short and sweet

What's up gimp fans?

For performers the fringe has really been going for about 2 weeks now. Some of the gimps arrived a couple of Sundays ago to put up posters, sort props and some other stuff and with two weeks remaining, we're at about the half way point. Everyone is feeling the strain of doing massive 2 hour days plus time at the bar and patience with each others particulars is wearing thin. People are starting to get ill, tempers are flaring and Richard's still here.

Still, the show's going well and that's what's important I suppose. The sell-outs continue and we've a day off coming up soon, the holy grail. There's another nice review here.

Also, Thank you to Matthew from Pappy's for

being the only audience member yet to take a picture of our Matt in the intro to the show. Every night he screams "TAKE A PHOTO!!!" and unsurprisingly, until last night no-one had obliged. Until now.

Matt Tizzle.

Time for something completely different...

Simply put, I can’t walk anymore.

It actually hurts to just be sat down.

This is all the fault of the dirty little bastards.

Steve here, the Gimpmaster (director). Two weeks with the boys has done for me. My body hates me. I’m going home.

It’s been a great two weeks of very odd notes and bizarre discussions, but I think we are all very proud of the show. We’ve had full houses and great responses (“Show it again, show it again”).

That doesn’t make it right though.

So here, through the power of blog I lay down my challenge to you boys.

Write next years’ show.

I dare you.

You are all in the same flat. You do nothing until 10 at night. You have a big bag of lube. Write it, write it, write it.

A final thought for each of you before I go...

Chubby Gimp – It’s your fault I can’t walk, never make me catch you again.

Posh Gimp – Write a sketch down, on some paper, it might be funny.

Techie Gimp – Grab Edinburgh and life by the balls, own it and call it Dave.

Sulky Gimp – Stop doing that thing you like to do with ham and the French.

Single Gimp – Shave off the beard, you aint Moses.

...that’s everyone.

Thanks boys.

I miss you in no way at all already.

Stevie

xxxxx

Whimsical Musings

I thought about doing my blog in the third person again but thought its an artistic device I've already used and true performers should always push themselves to a new level... And I couldn't be arsed!

Instead Im gonna talk about some of my favourite moments from this years fringe and there have been a fair few of them so far!

Where to start?

Lets start at the beginning. Apparently that's a very good place to start. When we first arrived, Edinburgh was all fresh and new and shiny and not infested by students and comedians. It's a really beautiful city to just wander around and I'd highly recommend it. Come for the New Years.

Then the festival began and the show has gone really well thus far. The video stuff that took such a long time to do has gone down an absolute treat and made all the effort worthwhile. Result!

Seen some really good shows, highly recommend Adam Riches and Colin Hoult along with Bane and Mcneil and Pamphillon.

Thats all the serious whimsical stuff done.

Now for the dirt.

My real favourite memories.

Every morning Paul and I draw a picture on the steamed up bathroom mirror as a present for eachother. My favourite so far has been recreating The Human Centipede with a certain gimp and his mum and dad but im not allowed to mention his name...

On a similar subject of Richard, we had the Campbell-gate saga of one of this weeks blogs. No one is taking responsibility for writing the list of things Richard might be doing instead of writing. I can hold my hands up and say it wasn't me though I would have been proud of that one! Watch this space for further details...

Lying in bed this morning I heard the saga of the non flushing toilet as 2 fully grown men both tried to urinate at the same time with dire consequences. Quote from Tizzle "It's going on my leg!"

Too many chilli con carnes. We had one last night. It was hot. Very hot. We then did a show where we spend 5 minutes locked in laundry bags. You do the math.

Took a walk up the Royal Mile to see people flyering. It was everything I remember from when I was a student. Man lying on floor covered in flyers? Check. Man stood still as statue with flyers in hand? Check. Amazingly hot girls in stockings and basques, pole dancing with flyers in hidden places? Actually no. There weren't. But if there were I'd be watching that show for sure! In fact I'm gonna go write that show now. After I take this cold shower...

x

Taking its toll

Well, I have now been up in Edinburgh a week and the Fringe is beginning to takes its toll. The bank account is starting to look rather empty and the bags under my eyes rather full but it is, of course, completely worth it! While it may take the rest of the year to recover, a month in Edinburgh that doesn't involve over-indulgence, going to bed as the sun gets up or talking secretly/loudly about a celebrity standing behind you is a month wasted. Bring on the next two weeks! (This attitude may change....)

