we just wanted to say a huge congratulations to everyone who was nominated for a comedy award today. both lists, newcomer and best show are positively brimming with some of our favourite comedians and friends and we're absolutely delighted for them.
we're particularly delighted for james acaster as we share an agent and last year a dressing room, and is one of the nicest blokes in comedy. his show this year is such a funny, enjoyable hour. dr brown aka phil burgers is one of our all-time favourite performers and like us, is an associate of soho theatre so we're over the moon for him, as well as sketch heroes pappy's who are a constant inspiration to anyone working in sketch comedy.
we're also really happy for david trent and joe lycett, two gimp favourites who were nominated for best newcomer in another list packed full of ridiculous talent.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL! ENJOY IT!
LNGF
x
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
final week.
well, we're on the home straight now.
it's been a long month already and by now we're starting to really feel it. body clocks are all over the place, voices a bit croaky, livers almost completely destroyed and that's before we've even got to the last -marathon- weekend. that will involve flying to reading festival and back, driving to leeds festival and back, and doing our own show each night in edinburgh as well. if the fringe hasn't finished us off by then, the weekend certainly will.
still, plenty more shows to do and see before then.
pass the red bull.
it's been a long month already and by now we're starting to really feel it. body clocks are all over the place, voices a bit croaky, livers almost completely destroyed and that's before we've even got to the last -marathon- weekend. that will involve flying to reading festival and back, driving to leeds festival and back, and doing our own show each night in edinburgh as well. if the fringe hasn't finished us off by then, the weekend certainly will.
still, plenty more shows to do and see before then.
pass the red bull.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
what a day.
yesterday was our favourite day of the fringe so far.
the show was sold out, which was a great start. almost doubling our venue size this year was a bit of a gamble and given how the well-documented lower audience numbers generally have made such an impact on this year's fringe it was a real vindication to have the venue packed to the rafters last night.
the air-con was down in our venue which made performing the show akin to running a marathon on a treadmill, in a sauna. but the audience were great and managed not to pass out and we all got through it, while losing about a stone in sweat along the way.
but that was only the beginning. we then had to leg-it across town to do bbc comedy presents at the BBC tent by george square. those gigs can always be a bit of a battle as they do go on for a long time and the audience have been in there for ages without much of a break. but we got into our stride and by the end i think they got into it.
that gig done we then had to dash over the the udderbelly to do spanktacular. spank is probably our favourite gig of all time. we love it. the guys that run it are good friends, the show is brilliant and the crowds are always fantastic and last night was no exception.
we arrived a sweaty mess so i nipped into the abattoir (the private bar in the udderbelly) to freshen up in the toilet. i was chucking cold water over myself and patting myself down with hand towels (a strong look, i think we can all agree) in the smallest toilet in the world when who should walk in but hugh grant. he gave me a look as if to say 'what the fuck?' (fair) so i explained "don't worry i'm not dying, i just did two shows in a row..." he smiled in that way only hugh grant can and replied "did you die at those?"
the old dog has still got it. if it was raining... i wouldn't have noticed.
the gig at spank itself was a fucking triumph. we were on first so the crowd were bang up for it, so much so they were on their feet all the way through our one direction parody, which was great -if a little awkward as we still had two sketches to go. but we finished with our 'strip' sketch which gave them well and truly what they wanted and cemented spank's position as our favourite gig on the fringe.
beat that, sunday.
the show was sold out, which was a great start. almost doubling our venue size this year was a bit of a gamble and given how the well-documented lower audience numbers generally have made such an impact on this year's fringe it was a real vindication to have the venue packed to the rafters last night.
the air-con was down in our venue which made performing the show akin to running a marathon on a treadmill, in a sauna. but the audience were great and managed not to pass out and we all got through it, while losing about a stone in sweat along the way.
but that was only the beginning. we then had to leg-it across town to do bbc comedy presents at the BBC tent by george square. those gigs can always be a bit of a battle as they do go on for a long time and the audience have been in there for ages without much of a break. but we got into our stride and by the end i think they got into it.
that gig done we then had to dash over the the udderbelly to do spanktacular. spank is probably our favourite gig of all time. we love it. the guys that run it are good friends, the show is brilliant and the crowds are always fantastic and last night was no exception.
