folk eat then head off elsewhere, few stay longer. Louis will be back there on Friday evening, then, contrary to any websites, he’ll be playing in Whistlebinkies with whoever he can round-up at short notice. That’s my Friday evening sorted.

Yes, very nice, moose, but what about Comedy? Well, there’s a lot of it, and it does seem like prices have increased plenty. Yes, I know there’s plenty of good reasons, I get it, but I also want to see shows, whittling them down to even fewer is really hard. And all the lovely flyerers, what to say to them? Yes, that sounds great but which other show should I drop from my list in order to afford it? Actually, that could be quite interesting, kinda mean but a fun experiment, hmmm.

Surprisingly, I have only Free Fringe show cut-outs from Comedy, unsurprisingly one is John Robertson’s latest stand-up show; and there’s another magic show by David Alnwick, like why? Why isn’t that one also listed in Cabaret and Variety with the other two? Any logic there?! Oh yeah, on C&V, I missed mentioning (overlooked, it was a double-sided cut-out) Bad Clowns and Good Friends, their late night show with various guest comedians is back at Eve, I might get round to popping in this time round, I kept saying I would last year but,!? (it’s in the Cowgate, not exactly a tricky location)

The majority of my Comedy possibilities are the hybrid PWYC and PWYW, take a gamble that you’ll get in without a ticket and pay when you leave. Two shows I won’t just chance are Ed Byrne: Work In Progress and Luke Rollason: Alas! (WIP), both short runs and no doubt will sell out. John-Luke Roberts and Nish Kumar have full Fringe runs at Monkey Barrel so I reckon I’ll be fine seeing them early on. Then there’s the ticketed shows I’d like to see, well, some only if they get listed on the Half Price Hut. Unfortunately way too many of my choices clashed timewise, so they wouldn’t all fit during the preview period (oh, a mini rant about that at some point).

I haven’t been the forthcoming with my choices in this post, so I’ll put in some pics of my possibilities. Next time, more on the Comedy section, the shows I’m definitely going to see.

Toodle pip!

Possibilities for my Fringe26 ptII

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The Edinburgh Fringe programme has a section Spoken Word, it makes me smile, I mean, duh, yeah, unless it’s mime (probably in Dance, Physical theatre and Circus) or sung (covered in Music and Musicals and Opera). It seems to be a grey area, when are words just spoken?… monologues just seem to be placed wherever the performer best thinks the title will catch the eye, does Spoken Word sound a trifle too dry to them? Comedy and Theatre take in performances alluding to being more, even Cabaret (I would expect a certain pazzazz there), but those are big categories to compete for attention. A good title may actually stand out better in this smaller category filled with interview shows and talks/lectures; the lists of these go on a fair bit – there’s just short of a hundred, nope, not for me. Only three shows piqued my interest…

Call me old-fashioned, I like large paper maps, I still have all the Official Tourist Maps that I bought for various holidays back over the years. X marks the spots of various campsites and pubs, well, you never know, I might still make it back that way some day! So when I saw Mistakes on Maps I immediately reached for the scissors, a show about historical maps each with a fascinating flaw? I could go for that. Let People Like You had me at “expect saucy ostriches”, Free Fringe too, a definite possibility. The third I’ll admit is just a vague possibility but I think worth cutting out so that I’ll remember it’s on. Adorable Comedians Performing Funny Poetry and Telling Lovely Stories has the potential to be a warm fuzzy hug of a show or somewhat cringey, depending on the line-up, a foremention on who’s on each day might entice me (or not).

I don’t really expect to see anything much in Dance, Physical Theatre and Circus but I’ll always check through it (well, my fomo makes me). The blurb for Final Queen mentions “blood-soaked hula hooping”, horror and it’s antipodean (always a bonus point); it’s a full run so I can watch out for reviews before deciding. There’s only three performances of The Masquerade, I have no idea what the picture is about, a masquerade deity lives in someone’s stomach?! Hmmm, but I found myself cutting it out, okay.

