(Originally Emailed: Aug 23, 2006 8:12 PM)
Time for Part Two
OK, first some housekeeping. I've put all my old emails in a blog on my bebo site which, again, is http://plugger69.bebo.com. If for some reason you need to be a member to view the pics, let me know and I'll sort you out.
Secondly, because this is such a massive email, I'll put the thankyous at the top:
- thanks to everyone here and in Oz who remembered my birthday (for the rest of you, remember August 2 next year)
- thanks to Eammon for the choice weekend
- thanks to Morgs for booking the hostel - yes it was a bit shabby but at least you were well organised
- thanks to Pete Rees for p!ssing his bed in that hostel - amusing and also Karma for Isaac's
- finally, thanks heaps to Kel for letting me stay in Edinbugh, and also for the tips about the fringe!
Finally, I'm starting to put my pics up on kodakgallery.co.uk , thanks to the recommendation of my former housemate, Geraldine. I have pics from this trip up at the moment and will put others up when I get a chance. I think I have to send out an invite for you to see them.
Okey Dokey...
Bish's Precis
- I went to Dublin for Eammon's 30th and then to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival
- Edinburgh was incredible also - Kel thank you so much for letting me stay!
- I saw Tim Minchin, and 18 other shows in four days. The only other one that came close was Jane Bussmann's show.
- I'm going to Iceland this weekend, mainly because Bjork is hot
OK, so since Munich things had been pretty quiet. I started my job at the London Borough of Hillingdon , moved closer to work (down to two hours commute per day from four), turned 29 for the first time (on August 2 - thanks for the birthday wishes everyone) and hadn't travelled much.
But on the horizon, taunting me with the inevitable madness to come, was a trip to Ireland for Eammon's 30th birthday in the first weekend in August (which is a long weekend in Ireland). For those of you that don't know him, he's a mad kiwi and former housemate of mine, and quite a few of us were making the trip (including Jez, Kev, Pete Rees, Emma, Heather, Morgs, Erica, Marion, Greg Stace, Nick Trevelyan, Fee Fitz and heaps more), so it was going to be a big weekend.
Following that I'd made plans to head straight to Edinburgh to catch up with Kel Rosbender and Andy Fowler, and also to see some of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The plan was to get to Dublin on Friday, then to Edinburgh on Monday evening, and get the train back to London on the following Saturday.
Got into Isaac's Hostel in Dublin at about 3 on Friday afternoon, to find Em, Jez and Robbie there waiting to check in. Check in is at 3.30 apparently. This was to be a sign of the future inflexibility at the hostel. Anyways, after that, and a quick look around Dublin, we got on the lash.
We went to a few places on that first night, and ended up at Kehoe's, which was named after the famous Sydney Kings basketballer of the 1990's. Named, apparently, by a dyslexic as his name was Damian Keogh. The pub itself is awesome - a bar downstairs, and the old owner's house upstairs, converted to a bar also.
The nights festivities came to an inevitable end for me when tequila shots were handed out. Probably for the best as the following night was going to be huge anyway.
The next day started slowly. We met up for the Australia-South Africa rugby game in a dingy dive of a place. Can't remember the name of the place, but its an Aussie/NZ/South African themed pub, so naturally there is all sorts of American rubbish on the wall.
We moved on from that dank hole , swearing never to return, and headed for the Street Performers World Championships, held, naturally in a Park in Dublin. There was some unusual stuff going on, but I didn't see that pirate guy who hangs out in Murray Street Mall and swallows swords. After seeing some guy catch a cabbage on his helmet ( that's not a euphemism), some of us decided enough was enough, and we split up for the afternoon.
But soon enough the impending doom that was Eammon's 30th celebration became regular doom. It started with some very swanky whiskey that Eammon had been given a couple of years earlier. It was awesome. Then I gave Eammon his present - I erroneously accused him of spelling whiskey wrong, and then immediately forfeited the argument, handing him victory in the argument. Happy birthday mate!
We then headed to Whelan's and got on the lash. This was hastened slightly by Pete Rees saw a coin on the ground, and dropped it in Silvia's drink. Menace! This was how the night went. There were two highlights for mine. One was my doner kebab on the way home. Brilliant. The second was Emma sculling pints and swallowing the menace coin - twice.