we arrived a sweaty mess so i nipped into the abattoir (the private bar in the udderbelly) to freshen up in the toilet. i was chucking cold water over myself and patting myself down with hand towels (a strong look, i think we can all agree) in the smallest toilet in the world when who should walk in but hugh grant. he gave me a look as if to say 'what the fuck?' (fair) so i explained "don't worry i'm not dying, i just did two shows in a row..." he smiled in that way only hugh grant can and replied "did you die at those?"
the old dog has still got it. if it was raining... i wouldn't have noticed.
the gig at spank itself was a fucking triumph. we were on first so the crowd were bang up for it, so much so they were on their feet all the way through our one direction parody, which was great -if a little awkward as we still had two sketches to go. but we finished with our 'strip' sketch which gave them well and truly what they wanted and cemented spank's position as our favourite gig on the fringe.
beat that, sunday.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Friday, 17 August 2012
just saying.
at the risk of this becoming a blog solely about food...
i'm particularly proud of the scrambled eggs i made this morning. perfect consistency, i even worked in some saint agur cheese and finished it with salt, pepper and tabasco... served on granary bread.
just call me heston gimpenthal.
Thursday, 16 August 2012
fish pie.
completely lacking in inspiration for the blog today i'm afraid.
so i'll tell you about the pie i just ate.
first up, it was bloody lovely.
sainsbury's taste the difference fish pie with salmon, smoked haddock and king prawn.
now they didn't skimp on the haddock either, some lovely bits of haddock in there. a lot of fish pies will just whack a load of salmon in and hope for the best. this one had the haddock to salmon ratio pretty much spot on.
if we're nitpicking, it was stretching it slightly to dub these prawns "king prawns". i think we both know they were just regular prawns. but no problem with that, they were after all tasty, and provided a welcome bit of texture to each mouthful.
veg came in the form of some spinach concealed within the maris piper mash, as i think we all suspected it would.
i'm not the kind of animal who'll just sit there and destroy a pie on its own, so i accessorised with some brocolli on the side.
the pie came in at a mean 12.2g fat (calm down guys, only 6.6g of it saturates), 1.92g of salt and a round 381 calories. what? it's nearly christmas.
the important thing to remember here, was that this was oven cooked from chilled in only 25 minutes.
need i say more?
so i'll tell you about the pie i just ate.
first up, it was bloody lovely.
sainsbury's taste the difference fish pie with salmon, smoked haddock and king prawn.
now they didn't skimp on the haddock either, some lovely bits of haddock in there. a lot of fish pies will just whack a load of salmon in and hope for the best. this one had the haddock to salmon ratio pretty much spot on.
if we're nitpicking, it was stretching it slightly to dub these prawns "king prawns". i think we both know they were just regular prawns. but no problem with that, they were after all tasty, and provided a welcome bit of texture to each mouthful.
veg came in the form of some spinach concealed within the maris piper mash, as i think we all suspected it would.
i'm not the kind of animal who'll just sit there and destroy a pie on its own, so i accessorised with some brocolli on the side.
the pie came in at a mean 12.2g fat (calm down guys, only 6.6g of it saturates), 1.92g of salt and a round 381 calories. what? it's nearly christmas.
the important thing to remember here, was that this was oven cooked from chilled in only 25 minutes.
need i say more?
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
human for a day.
well, our day off yesterday was bloody lovely.
we got up after a respectable lie-in and gave the flat a much needed clean, so we can now see surfaces again and that odd smell in the kitchen seems to have gone.
while the others went off to do rod is god i went to see 'bad musical' at the gilded balloon, which was bloody great. i love the guys that made it, they're called the trap and they did a series of parodies of worthy plays years ago called 'bad play' and they've made a very welcome return to the fringe with their latest show. great performances, sublime touches and just a very funny hour.
i then went off in search of some vegetables. i ended up in pizza express but the thought was there, and it was at least nice to be eating something that wasn't battered.
in the evening i saw joel dommett at the pleasance courtyard and it was another brilliant show. for the second year running he has made such an uplifting and properly funny hour of comedy look absolutely effortless.
i couldn't have asked for two better shows on my day off, and with my spirits raised and the freedom of not having to do our show that night i headed home for an early night happy, and almost human again.
we got up after a respectable lie-in and gave the flat a much needed clean, so we can now see surfaces again and that odd smell in the kitchen seems to have gone.
while the others went off to do rod is god i went to see 'bad musical' at the gilded balloon, which was bloody great. i love the guys that made it, they're called the trap and they did a series of parodies of worthy plays years ago called 'bad play' and they've made a very welcome return to the fringe with their latest show. great performances, sublime touches and just a very funny hour.
