Spank!

Tonight will see a Fringe ambition fulfilled as we host one of our all time favourite gigs; Spank at the Underbelly. James and Leon who founded Spank are old friends and this year are stepping back after ten years of hosting duties to let some acts try and fill their shoes.

We were very honoured to be asked as Spank is not only a Fringe institution, it's a gig we've without exception loved doing and more importantly it's just a f***ing good night. It's late, it's loud, it's rowdy and it usually involves nudity. It's basically our perfect gig.

I remember when we first did Spank in our maiden year at the fringe we were absolutely shitting ourselves and the ten minutes of material that we rattled through like rabbits in headlights passed by in a blur, but actually went really well. Since then we've gigged at Spank and Spanktacular loads of times and tonight's hosting will be the icing on the cake. Let's just hope we don't f*ck it up.

In other news a couple of show tips: having now seen it myself I'd definitely like to echo Rich and Matt's recommendation of Boss of it all at Assembly Roxy. If you're after a bit of theatre you should check this out, it's brilliantly performed and well worth seeing. Also, we just saw Dan Cook's show which was just great, a really really enjoyable show.

Gimp Fan Art.

Hello again.

Lee's just about recovered from his Parkour trauma the other night you'll be pleased to hear.

Since then we've done a couple more nice sold out shows and I've had a few tactical early nights as I try and stave off the dreaded fringe flu, I can feel a sore throat coming on so it's lots of honey and lemon and fisherman's friends for me. Hard core.

Over the last couple of days we've seen some great Gimp fan art on twitter, so I thought I'd share the best ones with you here:

This, from Connor Wallace is a strange but beautiful LNGF wall-clock. Cos it's always Gimp time. (sorry)

And we were contacted by friends of Charlie Tarran, a longtime Gimp fan to ask if we'd sign her Birthday card which we were very happy to do, but we were even happier when we saw they'd made a bespoke Gimp themed Birthday card, and an even more impressive Gimp Cake! They certainly win the award for Gimp fans of the week for this effort:

We're loving the effort guys, so keep it coming. We should probably give an award to the best piece of fan art we see at the Fringe, and put it on our website.

We're now off to remove our gimp masks and don our geek masks, as we perform for an audience of children this afternoon (yes, really) as our alter-egos Late Night Geek Fight at Comedy Club for Kids.

Wish us luck!

david

'the' night out.

uh-oh.

it's happened. every fringe there is one night out that defines the month; that involves either some epic success, failure, alcohol related incident... or all three.

last night was that night.

the evening didn't get off to a great start as we had a very 'difficult' show, shall we say. there were a number of technical and sound problems that threw us and the show suffered a bit as a result, so we were feeling a bit down afterwards and in need of some sorrow drowning.

we started with a few drinks in the pleasance dome before heading over to the three sisters for another gig we were doing at a quarter to one. or so we thought. when we arrived we found out they'd muddled the dates up and we weren't doing the gig until next week. so our spirits raised by the new prospect of a night's uninterrupted drinking ahead meant we headed back to the dome.

now if you know edinburgh, you'll know there's a little underpass on the way to the pleasance dome with two slight sloped walls either side. it looks like this:

obviously, after a few drinks it becomes so much more than an underpass. it becomes a mini parkour playground as you run up the sloped walls giggling like a little child at how much more fun it actually is than it really should be.

and that's when it happened.

lee launched himself up one of the walls with just a bit too much pace and enthusiasm, and not quite enough spatial awareness and smacked the top of his head on the cement ceiling.

we all laughed hysterically, naturally, while lee stumbled around clutching his head and trying to laugh it off. it was only a minute later when he took his hand off his head and saw it had blood on it that our laughter turned to concern (for a minute or so) and we realised he'd actually done some damage to his noggin.

apologies if anyone's squeamish but this was what his head looked like (of course we took photos before seeking medical help- we've got a blog to maintain)...

so we found a first aider in the Pleasance (embarrasingly he's also a colleague of lee's at soho theatre) who checked he wasn't concussed and took him off to clean up the wound.

when lee returned fifteen minutes later it was clear they had literally added insult to injury and dressed the poor guy up like whistler's mother...


the only suitable dressing they had for a head injury was to fashion an arm sling into a rather fetching bonnet to keep the pressure on the wound and more importantly, make lee look ridiculous for the rest of the night.

after all that we decided that we definitely needed another stiff drink so we headed to abattoir bar and then the assembly loft bar and crawled home at gone five this morning.

so you can guess how fresh we felt when we went for lunch just now with our agents and all their other acts... not our finest hour.

the good news is lee's fine and (after a nap) we'll all be raring to go again tonight. we just may lay off the parkour for a while....

productive.

The Gimps had an unusually productive day today. We were up before ten which is unheard of at the fringe. Richard and Lee had even got up to do their insanity workout at 9.30.

We took delivery of our brand new T'shirts, which look like this...