Walked back to the backpackers, and found that I needed my receipt (not just my electronic key). As I got there a couple was arriving. The old codger at the door said what room are you in? The guy said "I'm in room 305, and she's with me." I just said "201." He said to us "OK, you're right to go in. You two - wait here." Looks like the bloke was looking good for some loving, but wasn't counting on the Irish backpacker bureaucracy - the only morally acceptable form of contraception.
The hostel was awful really - you couldn't tell which bathroom was men's and which were women's, and you couldn't enter your room in the arvo if you want a siesta. I was given the opportunity to post a review of the place by hostelworld.com, and I didn't mince words.
The next day I awoke fairly late and by the time I was ready to go everyone else was already at the pub. What followed can only be shown through the majesty of photography. A veritable lemon-in-the-eye-a-thon. Check out the galleries for the madness ( Album 1 - Album 2). Unsurprisingly, Em and Eammon were the instigators. We all need our Vitamin C!
It carried on into the night. We had ladyboys back at Kehoe's (my other present to Eammon). And finally we found ourselves back at the dank joint where we watched the rugby. So much for earlier promises! Also thanks to Eammon I had embraced the hippy look by then, so it was clearly time to leave.
For 48 hours before Monday morning, we were talking up another momentous event - The Eating Of The Filthy Bird. There are only two KFCs in Dublin, and we planned to gorge ourselves at one of them. After planning to start eating at about 11am, we took about half an hour to find the place, only to find that it opened at noon! The wait was intense, but gave us a chance to plan our attack on said Bird. It was disgracefully brilliant, if you could handle the shame.
After saying goodbye to Rob and Marion, it was left to Em, Eammon and I to while away the afternoon with booze! Pretty quiet actually, just a few pints, and said goodbye to Em who was off to Europe. Soon it was time for me to take off also, and hit Edinburgh...
It took a while, but I finally caught up with Kel late that night, which was kinda important because I didn't have her address. In the following four days I managed to catch 19 shows.
I've made some notes on all of the shows I saw, and left them at the end of this email. I guess of those shows, three really stood out - two for the right reasons and one for the wrong reason.
The first really great one was Tim Minchin. For those of you that know him he was really fantastic. The show was different to the one he did at the Perth Concert Hall. I also managed to catch up with him very briefly after the show.
Anyways, Tim's show was the best show I saw at the Fringe. The only one which came close was the very last one I saw, Bussman's Holiday. See my comments at the end of the email for more details. I saw her after the show also.
The only real letdown was Harry Shearer's show "This Is So Not About the Simpsons", which was unfunny and not very insightful. A shame really, especially as it was the one that I took Kel to! Sorry Kel!
Overall though, the Fringe was fantastic. I decided to keep an open mind and see as much as I could, which was partly made possible by the Free Fringe - four venues that put on free gigs 12-12 every day. Its awesome, if you're willing to accept a few acts that are way wide of the mark. Also, walking around the city between shows meant I saw heaps of it.
There is something for everyone at the Fringe, and nowhere near enough time to see them all. Of the ones I missed:
The Top 5 I wished I'd seen were:
And the ones I'm glad I didn't see were:
Spank (no link available)
Also, I randomly saw a church group on the main drag (the Royal Mile) singing "You're the Voice" ! Must have been for the bagpipe solo. Very unusual!
OK, what other observations can I make about the Fringe? Well first, if you're looking to expand your horizons a bit, don't go alone. If you go to shows together you might not see everything you want (you can't see it all anyway), but you could see some stuff that is pleasantly surprising. Instead, if you only see what you want to see, and your expectations are high, then you might only stand to be disappointed.
Finally I had some awesome food while I was there. A Sudanese place I ate at was fantastic. As was a dirt-cheap mosque kitchen I ate at. Finally, Wannaburger on the Royal Mile was good also, if a little expensive.
Luckily I had already organise a train home before the airline scare, which happened while I was in Edinburgh. That was lucky, and the journey was awesome.
OK, that's it! Anyone who made it to the end - you have done very very well! Thanks for your patience!