Now was the time to go to the beginning, Cabaret and Variety. I just got curious there, when did this section appear? I was sure it didn’t use to be there, hmm. A quick dive into the shelves behind me and indeed, Cabaret first got it’s own section in the programme in 2011, Variety was added to it in 2015 (were there meetings debating whether such nuances should be recognised? handbags and hissy fits thrown?!) I wonder, will Magic and Burlesque be next? There’s an awful lot of magic in C&V, plenty of which appears under PBH’s Free Fringe, yay (please remember while these shows are free entry, only a real schmuck would leave without giving anything, don’t be that person). The busiest magician on the Fringe is back with two shows, full runs not a single day off, David Alnwick always puts on a great show. The blurb shows that one goes for humour, while the other, as Alnwick likes to do, is more theatrical, that one’s in the Speakeasy at the Voodoo Rooms (a great setting for a spooky show).

Another magician who’s played the Fringe plenty is Charlie Caper, I’ve never gotten round to seeing him before; his key words are magic and variety, maybe this year? The Cult of Astaroth promises magic and horror at the Banshee Labyrinth, a fitting venue! A title that immediately held my gaze was Dan Bastianelli: The Boy Who Drew Doors, magic with storytelling, I get an impression of whimsiness, no bad thing, as is the venue theSpace@Surgeons’ Hall (a place that I’ve seen plenty of great shows). One more magic show cut-out, this one illustrates my earlier point as The Man With the Golden Hands – Stuart Lightbody was listed under Theatre in 2024; it tells a true story of a magician recruited by the CIA, yeah, a possibility.

There’s plenty and allsorts of musical choices in C&V, of course. Fingers Piano Bar is the place for ABBA singalongs, and for two nights only Alice Cooper – Welcome To My Cabaret Nightmare, that could be excellent fun (or really naff). I do quite fancy the tribute to Tom Waits in the Voodoo Rooms, will it be a dip into everything, or the more accessible? (some of his stuff I really can’t get). Last but definitely not least, that grande dame of fruit is back, the incomparable Dame Granny Smith is once again in The Wee Coo in George Square Gardens. No doubt there’ll be a song or two from her, let’s hope her voice holds out as she’s on from the first preview day right through until the (real) final day, Monday 31st, with only one day off.

So far so good, my pile of possibilities isn’t ridiculously large, yet. Just the big two, Theatre and Comedy are left; the Theatre section alone is thicker than the whole of the 2001 Fringe programme, yikes. How’s anyone supposed to choose these days?

Toodle pips!

A moose and a Dame

A few definite possibilities

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I remember back when the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme would come out, early to mid June and folk would rush to get a copy to scour through it picking out their must-sees, ready for when the box office opened about a week later. It was all quite exciting, the anticipation. Nowadays tickets are woozily released from the start of the year, okay so I may take the odd peek, but I still wait on the proper physical paper programme to book tickets (okay, so there’s been the odd rare occasion), I prefer to see everything that’s on before I start to plan.

Only now, there’s also plenty of shows announced after the programme is out. Has it always like this but I just wasn’t aware? Okay, so there was always the odd one here and there (the Sleeping Trees and The Chocolate Factory comes to mind, it was a known late add-on to watch out for!), usually they were free or late night shows, probably thought up over a few drinks and cobbled together! Back in 2007 Rhys Darby was over performing in a play, next thing he’d got a slot in the Pleasance Courtyard Attic and photocopied some handwritten flyers, it wasn’t his best but we didn’t care, it was great seeing him do his thing.

These days, of course, there’s social media to keep an eye on for late announcements, like Lord Christian Brighty‘s of a three night run at the Pleasance Courtyard, yay. There’s always an odd extra show or two that’s not in the paper programme at Monkey Barrel Comedy but I know to actually read their emails just in case; and huzzah, John-Luke Roberts is back in the final week with a WIP.