Then headed out to see some shows. Matt and I saw some phsyical theatre: Gecko's Missing which was very impressive, then we all saw the Young Pleasance's excellent show Rites. Such a well performed show, they're a very talented cast and they really are well worth seeing each year.

We followed that with Boss of it All at Assembly Roxy which was utterly brilliant.

Then we headed home to eat our own bodyweights in Pasta (why? why always before a show? why??) before heading out for a bit of flyering and then the show.

Fighting fat.... I mean fit.

Hello everyone,

Richard here and it is time for me to tackle the blog. 

Well, this is now my 6th Edinburgh Fringe and while I have happy memories of seeing superb stand ups, powerful plays and splendid sketch acts, almost all of these memories end with me standing either in Brookes Bar with a pint or in a take-away pondering whether to have salt and sauce. That is why all photos of me taken at the start and end of previous Edinburghs have looked like before and after photos from a diet plan but the wrong way round.

But not this year my friends, oh no! You see, I am getting married at the end of September and I am determined to look suave and chiseled and not pale and podgy. So, I am attempting to do something that has never been done before at the Fringe...leave Edinburgh in better health than when I arrived.

I am very fortunate that Lee has agreed to perform this Herculean task with me and together we are undertaking the INSANITY WORKOUT. Not heard of it? Well, imagine a 2 hour work out taking just 40 minutes with a guy surrounded by very healthy people on a screen shouting at you. It is painful and sweaty and so far Lee and I have done 3 sessions. Are we feeling like we've been beaten up by a gang? Yes. Are we feeling the benefit yet? No. Have we got six-packs? Yes. (One of these is a lie.)

Anyway, we will not stop until we have done all 60 sessions and mark my words, by the end of Edinburgh we will either look bloody good or dead. Keep reading the blog to find out which...

In between breaking a serious sweat, I've managed to see a couple of things and would highly recommend David Baddiel's show Fame and A Play For September.

Right time to see Nick Helm and lift some cars (one of these is a lie)

Bye for now.

R.

Video Blog.

This is the first of many Video Blogs we'll be sharing with you over the course of the next few weeks.

It follows the story of the often traumatic (for Richard) journey up to Edinburgh last week.

Enjoy it here.

Tension.

'Sup, gimp fans?

Paul here.

Oh dear.

It's begun.

Five days into the Fringe and the air in Gimp Towers is thick with tension.  And the damp from Rich's room after he left his skylight open during a thunderstorm.  But mainly tension.

You see, it all began this morning.  Lee and Rich, in an attempt to get buff this Festival, completed their first Insanity Workout, with Matt and I filming the whole thing (soon to be available for your viewing pleasure on our video blog).  Once the spectacle of watching two very out of shape men attempting squat thrusts and suicide jumps had worn off, Rich decided to call it a day and hit the shower.

And that's where it all kicked off.

You see, a few days ago, Matt noticed the lock on our bathroom door is essentially there for show, meaning any kind of privacy goes out of the window (well, it would do if our bathroom had a window).  This led to him and our now London bound technician Dan developing a process they like to call 'delousing'.  And guess who was their first appointed victim?

That's right.  Yours bloody truly.

I'd like to point out at this juncture that we gimps are, despite impressions, a fairly cleanly bunch, and therefore never been struck down with any kind of lice (well, apart from that time in Galway...) However, once I'd finished my shower, Matt decided to find the oldest, dirtiest broom he could find in our utility room and brush me down with it.  Whilst I was still showering.  Dan then thought it would be a great idea to start throwing sugar over me, to "prevent reinfection" as he called it.  Needless to say another shower was needed.

But the fun didn't stop there, oh no.  The delousing process began again.  In total I had four showers that morning.

Which bring me to this morning.  When Matt and Lee went too far.  And decided to film the delousing process on Richard for the video blog.  Now Richard, as evidenced in his defence of the aforementioned WWE Wrestling title, has the patience of a saint.  However, the prospect of his delousing being made horrifyingly public in the name of fun pushed him over the edge.  The air turned blue.  And tense.  And damp.

So Lee, in an attempt to further wind up poor old Rich, has taken a vow of silence.  And guess who's having to pass messages between the  two parties? You guessed it.  I hope they can resolve their differences before the show tonight...

Speaking of the show, last night went well, a few microphone mishaps notwithstanding, and we had a lovely crowd in - cheers gang! Also we got our first review; four stars from Broadway Baby, which you can read here.

That's all from me.  I'd better go and mediate.

Peace out.

Paul x

Out and About.

We all got out and about yesterday to see some shows, which was good as it's great to see friends in other shows but also to not be thinking about your own one for a change.

We bumped into Dan Cook of erstwhile sketch group Delete the Banjax who was dressed as our own Matt. Or maybe it's the other way round. We're not sure. Looking forward to seeing his debut solo show this year.

