Possibilities of laughter

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!

Nick Helm on Dave

I was just flicking through the telly channels when I happened upon Eat Your Heart Out With Nick Helm. Huh? Nick Helm has a food programme now?! Mr Shouty was conversing in French and later showing off his few words in Portuguese, all in lovely mild manner. Hmmm (looks into the distance, head to one side, a hazy wibbly-wobbliness takes us back, back…)

Friday 3rd August 2012, rushed home from work to get to the Pleasance Queen Dome in time for Nick Helm: This Means War. My choice, I just really like the poster, very Flashman/ Rik Mayall’s Bombardier, it worked for me. I had heard he was quite loud, quite loud?! He came on singing a Motorhead song, well, shouting it, then he seriously ripped into some of the audience, boy, was I glad we were well back in the middle of a row. One poor chap ended up on stage peeling spuds and being yelled at for most of the show, but while we felt the fear we enjoyed the show anyway.

I didn’t see Nick Helm again until 2015, well to be fair, in 2014 he only did two nights at the Pleasance Grand at £15 a pop, that’s ’cause he’d made it on to the telly in Uncle. Then in 2015, he appeared on the Free Fringe with a catchy show title, Nick Fuckin’ Helm: My Edinburgh Hour. This time, a young chap at the front who hadn’t clapped and laughed enough was made to sit behind Nick on the stage so that a more appreciative lady could gave the seat, again I was glad to be well back in the crowd! It was another very entertaining show, especially as the venue sound limiter kept cutting out the microphones whenever he sang – it’s not like Nick Helm really needs amplification in a room that size anyway!

So, his new tv show on Dave, well I really enjoyed it. Him and a mate just go places, eat loads of food and meet the chefs who cook it, and he’s quite sweet actually. There were two half hour shows together, the second had Nish Kumar as the buddy, he’s another chap who’s doing rather well these days. I saw him doing McNeil and Pamphilon’s Go 8-Bit back in 2013 and 2014, yes, at the Fringe it was theirs, not Dara O’Briain’s.

More about that later.