And extra joys, Aidan Pittman and Hudson Hughes, the co-creators of the bloody brilliant Dr Dolittle Kills a Man (one of my top favourites of last year’s Fringe) are back doing various bits and bobs as part of PBH’s Free Fringe in the middle week. Quick edit here: well, he did announce it late! Will BF is bringing back his sci-fi romp Moon Team IIIV to a late slot at the Underbelly, starting on Tuesday 12th. Considering how many changes he made to it within a month last year, it could be an entirely different show by now! Still bonkers and laugh out loud daft, of course.

But there’s always the odd show in the Fringe programme that doesn’t happen, and sadly it’s not happening for Crybabies: The Scaring, they’ve had to cancel their run due to an unforeseen health issue (wishing a full recovery for whoever it is). However, I just saw on Instagram a couple of days ago that Crybabies have a series of four one-off comedy adventures coming to Radio 4 through August! Excellent news!

Well, it’s very late, way past time I should be asleep. I shall leave you with a picture of my cut-out Comedy possibles. G’night!

Music, murder and mind-reading

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It’s Sunday evening of the second Fringe week, I’m feeling somewhat peeved as I’ve just lost two days fringing to a lurgy! Oh, it’s my own personal lurgy that likes to pop up and lay me low at the most annoying times. It wasn’t going to stop me seeing Logan’s Close last evening though, oh no, an afternoon dozing on the couch sipping lemon and honey was just enough to pep an old moose up.

The lads along with two other acts were meant to be playing on a stage on an open area at the top of St James Quarter, but this is Edinburgh in August. Yeah, no, that wasn’t going to happen, of course the weather was not going to play ball! So the bands played on the third floor, but hey, it was grand, the Close were on top form; a lush intro going into Babestation and they were off. Previous LC drummer Alex was filling in for Gavin, busy elsewhere at the Fringe. What’s happening in the pic? Check it out on Instagram! What an utter joy, a mid Fringe dose of Elsie. A much-needed tonic 💛

I’ve done absolutely zilcharoony today, so now as my head is starting to clear, a few more Fringe musings…

First up The Grim a darkly comic piece of theatre. I really enjoyed it, the banter between the two undertakers, one a real geezer type and the other a more timid Irish Catholic lad, was great but one couldn’t help looking at the covered over corpse on the table and wondering… This is the second play I’ve seen by Edmund Morris, I very much look forward to his third. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Surreal: The Mind-Reading Show From Berlin! is something very different. Even as we sat waiting for the show to begin the animated vintage-style projections were incredibly beautiful and set the tone (at the end of the show we learnt that they were created by Vivian). Roman Von Thurau and Vivian Sommer are like creatures from another era, almost otherworldly, their storytelling pulled the audience in and their mind-reading kept us all enthralled. I like to think myself as open-minded with a healthy dose of cynicism; that was some show, quite unnerving ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Musical theatre, anyone? The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Murdered is performed in the round (or, more square in this case), and impressively without mics. Centre stage is the musical accompaniment, keyboards played by the writer/composer Lily Blundell who also plays a character too! She is Josephine, wife of Tony Morino, owners of a bar in 1930s America. Business is not good, Tony comes up with a plan to get some money, but Death has other ideas. A little different to my usual fare but again my Fringe-dar hit the mark, a deliciously dark, funny tale, brilliantly performed by all ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

It’s late, I need my bed. I’ll leave you with one last mention, John Robertson: The Human Hurricane quite simply, bloody awesome!! The last time he did free Fringe show he had an old guitarist to accompany him, this time he’s playing an electric ukulele himself. John is as brilliant and gleefully manic as ever. The evening I saw him there was a dog in the audience (he is all inclusive) and a gentleman who kept John supplied with shots of whisky – a fine, fine show for us, quite what The Dark Room would have been like after it is another matter! I’ll definitely go see The Human Hurricane again ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

He’s a big softie at heart

Some Tuck, Rats and Hot Blondes!

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This time last week I was in Stramash watching The Scat Rats, another damn fine performance as we’ve come to expect from them. The early evening band was Nicole Smit and Jed Potts doing their thang (the first time I’ve seen their double act outside of Binkies) ranging from country, blues, rock’n’roll, and this week Jed went lounge (honestly, eyes shut he sounded like he should be wearing velvet and ruffles!) on a couple of numbers.