Cheers
Rosco
Next - Iceland: land of pixies and monster trucks
Addendum: The Shows I Saw:
Tuesday 8/8
Comedy Bucket - http://www.pappysfunclub.co.uk/comedybucket/
Stock standard ensemble show with 4 standup bits in an hour. The host was pretty nervous and jumpy but still funny, which seemed to work. All pretty stock standard comedians, fairly vanilla-flavoured. One highlight was confusion of predictive text in erotic conversations with one's other half - eg when she asks you to take off her knickers and "kick her puppy." Free show - nothing lost in going!
Oxford Revue - http://users.ox.ac.uk/~bras1850/home.html
I'd made a promise to see both the Oxford and Cambridge shows. This was a typically raw undergraduate humour (although disappointingly not puerile). They did well with the scant material they had, but unfortunately that's their fault also as they wrote and performed. The venue - the Smirnoff Underbelly - is awesome by the way. The best innovation they came up with was a crappy b&w photocopied programme, with a sudoku game on the back if you get bored. Unfortunately I almost needed it.
Confessions of a Logical Mind, Jay Sodogar - http://www.jaysodagar.com/home.html
A small crowd at this show. Lots of "contributions" from the audience because of that. The guy was kind hearted and well-intentioned, but really quite amateur. For example he made a few mistakes, and then kept referring to them and being self critical. Somehow he came to tell a story about feeling awkward and guilty about breaking a promise made to the God of Toilets to stop wanking when he was ten. Dunno how that happened. He finished the show with a mediocre joke, and then said "... and that's the end of the show" which is unheard of. Then criticised himself for the weak ending. He was free and worth every penny.
Tim Minchin - http://www.timminchin.com/
First of all, next door Will Anderson was on at the same time. The line to see Tim was *much* longer. It was a new show, not the same as the one from the Concert Hall earlier this year. Lots of gags, including some I didn't get. Sledged the Guardian for giving him a bad review last year, quite amusing. Also he was in the biggest venue I went to - and it was full!
Talk of the Fest - http://www.parkerentertainment.com/
Hosted by Paul Provenza, producer of the comedy documentary The Aristocrats, this is basically a show where comedians unwind and talk, rather than being an act. But when they talk, they talk as if they are chatting among themselves, which usually means there are no boundaries. I saw the 8 August show which included American Vaudeville, Jim Jeffries and Matt Kerschen. The former were shizer, but the last two were so good that I had to go and see their shows. A really good show, and well worth it if you're not easily offended. Paul himself provided some great humour. Also, the intro and outro music was TISM! Random! Genius!
Wednesday 9/8
Jesus - The Guantanamo Years - http://abietalks.bebo.com/
I had a look at this as he was on the cover of the fringe mag the day before. He was good - didn't try to be too funny, and lived up to his aims. But the mood he maintained was good. Had a happy little Irish accent, sounded light-hearted and not preachy when passing on his inevitable social message. Played to a full house but most of the laughs were pretty small. Nonetheless he was entertaining.
'Cos I'm Free - http://www.laughinghorse.co.uk/fringe2006/cosimfree.htm
This was another free gig. I went to the wrong venue for this one. I'm sure anyone who went would have at least got their money's worth.
This is So Not About the Simpsons - http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=SIMPS
This was genuinely disappointing. Harry Shearer and his wife Judith Owens didn't try to be funny, but they didn't try particularly hard to do anything. Insights into America were pretty mundane, and the songs surrounding it weren't that good either (although Judith's voice was pretty good). Even though they didn't try to be funny, they still fell short of their goals. Sorry I took you to this one Kel!
Jim Jeffries - Second Coming - http://www.jim-jeffries.com/jimjeffries.htm
Awesomely crude. Not quite as funny as he was the previous night (Paul: "Whats the closest you've ever come to date rape?" Jim: "Rape") - but still highly amusing. Borderline criticism of the crowd ("You haven't been a bad crowd, just ... different"), and a level of offensiveness that the crowd was not ready for. But that made it better for those of us that knew what to expect.