It was great to wake up this morning to see in yesterday's blog that the gimps were concerned for my welfare and curious as to my whereabouts. In all honesty, I was a couple of minutes away from Brookes Bar (The Official LNGF Bar of 2010) in the Underbelly CowBarn. A really nice outside bar that has lanterns and enormous chairs covered in astro-turf. I felt a bit like a sporty Borrower. All in all, it was a nice change of scenery. So, for those of you playing at home, the answer to yesterday's quiz was: 9 (wearing a blue jumper). The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that the other options were all tricks to catch you out. I don't indulge in any of them! Well, except number 6 but I might buy some nasal strips. Do they actually work or are they like those wrist bands children wear to make sure they don't feel sick on planes?

Anyway, after a big sleep, all the gimps woke up around midday and split up to see various shows. Matt, Dave and I watch Steve Pretty's excellent show The Origin of the Pieces at the GRV. A really fun hour with a fantastic finale! Catch it if you can!

We also received our first delivery at the Gimp Flat. We're all rather excited about the contents (see photo...)

Right, time for the show. Bye for now,

Richard.

Where is Richard?

Well.

Richard's still out and has neglected his duties once again. He was last seen walking out of a bar having turned his back on the gimps, muttering "As long as it gets done..."

So. What to do...

We could tell you about what we did today (saw shows), what we ate (spaghetti) and how the show went (pretty well) but instead I think we should use today's blog to speculate on what Richard could currently be doing...

1. Eating battered sausages.

2. Grunting like a pig.

3. Being posh.

4. Disappointing everyone.

5. Not doing the washing up.

6. Snoring.

7. Not flyering.

8. Looking old.

9. Wearing his Dad's blue jumper.

10. Eating more battered sausages.

I suppose your guess is as good as ours, but it's bound to be one of them.

Let's see if he manages to do one tomorrow. Anyone care to make a bet....?

LNGF.

sorry

this, i warn you, is going to be a shit blog.

and like most other failings in late night gimp fight, this is down to richard. it was his turn to write one but when he left the bar claiming he was "tired" (at the fringe? tired??) i knew he wouldn't.

so i apologise on his behalf. all there is to say is we've had two more reviews come out... a FIVE STAR from one4review.com. "Deeply and darkly delightful"

and a FOUR STAR one from Fringe Review. "An immensely entertaining hour of sketch comedy"

cheers.

tomorrow's will be better.

david.

pickled eggs

Hey there.

Paul again. Apparently my last blog was very comma heavy, so that's something I'll be watching out for this time around. One there already.

So last nights show went really well. And as a reward we all decided to go home and watch 'The Human Centipede', something we said we'd do after our first sell out, but failed to do after our first night! However, the early night didn't go off as planned, as we didn't start watching the film til two in the morning, largely due to the late arrival of Steve, our director, who would not let us begin the film until we had all downed a pickled egg. What a cruel man he is.

The film itself was something of a disappointment. We felt it just didn't go far enough after it's initial exploration of the idea. We can only hope visionary director Tom Six goes further with the impending sequel.

Despite the film's slight inadequacy in satisfying our baser urges, a good night was had by all of Late Night Gimp Fight. That was until 5 AM, when, at Steve's behest, Matt and I crept into Rich and Dave's room and tried to force feed them the remaining pickled eggs. Immediately we knew this was a mistake. We crossed a line.

After a ridiculous lie-in and cup of tea by way of apology to Rich and Dave, we decided to take in a few shows. Today's highlights included Bane 2, Joe Bone's brilliant sequel to last year's Bane, which he is also reprising this year at the GRV. Definitely worth catching.