Last night I had been expecting to see The Blueswater but alas they had to cancel, well, some of them, so instead Nicole and the Back-up Crew (there are a few overlaps there) did the late night shift at The Jazz Bar. No, I didn’t go, I went to bed at a reasonable time instead! I do hope things are okay again for their Fringe shows (the first one is Wednesday 9th).

I had been wondering at a seeming lack of Tuck this year, nothing in the programme! Surely he’d be up? What anarchy would ACMS descend into without him? And This Is Your Trial without a single Tuck appearance? Surely not. Oh, and TIYT is with Laughing Horse this year, in The Counting House at half past five in the afternoon. It is very random depending many factors but hey, it’s free, definitely worth a punt!

And then, midweek he shared a pic on Instagram of his Fringe schedule so far, yay! Thom Tuck will be in the building, well, a building, a number of buildings, around Edinburgh during August. I like his use of colours, if a tad rough, but curious what Dom and Wogan mean!? 2110 Ginzel’s I think I’ve figured out, some serious acting? I’ll let you know.

This morning I headed up Moose Ridge in Holyrood Park, after a week of slow ambles with old dogs I’ll have to get back into the long climb up, ready for Arthur’s Seat Comedy Extravaganza on Saturday 19th. If you’ve never been up to the top, then that’s the day to do it! Catch a 45 minute free Fringe show with four stand-ups and the most spectacular view in town (unless there’s very low cloud!)

Hot news of the week, Logan’s Close have released another succulently scintillating single from their forthcoming album Heart-shaped Jacuzzi, for which they have also announced a Release Party date in late December, oh yay! So that’s Hot Blondes In Your Area Tonight available now on Spotify and other music streams; and Liquid Room on 29th December.

Alas, I was away on Monday when they invited fans to go along and be in the video for Hot Blondes, hopefully it’ll be out before too long. In the meantime, I have put a clip on Instagram of The Scat Rats doing an acoustic version in Stramash.

Anyhoo, time for bed, just three sleeps to go. I’ll leave you with the Rats from last week…

A few faces to watch out for

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Just time to fit in another quick flit to the home country, then it’s back up to Auld Reekie and no sleep ’til September! I’ve noticed that The Blueswater are playing the Jazz Bar on Saturday night in advance of their Fringe shows, I may well make it back up in time for that. A couple of days to get my moose cave in order, it’s all coming together.

Yay, Accordion Ryan will be back with more Pop Bangers, this time he’s in 32 Below, next door to where he was last year, again part of the Free Festival eleven o’clock every night except Wednesdays, really, make time, go see!!

Alex Farrow is back, once again hosting Stand-up Philosophy and Stand-up Science besides his new solo show Wisdom of the Crowd, all at Laughing Horse venues. His solo show is PWYC, the other two are free, they’re more or less entertaining depending on the line-ups each day.

David Alnwick has a new show The Mystery of Dracula, expect good theatre and great magic (if you’re thinking, umm, a magic show, it will be way more than that!) in the Speakeasy at the Voodoo Rooms. It is part of PBH’s Free Fringe but be warned, Mr Alnwick is very popular, best be there in plenty of time!

Those two absurdly funny men, Neil Frost and Dan Lees are back with solo shows. I could be wrong but Neil Frost: The Door sounds very similar to his show last year, no matter, it was a wonderfully funny show. That other absurd clown Luke Rollason is back with Cheep Cheep, of course I have a ticket! Oh, it’s not mentioned in the printed version of the Fringe programme.

Anyhoo, must go, I’m being taken out for lunch! Apparently it’s by a place we used to go many, many years ago – I have no recollection of it. ……. and I’m back, I was whisked away! Even driving past Waters Meet (where we used to have picnics on Sunday afternoons I’m told) I only had the faintest of memories. It’s at Walshaw Dean, a bleak moorland area above Heptonstall (above Hebden Bridge), further on and bleaker still, you come to Pack Horse Inn; it’s stood there as a welcome shelter from the elements for just over 400 years (ok, no doubt with a few changes over time). They serve fine ales, a very good Ox Cheek Bourguignon and scrummy desserts.