i then went off in search of some vegetables. i ended up in pizza express but the thought was there, and it was at least nice to be eating something that wasn't battered.
in the evening i saw joel dommett at the pleasance courtyard and it was another brilliant show. for the second year running he has made such an uplifting and properly funny hour of comedy look absolutely effortless.
i couldn't have asked for two better shows on my day off, and with my spirits raised and the freedom of not having to do our show that night i headed home for an early night happy, and almost human again.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
day off!
it's our day off today.
a much needed chance to clean the flat, eat some proper food, go and see some shows and not worry about ours at all.
we had a late one last night, the highlight of which was getting paul absolutely battered in a drinking game with tom from the noise next door, as part of their 24 hour fringe adventure.
the game was to come up with jokes based on topics the audience suggested, and the least funny joke meant the designated member of each team (for LNGF it was paul) had to down a drink. there were five in total. from memory they were: a pint of beer, a neat gin, a goldschläger, a tequila and a red wine. now, given we're a sketch act not famed for our improvisational skill and we were up against the noise next door who do this for a living... we held our own pretty well, thanks to a combination of paul's terrible puns and the noise next door's tiredness. in the end everyone had to down all their drinks anyway so we all won. or in a more accurate sense, lost.
we must say huge congratulations to them - incredibly they still haven't finished. i believe it ends at 7pm tonight. i just walked past a couple of them and they looked... well, like they'd been up for over thirty hours wandering around edinburgh doing ridiculous tasks....
well done boys.
a much needed chance to clean the flat, eat some proper food, go and see some shows and not worry about ours at all.
we had a late one last night, the highlight of which was getting paul absolutely battered in a drinking game with tom from the noise next door, as part of their 24 hour fringe adventure.
the game was to come up with jokes based on topics the audience suggested, and the least funny joke meant the designated member of each team (for LNGF it was paul) had to down a drink. there were five in total. from memory they were: a pint of beer, a neat gin, a goldschläger, a tequila and a red wine. now, given we're a sketch act not famed for our improvisational skill and we were up against the noise next door who do this for a living... we held our own pretty well, thanks to a combination of paul's terrible puns and the noise next door's tiredness. in the end everyone had to down all their drinks anyway so we all won. or in a more accurate sense, lost.
we must say huge congratulations to them - incredibly they still haven't finished. i believe it ends at 7pm tonight. i just walked past a couple of them and they looked... well, like they'd been up for over thirty hours wandering around edinburgh doing ridiculous tasks....
well done boys.
Monday, 13 August 2012
busy day
'ello.
bit of a busy day today.
we had the last of our internet shopping delivered this morning so the next two weeks will be an exercise in rationing the mince and -bizarrely- baby corn we seem to have stocked up on.
we're seeing some shows this afternoon, then doing the chortle fast fringe at 6.40 which is always a fleeting but fun gig. today's lineup includes ed gamble, jigsaw, piff the magic dragon and john shuttleworth so should be a cracker.
we'll probably do a bit of flyering around the courtyard before our own show at 10pm. then we're off to do a thing for the noise next door's 24 hour fringe adventure which you can read more about here.
after that we'll probably get dangerously drunk as it's our day off tomorrow.
should be good.
in the absence of any relevant picture, here's a photo of us having been tarred and feathered.
bit of a busy day today.
we had the last of our internet shopping delivered this morning so the next two weeks will be an exercise in rationing the mince and -bizarrely- baby corn we seem to have stocked up on.
we're seeing some shows this afternoon, then doing the chortle fast fringe at 6.40 which is always a fleeting but fun gig. today's lineup includes ed gamble, jigsaw, piff the magic dragon and john shuttleworth so should be a cracker.
we'll probably do a bit of flyering around the courtyard before our own show at 10pm. then we're off to do a thing for the noise next door's 24 hour fringe adventure which you can read more about here.
after that we'll probably get dangerously drunk as it's our day off tomorrow.
should be good.
in the absence of any relevant picture, here's a photo of us having been tarred and feathered.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
almost half-way
well we're nearly at the half-way point and the familiar mid-fringe slump is threatening to rear its head. not a slump in the show thankfully, which is running smoothly again after some technical blips, but you just get to the point about half-way through when you start to miss home and loved ones and feel like you've been here a lot longer than you have.
check that out for a depressing start to a blog, eh?
it will pass quickly i'm sure; we have our day off on tuesday and we're hoping that after the olympics finishes tonight the number of visitors to the fringe will start to creep up again as tourists make their way from london to edinburgh.
it's funny, we really didn't expect the olympics to have any real effect on fringe sales, but numbers this year have been noticeably lower across the board, so hopefully that will change after this weekend.
