While at the Edinburgh Fringe had a most entertaining time hanging out with American Canadian comedian Jennifer Warren. She was at the Fringe as part of the Naked Comedy Showcase, (yes, that's right - stand-up comedy...in the nude). I was originally skeptical of the idea but NCS organiser, (and nudist), Andy Ofiesh was so charming he convinced me to go to the show.
Unfortunately I was unable to make it - but am glad that Jennifer has started to post on ConstantComedy.com. Take a look and laugh. I did.
During the Edinburgh Fringe I was dragged, dragged I tells ya to the Harry Potter spoof 'Potted Potter' by one of our 'CCC' Producers who's a HUGE fan of the works of J.K. Rowling.
And I have to be honest here - no lie, I was dreading seeing a theatrical 'interactive' spoof for kids. But you know what?
The house lights dimmed.
The crowd hushed.
The performers bounded on stage and within minutes I...
...walked out.
Yeah, I gave it 5 minutes and that was enough for me. Which was fortunate because as I was leaving I ran into William Crawley at the door, we exchanged numbers and ended up having a fine old time in Edinburgh, (for those of you who don't know, Crawley is, hands-down, the best broadcaster in Northern Ireland - I am sure a very visible career awaits him at the Beeb once he goes Network).
Anyway, wracked by guilt, (and the fact that the above mentioned Potter-mad producer had scheduled me to work with the creators of the show, Dan and Jeff, the next day!), I went back to the show.
And you know what?
It's great!
Oh sure it's mostly for kids, but adults will have a great time as well. Guess I was just a bit grumpy the first time I went to see it. Or something.
Anyway we shot 2 of the books for ConstantComedy.com - the first book is presented above for your edification and enlightenment!
We tramped around the Royal Mile for a couple of hours and ended up shooting bucket loads of stuff. The material gathered was not all comedy gold, but by goodness, we were able to tease some laughs out of the situation.
As I was in town talent scouting for ConstantComedy.com I of course attended the various heats and watched the finals with interest. There was the usual observational stuff, everyone was polished, but Richard stood out for me with his hard-core/in-depth/must have gone over the heads of much of the audience film trivia material.
I approached him after the show and cajoled him to be on CCC, (as well as the Podcast). The clip below gives you a flavour of his act.
Had the pleasure of working with Zoe Lyons a couple of months back for 'Project X' - great to hear she's just been nominated for the IF Best Newcomer Award at the Fringe this year!
The IF used to be the Perrier Awards, which are pretty damn prestigious Dear Reader. All of us at LTA and CCC wish her good luck. Presented below for your entertainment is Zoe's take on the recent smoking ban in England.
P.S. Had a chance to see another of the nominees, Mickey Flanagan, at the Just for Laughs Showcase last night - if he's in your town go see him - a funny, funny guy).
Running on 3 hours of sleep a night, espresso and comedy. Oh, so much comedy Dear Readers. I have many an anecdote to share with you but will save it for the Podcast.
Nothing new you might say - we've seen it before with the Boosh.
But.
But. There's something in Tony Law's delivery that's new. And trust me folks, after you've seen stand-up after stand-up doing material about Sat-Navs...Sat Navs! Sample joke:
"Does anybody here have a Sat-Nav? What's that all about then?"
anything new is good.
Limmy's Show! LTA Listener Brabazon was all hot on my seeing Limmy. Am glad he hectored me like he did. Internet phenomenon Limmy, (Internet Phenomenon? Man...in the future you're not famous for fifteen minutes...you're famous to fifteen people...), was great.
He's a natural storyteller and his videos have a wonderful tension and show a very sharp eye. Would love to have him on the show and will hector him Brabazon-style to be on.
Well, as usual I was too ambitious. To scout talent, record and edit video for ConstantComedy.com and do a daily podcast is a lot to chew off when you're also seeing friends' shows, schmoozing, doing your photography thing and so much else - I submit the above photo to illustrate my current state of mind - notice how I look like I have a marine's 'thousand yard stare'...if the marine was on roofies.
Susan and I have been spending some late nights together at the Library Bar writing scripts for radio - hopefully they're full of the ha-ha. The pic above was taken while waiting to go on Fringe FM for an interview - we had to wait awhile as there was a scheduling mix-up involving a group of English University students in matching shell-suits who were there to promote their hilarious new Dickens spoof show.
Hilarious.
Lord.
Running on espresso and 4 hours sleep a night.
Right. OK.
One more week to go.
I leave you with another vid from ConstantComedy.com; this is not one that I've shot - a user of the site by the name of Chris McCreedy has just uploaded it. I present it for your enjoyment and edification.
In ConstantComedy news here's the first vid I've done with Tom Deacon who's just won the 2007 Student Comedy Award here in the UK. Though he's young and inexperienced he's definitely got a presence and tore up the room at the awards!
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