After our show, which went pretty well tonight, we dashed off to the Dome to watch The Horne Section. It was a truly fantastic night, with Tim Key, Jeremy Lion and David O'Doherty all performing cracking sets. Try and get tickets for this amazing show, as it is the perfect way to end a long, hard day at the Fringe.

I am scrabbling for a way to end this pretty substandard blogging effort. That's because it's nearly six o'clock in the bloody morning. In fact, I'm so tired, I'm not even going to try and write a vaguely amusing ending.

Stop reading.

Stop!

Let me go to sleep!

Paul xxx

PS We got a nice four star review from Veronica Lee (of The Sunday Telegraph fame) for the Arts Desk. Have a read and get yourself down to the Beside in...17 and a half hours time.

Just don't wake me up before then.

Right on Cue.

Hello, I'm Matt. I'm Late Night Gimp Fight's Techie gimp.

With a heavy heart and a lump in my throat it becomes my responsibility to write the now, quite underwhelming, Late Night Gimp Fight daily blog.

It's 6 days in and I've managed to see a lot of shows and as is always the case with the fringe, I've seen some fantastic stuff, and some proper crap. Thankfully so far, the good has out weighed the bad and my faith in the fringe is still strong.

For my blog I will give you, the general public, a Late Night Gimp Fight exclusive:

LX 1 GO

SFX 1 GO

After Clearance

LX 2 GO

Fade SFX out

Video 1 GO

See, worth waiting for.

For anyone who has seen the show, you may have noticed that by the end of the hour, I'm a sweaty mess standing behind the lighting desk, wishing desperately for a swift end to my miserable existence. This how I normally am and has nothing to do with the show.

Dave has said I have to include some productive information about the show. Sigh. Here's a clipping from the G2 section of today's Guardian talking about gimps. Oh, and our review from The Guardian is online here.

Matt Tizzle.

write-off

today for me was, in many ways, a write-off. it started with a well-deserved hangover after a fairly respectable drinking session in the pleasance performer's bar the night before. then i went to ASDA to do the weekly shop (spaghetti bolognese for seven days), got home and it started to go wrong. i'd planned to spend the afternoon seeing shows but in an effort to reset my system i went for what i thought would be a ten minute power nap. i woke up two and a half hours later feeling even more ropey, and alone in the flat. i'd missed all the shows i wanted to see. epic david fail.

however, the more productive gimps did go and see some great shows... we can fully recommend adam riches, colin hoult at pleasance and the grandees at the underbelly. all fantastic shows that should not be missed.

our own show is in a good place now. it's sold out so far and we hope this continues as it's 2for1 tickets on monday and tuesday this week. we've had a lot of reviewers in over the last couple of nights so keep an eye on our twitter feed and we'll put them up as and when they come in.

tomorrow i am going to see some shows. i promise. power naps are banned from now on.

david.

Lee does a blog.

That's right. Lee does a blog. But in this blog Lee will only refer to himself in the third person.

So what should Lee talk about? A good question. Lee could talk about the trials and tribulations of getting a show up to the fringe, getting it on at the fringe and tweaking it as we go along.

Lee could talk about the great shows he has seen since coming to the festival and the fun time he has had and all the lovely people he has met.

But no. Lee is not going to talk about these things. Lee is going to talk about something else. Something more important.

Lee is going to talk about...

His earring.

That's right.

Lee has an earring.

And judging by the response from the boys in the group Lee may as well be walking around with a tattoo of a swastika on his forehead. He has been vilified. He is now a loner. No one will come near him from the group.

But maybe this isn't such a bad thing. Maybe this will be the making of him. Maybe he will become a loose cannon. A wild card. Dare we say...a maverick...

So watch this space as Lee attempts to see how much further he can be ostracised from the group. It's an earring now. He has a shoe lace thick non practical scarf ready to roll and the hair bands are packed and looking for action. Lee is ready.

Now where is the black nail polish...

hitting our stride

All Aboard!