UPDATE: just read this article by richard herring about the lower audience numbers this year. worth a read.
UPDATE: just read this article by richard herring about the lower audience numbers this year. worth a read.
last night i managed to escape the fried food and hot dogs of the fringe for one night only, when i went out for a posh meal. so more to invite jealousy than anything else, (but also cos the blog hasn't contained enough pictures this year) here's what i ate...
that's just a bit of roe deer with some skirlie, on a bed of beetroot and pea purée, topped with blackberries...
chill out.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
back on track.
we seem to have overcome the tech issues and the show is running as we want it to again. it's such a relief and means the enjoyment of the show has come flooding back and we're all having fun onstage again.
we had a busy day yesterday rammed full of gigs: we did five in total including our own show and rod is god, and squeezed in some shows as well: sammy j (another great new show), trevor noah (just brilliant stand-up), totally tom (such funny, effortless performers) and i saw an excellent show i'd like to particularly recommend...
it's a clowning physical comedy called waiting for stanley at assembly roxy at 3.45. if you're up for taking a chance on something a bit different, this show is the thing. it's performed perfectly, is funny, moving and the staging and moments of puppetry and physical theatre are so clever and inventive the hour really does fly by. i can't recommend it highly enough.
one final tip - the beta males are doing a late show tonight and again on 17th & 18th called midnight movie theatre and it's a really fun, unique show. we're appearing in it briefly again tonight with a whole host of great performers so if you find yourself in the pleasance courtyard around midnight looking for something completely different, come and check it out!
we had a busy day yesterday rammed full of gigs: we did five in total including our own show and rod is god, and squeezed in some shows as well: sammy j (another great new show), trevor noah (just brilliant stand-up), totally tom (such funny, effortless performers) and i saw an excellent show i'd like to particularly recommend...
it's a clowning physical comedy called waiting for stanley at assembly roxy at 3.45. if you're up for taking a chance on something a bit different, this show is the thing. it's performed perfectly, is funny, moving and the staging and moments of puppetry and physical theatre are so clever and inventive the hour really does fly by. i can't recommend it highly enough.
one final tip - the beta males are doing a late show tonight and again on 17th & 18th called midnight movie theatre and it's a really fun, unique show. we're appearing in it briefly again tonight with a whole host of great performers so if you find yourself in the pleasance courtyard around midnight looking for something completely different, come and check it out!
Thursday, 9 August 2012
flippin' tech
well, we had another tech issues-affected show last night i'm afraid to say.
it was less serious than wednesday's disaster but still affected ours and inevitably the audience's enjoyment of some of the show, which is a shame. we're trying not to get too down about it, which in turn will make this blog less depressing reading... but it is a bit dispiriting when a show that you've put a year's work into is undone by factors beyond your control.
still, things could be a lot worse and now we've hopefully identified what the problem was that was causing the issues, the show should run smoothly from now on. keep everything crossed for us please!
and it's not all bad... the weather these last few days has been fantastic and there's a new nando's in the centre of edinburgh that we are making excellent use of.
we've also seen some brilliant shows, here's one we'd particularly recommend. john peel's shed, the smash hit from comedy connoisseurs show and tell is up here for a limited run so if you haven't seen it, you must. tickets are almost all gone so move fast! it's a really lovely storytelling show all about one man's passion for british radio. funny, nostalgic, moving and accompanied by a great soundtrack.
i'm off to see ed eales-white's solo character show again today because it's that good. if you haven't seen it yet- you're missing out. character comedy done brilliantly by an instinctively great performer. what more could you want? it's on every day at 5.45 in the pleasance courtyard's baby grand.
speaking of good shows i'm about to trump the lot of you by going to see daniel kitson tonight. that's the way to end a day at the fringe in style.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
the nightmare show.
it happens every run. the night where it all goes wrong. well, last night we had it. or at least, we hope that's it.
this year our show is very reliant (arguably too reliant...) on technical elements, and last night the tech decided not to play.
the computer that we run the show off (the lighting, sound and video cues all come from one computer) had gremlins that we couldn't fix which meant having to stumble through the video elements of the show, and apologise to the audience a lot.