Thursday 10/8
The Great Big Comedy Picnic - http://www.myspace.com/thegreatbigcomedypicnicTwo of the people were OK, but the older lady was f*cking awful. She came on last and was nervous. She had an extremely well justified fear of failure. Imagine a 50 year old lady nervously and bravely battling through a set, and then suddenly talking about drugs before making an incongruous segue to this:
"I like my sex like my drugs - stuck up my c*** in a Colombian airport toilet."
And then she finished with two minutes of tap dancing in a sequined outfit. Nuff said.
A joke that lasts an hour. Told by a bloke with the sort of sideburns that only Arts Union freaks have. Obviously the joke was going to have a massively disappointing punchline, and it did. But the deviations that the joke took on the way to the punchline could have been completely shizer, but they weren't. Not bad actually - but there were only 8 people there.
First of all they were much better than Oxford - no Sudoku required. It was just a series of unrelated sketches. Overall pretty good though. The first standard sketch show I'd seen. Of the cast, the two girls I thought were the best, one of them doing a pretty good bit as a David-Brent-esque biographer.
Another one I saw because I saw him first on Talk of the Fest. Unlike Jim Jeffries, he was far more toned down than in that show. Still very funny though, and to my surprise did it without being too rude. He stuffed up early and repeated himself, but used it well without dwelling on it. He also showed some flair with improv. Also, he gave us all icypoles.
Three people paid to see this show and I was one of them. Four friends of the acts came along also. So those who paid were in a minority. Sean spouts a lot of random factiod, and we have to guess whether they're true. It also served as a launching pad for amusing stories for the guests. Not bad, but because of the audience it became a bit too casual.
Friday 11/8
Best of Edinburgh Comedy 2006 - The Showcase Show - http://www.edinburghcomedy2006.com/shows/showcase/showcase.html
Another four-piece standup show, MCed very well by Andrew Stanley. He reacted with the audience particularly well, probably as well as anyone I've seen here. Also very energetic. Of the four comics, two were OK and two were pretty good, so overall it was a pretty good show.
Free Entry into Richard Coughlan - He Won't Mind - http://www.laughinghorse.co.uk/fringe2006/richardc.htm
I was looking for Ginge on the Fringe, but went to the wrong venue again. But it was a free gig, so I had nothing to lose. Also the place was full again - full of 50 year old Scottish blokes who were easily amused. This helped the atmosphere, and while he was pretty funny, he wasn't that funny. But the atmosphere made it probably the best free show I'd seen so far.
Lewis Bryan - My Family and Other Alcoholics - http://www.laughinghorse.co.uk/fringe2006/myfamilyandotheralcoholics.htm
This was another free gig that I caught because I had a bit of time. It was a bit disappointing. The guy just brought out antiquated books about alcohol, old boozing board games, etc. So basically he was a prop comic. Who spoke out against alcohol abuse. So basically he was an anti-comic - the sort you'd find in hell (with Carrot Top).
This is a Finnish bloke who hasn't mastered English - both those factors explain the title of his show. Apparently he's done about 300 shows, and only 50 have been in English, which I think is pretty impressive. I thought his humour was excellent - if a little hidden by his stilted delivery (and not helped by the small crowd of 7 people). But that made it a bit more rewarding to get his jokes (which were dry: "In Finland we have white on our flag to show our purity, and blue because ... we needed another colour"). I have to say I think he's the one pleasant surprise I had at the Free Fringe.
I went to this because I knew her work (the famous paedophile episode of Brass Eye, and South Park), but not her. It's a one-woman show about her turning her back on celebrity gossip journalism and becoming a foreign correspondent, and heading to Uganda to track down a rebel warlord, all off her own bat. It was brilliant: she blended just the right amount of humour into the story - it added gravity to the story. It was the last show I was going to see, and I almost didn't go. In the end I stayed behind to chat to her about it.
My only regret was when I laughed when she told us about girls having their mouths cut off and being fed to them. I was laughing at the irony - how do you feed someone their mouth?! I wouldn't have laughed if she said "lips" rather than "mouth"! I'm not that unfeeling!
I can't really do the show justice, and no links I have seen really do. It was the only thing that came close to Tim's show, and it came pretty close.
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