As i write this i am eating a lovely, well earned Angel cake, having done two shows today. We did our normal show and it all went swimmingly but then we were then enticed into doing a last minute comedy show with some lovely chaps, hosted by Ed from Clever Peter, and starring some fantastic new comedians and sketch groups including McNeil and Pamphilon who we saw today and were excellent. The highlight of the evening was the end where Ed in his typically charismatic way coaxed the people out of the theatre with some lovely anecdotes, my personal favourite being "get out now! just get out!"

This really finished off a lovely day that included, for the first time, getting out of the flat and actually seeing some shows. Everything we saw was of a fantastic quality and gave me a lot of confidence in this years comedy. Sorry- just going to quickly interrupt this blog to let you know what i have just seen/heard from the unknown entity that is Dave, having just sneaked up on Richard wearing only boxers i heard the words "oh god, i have put my balls in your pocket, i wanted it to be funny but it's gone to far!" Brilliant! Anyway after seeing lots of great shows we got ready for our show by having some lovely Chilli Con Carne cooked by the beautifully diabetic mess that is Matt Tizzle. We arrived at the venue and found out we had sold out which was great and we had a fantastic crowd in.

Things are really starting to come together and the fun is only just beginning!

Peace out, one love.

Matt Ralph

P.S Our interview with Hairline Magazine is now online and makes an entertaining read. Answering questions in ten words is harder than you'd think..

Video killed the radio star

I really hoped we wouldn't have to do it this year. I really, really did. But no, today we again found ourselves performing that early Fringe ritual of trawling the charity shops and pound shops of Edinburgh for miscellaneous props and costumes we hadn't accounted for, like so many sketch groups before us. Nice to see the Royal Mile coming to life, though. By the weekend it'll be rammed with festivalgoers, flyering performers and, quite possibly, gimps.

Perhaps the highlight of today was huddling round the laptop to hear Dave and Matt being interviewed on Freshair radio. We even tried counting the number of times Matt snuck in his newly acquired catchphrase "All aboard!", but lost count after about five minutes. Watch this space to hear the interview in its entirety, a nice relaxed hour of music, banter and quite possibly, gimps.

Lee has discovered a new game to play every morning. He thinks it's pretty hilarious to draw portraits of me in a variety of, shall we say, unflattering positions on the steamed up bathroom mirror. I have no idea what he'll have me doing by the end of the month. No doubt it'll involve even more images of inhumane depravity. And quite possibly, gimps.

Just about to have dinner. Pizzas tonight. Matt, our tech, had the Sloppy Giuseppe (I always feel uncomfortable ordering that in a restaurant), and a couple of the other gimps are having Pepperonis. I myself have been allocated a Margherita. Cheers, guys.

Right, I'd better wrap things up. We've got a couple of tweaks to make after last night's show. Nothing too drastic. Then off to flyer the Courtyard dressed as gimps. What happened to my life?

Apparently I've got to sign off with a quote from Matt the aforementioned techie. He's literally said nothing of any interest today until thirty seconds ago, when he yelled "I can't believe you're doing that before the show, you are blogging about us sitting around the flat for 6 hours doing nothing!"

Not true. I just threw a packet of Space Raiders at Lee's head.

Paul.

The Final Countdown....

Having fought my way up to Edinburgh via the Gatwick Express and a horrific Easyjet flight, it was fantastic to wake up at the Fringe knowing that the next few weeks will consist of comedy shows, beer and the odd battered sausage! While the novelty of the Gimp flat may have worn off on the other gimps, I spent the majority of the morning pointing out it's awesome features like some crazed estate agent. We have a filter coffee machine! A flat screen tv! A mug tree!

Once the others had managed to drag me away from the balcony (I know!), we headed to our director Steve's flat for a few final run throughs before our opening preview show tonight. I think we all felt much more confident with our changes and scenes once we'd been through them a couple of times and so, after a quick visit to the Pound Shop to hunt for a gimp lead we returned to the flat for a team meal in order to psyche ourselves up for the first flyering session of the festival. David absolutely nailed the supper and we headed to the Courtyard clad in our new t'shirts (available to buy if you fancy) in order to coax people to come to a show that we were all feeling very nervous about. Our nerves weren't helped by the fact that during the walk to the Pleasance, a local didn't take kindly to a prop sword Dave was holding and declared he was going to "slice and dice us and turn us in to porridge". He may have also said the word shank.