fortunately, we've been rehearsing a song that we could do in emergencies if such a cock-up did happen. unfortunately, that song is only a few minutes long and we needed a bit more than that to try and fix things. we filled a bit more time by singing our bestiality rap from last year while lee and the technicians scrambled to get things up and running again.
eventually we got through to the end of the show thanks to a wonderfully supportive and patient sold out crowd who appreciated what we were going through, and were willing us to get through it, which i think we just about did with our reputations in tact.
as a result we've spent all of today working with a computer expert trying to identify and fix the problem. we think even if we can't completely fix it today, we can work out a version of the show that won't be too affected. but fingers crossed we'll be able to sort it in time for tonight.
we must say a huge thank you not only to last night's audience but also to our venue staff who were amazing and completely calm in a crisis. jo and her team have gone out of their way to help us sort the situation and came in early today to give us some extra tech time in the venue. we're very grateful to them all.
right, we're on our way back to the venue shortly to finish re-teching things. wish us luck.
p.s. next year i swear to god... we're making a show with no tech. just sketches and blackouts...
if only.
this year our show is very reliant (arguably too reliant...) on technical elements, and last night the tech decided not to play.
the computer that we run the show off (the lighting, sound and video cues all come from one computer) had gremlins that we couldn't fix which meant having to stumble through the video elements of the show, and apologise to the audience a lot.
fortunately, we've been rehearsing a song that we could do in emergencies if such a cock-up did happen. unfortunately, that song is only a few minutes long and we needed a bit more than that to try and fix things. we filled a bit more time by singing our bestiality rap from last year while lee and the technicians scrambled to get things up and running again.
eventually we got through to the end of the show thanks to a wonderfully supportive and patient sold out crowd who appreciated what we were going through, and were willing us to get through it, which i think we just about did with our reputations in tact.
as a result we've spent all of today working with a computer expert trying to identify and fix the problem. we think even if we can't completely fix it today, we can work out a version of the show that won't be too affected. but fingers crossed we'll be able to sort it in time for tonight.
we must say a huge thank you not only to last night's audience but also to our venue staff who were amazing and completely calm in a crisis. jo and her team have gone out of their way to help us sort the situation and came in early today to give us some extra tech time in the venue. we're very grateful to them all.
right, we're on our way back to the venue shortly to finish re-teching things. wish us luck.
p.s. next year i swear to god... we're making a show with no tech. just sketches and blackouts...
if only.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
a good sit down.
only one piece of news worth reporting today.
when in the missoni hotel for an interview we discovered the comfiest armchair in the world.
so we each sat in it. it was lovely.
really lovely.
i sometimes worry we're too rock n' roll.
Monday, 6 August 2012
metatarsehole.
i'm injured.
clearly the fringe gods were not happy with my decision to try to stay healthy and active this month and a day after going for a fairly long run in the gym, my foot is in considerable pain when i walk.
it's very annoying, particularly as we gimps aren't famed for our sympathy towards each other when one of us is in pain. "have you tried manning up?" is hardly an NHS prescription. speaking of which, i have of course been looking up the symptoms on NHS direct and have narrowed it down to: tendon strain, trapped nerve, or a slow heart attack.
the upshot is i've had to stay in resting the foot all day so it doesn't affect the show tonight. it's frustrating as a) it's sunny in edinburgh today and b) it's 2for1 day so it's normally a great day to get out and see shows.
still, in slightly happier news the 2for1 thing means tonight and tomorrow's shows will be full audiences which always makes the show that bit more fun. oh, and i had my first culinary fringe institution last night in the form of chips with salt n' sauce. mmm.
clearly the fringe gods were not happy with my decision to try to stay healthy and active this month and a day after going for a fairly long run in the gym, my foot is in considerable pain when i walk.
it's very annoying, particularly as we gimps aren't famed for our sympathy towards each other when one of us is in pain. "have you tried manning up?" is hardly an NHS prescription. speaking of which, i have of course been looking up the symptoms on NHS direct and have narrowed it down to: tendon strain, trapped nerve, or a slow heart attack.
the upshot is i've had to stay in resting the foot all day so it doesn't affect the show tonight. it's frustrating as a) it's sunny in edinburgh today and b) it's 2for1 day so it's normally a great day to get out and see shows.
still, in slightly happier news the 2for1 thing means tonight and tomorrow's shows will be full audiences which always makes the show that bit more fun. oh, and i had my first culinary fringe institution last night in the form of chips with salt n' sauce. mmm.
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