More about tasty Fringe morsels next time. Toodle pip!

There’s nothing else here but bracken, more bracken and hills

Things that made me go, hmm

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It’s Saturday afternoon and time for the annual defrosting of my fridge freezer, well, I’m waiting for it to defrost completely, then I’ll clean it. No meat from the Farmers Market this morning, instead I’m letting mince and chicken thaw out for cooking later; the subsequent bolognaise sauce and chicken curry will refill the freezer in mealsize portions. There’s method in the madness!

Now, while the freezer slowly warms up, on with “things I’ve spotted in the Fringe programme” with pauses to occasionally go through and mop up the gathering puddle. Oo yeah, definitely possible, the gorgeous Rose Matafeo will be at Monkey Barrel 4 for only £7 or PWYW, bargain! Unfortunately whilst in the Box Office in June I overheard the chap at the next till being told that Rose was already sold out, so that’s almost definitely impossible, then. I say almost, apparently a few seats will be available on the day, good luck getting one of them!

The show with what has to be the longest title is back again, one performance only. It’s part of PBH’s Free Fringe, I’ve never seen it but maybe this is the year for A Young Man Dressed as a Gorilla Dressed as an Old Man Sits Rocking in a Rocking Chair for 56 Minutes and Then Leaves… 14. Would you be tempted? I really don’t know, I suppose it is free, very much a see-how-I-feel-on-the-day. I wonder how many will go, and has anyone gone to it more than once?

So …Gorilla… is now pencilled with brackets in my calendar, supposing he never does it again? Someone who won’t be back at the Fringe ever again is the late great comedy legend that was Barry Cryer who sadly died last year. For the last twenty years Barry was part of the Fringe in a double act, this year instead it’s Ronnie Golden: Allo Keith! Remembering Barry Cryer, I came over quite emotional seeing that!

What do you reckon “unusual old-school Fringe activities” will entail? Apparently Mark Watson’s Churchfest will be seven hours of the stuff on Tuesday 22nd. Churchfest because the venue is St Peter’s Church up at Lutton Place on the Southside (it has a lovely garden beside it). I do like Mark Watson, he’s intelligent with a slight of whimsy, he has me intrigued with this show (and it’s free non-ticketed).

Back in my school days I studied Murder In The Cathedral by T.S.Eliot for English Lit A-level, even got to see it performed in York Minster. This year, for one night only it’s on at Old Saint Paul’s Church. I’m don’t remember ever seeing it in a Fringe programme before, an OMG moment when I spotted it; but no, well, I’ve already seen it, haven’t I?

More from me tomorrow, I have a Jazz Festival to attend just now. Toodle pip!

That’s another week ending

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And that’s the second week of the Fringe drawing to a close; but it’s not quite over yet, my plan is, start writing this post, take a break to see Accordion Ryan, then come home all cheery and write the rest of it. Good flan, huh? Quite a number of shows will be finishing up tonight, there’s always one you’ve intended to get round to seeing only to realise it’s finished, packed up and gone home. There’s also a number in my cut-outs pile that I’ve kept looking at only to realise they weren’t on yet – well now they will be! Oh, and I must go see young stand-up Fraser Brown this week, every time I’ve bumped into him flyering I’ve said I will. He was at the Fringe last year and had a very successful run but I never saw him, my Fringe-Dar is reckoning he’ll be good.

Oo, Lucifer is on 5USA channel on the tellybox, from the first series. Yes, I’ve seen it a number of times now but hey, it’s Lucifer.