However, the fantastic news we discovered when we arrived was that we had sold out. The audience were great for a preview and have definitely helped us in deciding which bits and bobs need tweaking. As is almost tradition on this blog, I'll leave you with the preeminent words of our technician Matt to sum up how the show went. He tweeted: "Oh dear god. Too many cues, too little time. And I have to stand up for the whole show. And I needed a wee and a drink.' At time of writing he is still in the bar.

If you happen to be free tomorrow at 11am, tune in and listen to a couple of us being interviewed on Freshair radio.

Richard.

tech tock, tech tock...

woke up today fuzzy-headed but excited as today shit starts to get real. i went for a few drinks after our spaghetti feast last night so my final chance to get to bed before 1am for the next month came and went as last orders were called in a pub in the grassmarket. however, it was great to see the clever peter boys, steve mcneil & sam pamphilon and meet rachel stubbings; all very funny people.

this evening we had the dreaded tech run in our venue (the beside) in the pleasance courtyard. as you can see, it may look like a portacabin with multicoloured windmills on it but it's in fact so much more... i think it might also be the hottest venue at the fringe.

technical rehearsals are a notoriously stressful and frought few hours where you have so much to do in so little time. what makes them even more stressful is when one of your cast (naming no names) is still in a plane somewhere between gatwick and edinburgh as the tech run begins. still, eventually richard (oops) made it, an hour and a half late. still, all the gimps are now here and raring to go.

tonight was our first chance to see how much space we have to work with, try out the more ambitious technical elements of the show and to meet the staff at our venue, who were all very nice. these guys (or girls in our case) work bloody hard and don't tend to sleep, ever, so for them to laugh in all the right places as we stumbled through the run tonight was lovely of them.

i think it went pretty well, all things considered. a few tweaks to make before tomorrow but i'm sure it'll come together. i asked matt, our technician how he felt about it and he said "all in all, today couldn't have gone any worse". i hope he was joking. please let him be joking...

we open tomorrow!

david.

the calm before the storm

yesterday (the better looking) half of LNGF arrived in edinburgh. the flat we're staying in is a lot nicer than in previous years. this new level of luxury manifests itself in the form of a shower that actually works, a table to eat at in the kitchen and mattresses that don't feel like prison beds.

today was spent anxiously awaiting the arrival of this year's flyers and posters. for me personally (as i ordered them) this is always an angst-ridden, nervous wait in which i gnaw my nails to the bone worrying if the flyers will look any good, whether the posters were printed in the right size or indeed if they'll arrive at all. thankfully this year went without a hitch and 10,000 flyers and 200 posters are sat in our living room ready to be inflicted upon the people of edinburgh, after which they'll be inflicted upon the bin.




this afternoon matt and i headed out to put some posters up around town. the weirdest thing we saw when walking around was a car that had seemingly been lifted off the road, carried over the pavement and dropped into an alcove adjacent to the pavement. weirder still, if fitted perfectly into where it had been slotted as if a superhuman traffic warden had got creative when noticing an BMW M3 illegally parked one too many times. still, anything and everything is a potential publicity stunt at the fringe so i dutifully jumped over the railings and put a poster on the offending vehicle. job done.

tonight we're cooking the first of what is certain to be far too many spaghetti bologneses throughout the course of the fringe and chilling out at the flat. we've got our tech rehearsal at the pleasance tomorrow night which is sure to be an interesting, if stressful three hours and then we open the following day so these few hours of calm before the storm well and truly breaks are not to be sniffed at.

we should probably mention where and when we're on, come to think of it. we're at the pleasance courtyard at 11pm every day from 4th - 29th (except 18th). you can even book tickets!

well, that's all for now. we're off to eat our (considerable) body weights in pasta. bye!

david.