Then in the evening we went out flyering before our show. You might think after five years of doing the fringe we either wouldn't need to, or we'd be too proud to flyer. You'd be wrong on both counts. To tell the truth we quite enjoy our unique style of flyering. People familiar with our technique will know that we take a couple of gimps out on a lead and offer them out to members of the public to do pretty much whatever they want to them, while the other person hands out flyers and tells people about the show.

Lee was on the receiving end of a rather overzealous lady on a Hen night yesterday. She took a pink paddle to him. This wasn't just for the camera either, she really went for it. Lee's cheeks were red raw by the time she'd finished with him. What's worse... he had to sign the paddle she'd used to spank him with afterwards. That's right, she made her victim sign the weapon he'd been beaten with.

Ah. It's good to be back.

“My wee smells funny…”

These were the words that echoed in my ears as I made my way up the stairs to write this blog. No idea which of the gimps was having urinary issues and nor do I even want to know but suffice to say the Fringe is truly upon us. What was that at the back? How does one survive the fringe in one piece? An excellent question.

First up.

Lots of sleep.

We’re all failing on that part so far. We’ve been out after the show every night and even then, on arriving back at the flat, have sat staring glass eyed at the TV screen playing computer games or watching films. The night before last I watched a film whose title I don’t even know and have no interest in looking up where Dennis Quaid was playing a baseball coach who gets a shot at the Major Leagues. By god it was terrible. Everything about it was awful. Just awful. I watched the whole thing and may have almost cried but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a terrible film. My tears are not a marker of quality. I’ve been known to cry watching Frazier. So good sleep patterns are not being achieved thus far.

Second on the checklist.

Eat well.

The night before last I ate large scampi and large chips at one in the morning.

Last night I ate two battered hamburgers and large chips at one in the morning.

I’ve forgotten what fruit smells like…

Third thing you can try on the checklist.

Keep intellectually stimulated.

This one we’re managing to do pretty well. I saw five shows yesterday and managed to cover a good few different bases. Saw some amazing physical theatre from Gecko, one of the funniest childrens shows I’ve seen with the I Hate Children Children’s Show. That was very funny and I didn’t even feel that weird sat all on my own in the back row in a room full of kids. Excellent show. Saw lots of other great things yesterday and then we all saw our fantastic technician Jim’s show Play For September today. Really well written and acted piece. Got lots more to go and see in the next few days but doing well do far. The minds are stimulated.

So there we have it folks, on a three part checklist of what you can do to survive the Fringe. One out of three ain’t bad right?

Still twenty five days to go I guess…

Lee

second day.

It's amazing how quickly we've slipped back into our Fringe routine. The late nights in Brooke's bar... the visits to Scotmid at 3am... walking upstairs to find the gimps doing this to Richard...

(there are four grown men in that pile)

Paul and Lee are big fans of WWE wrestling which is all the excuse they need to experiment with the latest finishing moves on poor old Rich. I say poor old... We know he loves it really. Look at that face.

The show last night was a bit of a 'second night' show. We weren't gripped by the same first night terror of the night before, so the show wasn't quite as slick as it could have been. We're still tinkering with it though, and getting used to the space, so after our final preview tonight we should be pretty much there. 

It's a really fun show this year, much more so than previous years. It's less technically reliant, less 'dark' and just a lot more silly which is quite liberating for us as it means when things go wrong it's less obvious and we just go with it. We're all a lot more relaxed on stage this year.

Now that our show's up and running we're not spending all day re-working and rehearsing bits so I'm going off to see my first shows of the Fringe this afternoon. Let's hope Richard's still alive when I get back.

david.

We're back!

Hello everyone.

We're back and my have we been busy...

First up - We've been locked away in rehearsal rooms for the last month getting our new Edinburgh Fringe show ready. We're now in Edinburgh and had our first preview last night and the good news is the show is pretty much there. Normally after the first preview we have a crippling panic as we discover there are way too many technical elements, we can't make any costume changes or simply that we've created a terrible show. Fortunately we had none of those freak-outs last night as the show went alright. It can definitely be better, tighter and will naturally improve as we get used to running it in a new space, but fundamentally the show is there. Which is good news!

Secondly - We've got a brand spanking new Website! Our tech team have been working really hard over the last few months to come up with a much more fun, friendly and funny new website for everyone to get a sense of what we're about and they've done a great job. We'll be updating it much more from now on, adding videos, blogs and bits of content for all you gimp fans to enjoy.

Next up - We've written a Blog for the mighty Huffington Post about why we're doing Edinburgh again. Have a read of it here. We've also written an article for The Stage about trying to bring a bit of Fringe Spirit back, which we'll share as soon as it's published.

So that's the most important news out of the way. We'll be blogging as usual every day over the Fringe, so stay tuned for tales of fire-alarm interrupted tech runs, hosting Spank! and the fact that our flat only includes two forks and one frying pan to cook with.

LNGF.