That’s where I had to dash out to get up to The Counting House to see Accordion Ryan. He’s such a sweet guy and smart, quite the multilingual too, from spending the last few years in a number of different countries and always making an effort to learn the language. Tonight he had in audience members from Denmark and Spain so sang songs in both languages, like so impressive. The dude exudes joy and harmony, though some of the songs he sings can cause outrage when he busks on the street. Ryan does write songs himself but this show is mainly, as the title says, Pop Bangers which he encourages his audience to sing along with him. Accordion Ryan is a ray of sunshine to brighten up the day ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Did I mention last time that I found out late on Friday night that Barry Ferns was to be back on Arthur’s Seat on Saturday? Did I go? Of course, I did, even though it was very windy with showers forecast (luckily they didn’t materialise but I was prepared in case); because it was so windy the show happened at the slightly lower level before the last climb up to the very top. Plenty of people turned up deliberately, a number of others stayed to watch as well and some would just walk across the “stage” bemused by us all.

that’s Barry Ferns squinting into the sun, trying to see his audience

As it was a one-off Barry had a few other comedians with him including John Hastings, who told a very funny story, involving Tim Fitzhigham, about the last night of a Fringe some years ago. I was very impressed that Nina Conti was up there, and over the moon when I got a photo with her on the way back down. Naturally I got a hug from Barry, it was so lovely to see him again! As he said it’s just about as fringey a Fringe show can be, sitting on a high hillside, magnificent view of the Forth and a man with a door frame, amp and mike with stand (the door frame is so that we can all enter the venue and pay into his bag when we leave, not exiting make cause existential problems later).

Its now much later than I thought it would be so I’ll end this here. I”ll pop a reel of Ryan and other Fringey pics on Instagram tomorrow.

Toodle pip!

Here comes the rain again

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Today is the start of the second week of the Edinburgh Fringe, the day that a lot of full run shows take off; if not today, tomorrow or a few take Wednesday off. Certainly all the Just The Tonic shows are not on today – are they all having like a huge works party somewhere?! Thunder rumbled through yesterday evening and night heralding the end of the heatwave, this evening we have torrential rain forecast from around nine o’clock onwards, settling down to steady rain from first thing Tuesday morning until sometime in the early evening. All the wetness should be cleared by Wednesday when most shows are back on, it’s how it often goes, an August institution.

Another August institution is the ever delightful Thom Tuck, who is, of course, here again, yay. Indeed, I just went this afternoon to see his show, Thom Tuck: An Even More August Institution. He’s only doing it for three days, this was the first one – almost like he knew in advance that the weather would be rubbish, so folk would want to head indoors! Well, he knows how August in Edinburgh pans out, he’s been here for plenty of them, and his show this time features a number of tales of Fringes past. I could have quite happily sat listening to him for another hour, the man is witty, erudite, silly; always a pleasure ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thom did mention that he studied philosophy at university, couldn’t help wondering if he’s ever a guest comedian at Stand-up Philosophy? I’d definitely go to that, the chap could wax lyrical on anything I reckon. I have actually been to Stand-up Philosophy once already this Fringe but it is one of those, a different show every night. The afternoon I went along the topic was identity, the host had three comedians lined up to do short pieces on the topic, after each he’d join them to chat and get questions from the audience, it’s an interesting idea for those wanting something a bit different from stand-ups. ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Late morning today I went to see Rachel Creeger at The Globe Bar (PBH’s Free Fringe) on the basis of seeing her doing Stand-up Philosophy. Good choice, she comes across well; the raconteur style of stand-up rather than jokes, and there is plenty to laugh about in her stories. Probably not to everyone’s tastes but I had a lovely hour in her company, oh, and she’s an orthodox Jew, there’s a few mentions about food – you will be feeling hungry by the time you head out. ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Just time for another mention before I head out to see Aidan Goatley, a show that I saw as a WIP last year Rob Kemp: Agenda. Until this year I don’t think I’ve ever been in The Hive in Niddry Street, in the last two weeks I’ve seen three shows there, all great. The Hive rooms are an extension to the Monkey Barrel Comedy Club, so tickets can be bought in advance or PWYC at the end of the show. Anyways, Rob Kemp: Agenda is a great show, he’s great, great legs too. This is an autobiographical show about Rob dealing with societal expectations versus his identity as a man who likes, when the mood takes him, to wear sequins and make-up, a pansvestite (his term). It’s honest and blunt, also very funny and touching, loved it last year, loved it this time too ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Must dash. Toodle pip!