Ten films with my Dad

I got hugs today, yay

bruceonthefringe 2023, Edinburgh Fringe 2023, Music in Edinburgh, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Well, this has been a marvellous day so far, and in a bit I’ll be heading up to Stramash for The Buccaneers, yay. I was there last night for The Scat Rats and Mr Marah will be back there again Friday night at ten o’clock on Hurricane duty. Very exciting though, is tomorrow evening in Stramash as the Ol’Times are back in town for a few days!! Needless to say, I’ll be in there for seven, and the following evening the same time in Whistlebinkies and finally Binkies midnight on Saturday (you’ve gotta get it while you can).

This afternoon I bumped into two of the loveliest people on the Fringe, both of whom I had no idea were coming to Edinburgh this year until about 24 hours ago, and both called Aidan! First up Aidan Sadler looking fabulous as ever, flyering a last minute organised show at theSpace on the Mile. Then blow me, just a minute later, only Aidan Goatley! Back up, back on the Free Fringe with that brilliant show 10 Films With My Dad this time it’s the Director’s Cut! One of my favourite all-time Fringe shows, yes it’s that good, well, he is the loveliest man on the Fringe.

And on the subject of great shows, I don’t think I’ve mentioned how brilliant Laser Kiwi: Rise of the Olive is, bloody brilliant! Their acrobatic skills combined with spot-on comic timing make for a thrillingly hilarious show. You’ll never see Jenga played like this anywhere else! ☆☆☆☆☆

Bishops at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose is another cracking show, Chris and Noah have very strange minds, indeed, but they sure know how to subvert expectations. Honestly, they had me half gasping, half laughing at some of their sketch endings. Oh, and I bet I wasn’t the only one to google a certain fruit after I’d left! ☆☆☆☆½

Time for some buccaneering, me hearties! Toodle pip!

It was a very good year (part I)

bruceonthefringe Comic theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe 2013, Free Fringe, Fringe history, Fringe Venues, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

2013 was the year the Free Fringe got really quite exciting, no longer was it just stand-up comedians in back rooms of pubs, there were proper shows to see! Or, at least, that was how my buddy and I perceived it. Casual Violence: Om Nom Nominous in the Voodoo Rooms was one such show, so good we went to see the company’s other non-free show the next day; the live musical accompaniment was a fine asset!

The Hawke Papers at the Blind Poet (loved that pub, alas, no longer there, that fine old boozer has been absorbed by the Pear Tree) was an interactive murder mystery using the full space of the pub for us to move around, look for clues and talk to the various characters. It was popular for a morning show, we missed out one day but were given a signed flyer and told to be there twenty minutes early the next day to be sure of getting in!

We heard that Death Ship 666 at the Three Sisters was very good and very popular and at 10:45 in the morning! After one miss we made it in plenty of time on the second attempt, great show, dubious venue. It may be fine now (I haven’t seen any shows there for a few years) but the back of the Three Sisters used to have a whiff of stale urinals, watching a show distracted from it, but hanging around waiting for a show to start was not pleasant!

The Free Fringe show that sounded right up our street was Captain Morgan and the Sands of Time at what was the Fiddlers Elbow at Picardy Place – ours and every other bugger’s street. We’d heard it was popular so headed down a good twenty minutes early, apparently not a hope in hell said the guy who came out to count the queue.  The next time we were just over half hour early, so did we get in? Argh, by a gnat’s crochet, no!!! We were right at the door, next in, sorry, jam-packed full!! Now fainter hearts may have given up at this point, not us, another evening another even longer wait (forty five minutes) but, yes, we made it in! Was it worth it? Absolutely! Two actors, one musician (yes, more live accompaniment), lots of characters including Poseidon, a Lovecraftian creation played by the actors together.

2013 was the year we saw the wonderful Aidan Goatley for the first time, another visit to the Voodoo Rooms to see Ten Films With My Dad, a Free Fringe show. It was also the Fringe we finally scaled the mighty Arthur’s Seat, not once but twice, to see This Arthur’s Seat Belongs to Lionel Ritchie, a gala spectacular of Barry Ferns and friends (not quite at the top as it was a very windy squally day) and then Barry on Arthur’s Seat, which poignantly turned out to be the last time he’d do his solo show up there – his knees had decided enough was enough.

Here’s a little collage of pics from the Arthur’s Seat shows. See, you can tell it was a proper Free Fringe show – there was a doorway to go in through and it’s where he stood with the bucket at the end 😆

2019-09-27 00.11.49

The loveliest man on the Fringe

bruceonthefringe a rant, Comedy, Edinburgh Fringe, Films, Fringe history, Fringe Top Tip, Fringe Venues, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

This award I would give to Aidan Goatley, he really is a lovely chap. I first saw him doing his show Ten Films With My Dad at the Voodoo Rooms in 2013. Since then there’s been The Joys of Retail, Mr Blue Sky, The Year of the Goat and this year’s Aidan Goatley is the Vicar’s Husband. Each year he has still also done Ten Films… which I love, it probably helps being a similar generation so the films are very much part of my own cultural references.

There was just one fairly obscure old black and white war film, with a young Thora Hird, that I didn’t know; I took a friend to see the show last year (any excuse to go back again) and she creased up in hysterics as she immediately recognised the film because of the young Thora Hird. On thinking, that same friend also almost ended herself at Year of the Goat when Aidan was slagging off his wife’s hometown, it only turned out to my friend’s hometown too! (she did agree with him)

You will have never seen a rant ranted as politely and so Britishly as Aidan Goatley rants, and I do find myself nodding and in fits of giggling agreement, for example, “street food” – if it’s indoors how can it be “street food”??! Totally with him on that one, a little favourite rant of my own in the last year or two. Oo, and Avatar, don’t get me started!! It’s wonderful to hear someone able to put voice to my own rants with so much eloquence.

I went to see this year’s new show The Vicar’s Husband  at Sweet Grassmarket and thoroughly enjoyed it, and not just because it’s in an air-conditioned room! That, of course, is a bonus, but on the other hand Ciao Roma did have the most sumptious ice cream to aid cooling. This year Aidan is also doing a few Ten Films … as podcasts with a different guest each time to chat about films, but sadly it’s also the last year he’s going to do Ten Films… So for one night only he’s doing Ten Films With You Pricks a look back at some of the horror stories of his time performing it. I have kinda mapped out my last few days of Fringe but, oo, I may have to work some jiggery-pokery to fit it in.

So if you happen to read this in Edinburgh before 25th August 2018, you still have a chance to see one of my favourite ever shows!

20180821_212108