Onstage in Edinburgh!

Sadly my dodgy net connection collapses when I try to upload videos to YouTube, so this is just a brief post to say “Today I saw FIVE shows and performed in one!”

The show I performed in was “The Impro Jam”, which I’d been along to see on Monday (basically via accident; I happened to turn up at the venue just before it was about to start), and afterwards somewhat bullied my way into a spot.

The show is really not about improvisers jamming with other improvisers; rather, it sees willing audience members brought up onstage for a few minutes of the glory. Basically my job was to ensure they looked good! My favourite scene was where I played a lascivious bingo caller who was meeting a fireman for a date. It allowed me to use all sorts of great innuendo like “do you like to get both hands on the hose?” and “Hosting bingo has given me a lot of experience with balls”, which terrified the young man involved, but seemed to tickle the audience’s funnybone. Hooray! I’m turning up again on Wednesday to see if they need players again.

Earlier in the day I’d seen “The Wind Tamer”, by the Newbury Youth Theatre (I’ll explain why via video soon) – a kids show that was two parts Harry Potter to one part His Dark Materials. Very sweet, and well staged.

Then this evening Deborah Frances White and I tied our hands behind our backs and tucked in to the comedy trough on offer at the Pleasance Courtyard.

First,Justin Moorhouse (Manx with a desire to find his true friends amidst the Facebook mire). Then, Nina Conti (daughter of Tom, ventriloquist, so clever, so original, and I can’t believe the monkey wasn’t f***ing real). Then, Australian musical comedian and beat poet Tim Minchin (Just. Freaking. Awesome.) Finally, we caught the 11:15pm show featuring stand-up Reginald D. Hunter. (Some things to think about; a bit of Batman-hate; a lot of Josef Fritzl jokes).

It’s been a massive day, which is quite a triumph when you consider the hot water broke again at the flat this morning and I had to have another cold shower (three days in a row; and the summer ain’t that hot here, people). Tomorrow is shaping up to be busy again. Hopefully I will get a chance to find some proper wi-fi!