fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Archives – Ismo Leikola (Observing The Obvious, 2015)

December 8, 2022

Season 18

Episode 14

00:11:58

This week I want to head back to 2015. That year the show was broadcast live on Leith FM community radio, as well as being a podcast, with a number of guest hosts joining me – so you’ll hear the voice of WUSB New York’s Emma Backfish – as well as our comedy just… Finland’s Ismo Leikola.

For countless decades, the ‘observational comedy’ routine has been a staple of stand ups… yes we have all seen just how many Cafe Nero’s there are, and how many stamps you need to get a free coffee, but Ismo brought a new angle on this to the Fringe… doing it in his second language.

A laid back Finnish style put me in mind of the razer sharp gentleness of Arnold Brown. Ismo’s skills wasn’t the choice of well-worn topics, is was putting a twist on the resulting points that lifted this show up.

So we return to the Gilded Balloon, we return to the time honoured comedian watching our everyday life, we return to a rather chaotic studio, to Observing the Obvious.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archives – Jeff Innocent (Eco-Worrier, 2006)

November 17, 2022

Season 18

Episode 12

00:16:34

An artist at heart with a long and varied list of interests, Jeff Innocent went on a stand-up comedy course in 1996 – led by alt-comedy legend Tony Allen – and he’s not stopped since then. Jeff has carved out a place in the UK stand-up scene like no other, as well as working as a writer and actor.

In 2006 he brought the show Eco-worrier to the Edinburgh Fringe – environmentalism remains a strong part of his ethos to this day – and it’s interesting to be reminded of how the path looked some 16 years ago.

So we return to the Stand, with Jeff Innocent, and listen to 2006’s Eco-Worrier.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Celia Pacquola (Let Me Know How It All Works Out, 2014)

November 10, 2022

Season 18

Episode 11

00:13:18

2014 saw Australian comic Celia Pacquola return to Edinburgh for her fourth Fringe Show. ‘Let Me Know How It All Worked Out’ looked at the world of psychics and their promise of foretelling the future; specifically one who said she would never have children.

(Spoiler… congratulations are in order, Celia and her partner had their first child earlier this year,).

Since the Fringe Pacquola moved frequently between the UK Australia, with various apeprances, scriptwriting, and starring appearances in a wide range of shows on the circuit, including radio work on Fox FM and Radio 4, TV work on Would I Lie To You, Live At The Apollo, and Have You Been Paying Attention, and staring in Rosehaven, and The Breaker Uppers.

All that was ahead of her in 2014 when she joined me in the podcast studio to talk about her show. It wasn’t the first time she’d been on the Fringe podcast, so the whole ‘tell us about your show’ quickly descended into discussions of synchronised diving, Tom Daley, Pro/Am contest, and a love of Converse trainers.

This week’s trip is back to the Gilded Ballon, back to a time when the future we live in now was quite definitely not going to happen, as Celia Pacquola asks the audience to Let Me Know How It All Works Out,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Shedload Theatre (The Statement of Randolph Carter, 2015)

November 3, 2022

Season 18

Episode 10

00:17:08

The world of H P Lovecraft is one that many people have explored, both the horror of the writing and the horror of the man. In 2015 Shedload Theatre looked at the former, in an inventive show called The Statement Of Randolph Carter.

The big moment in the show is the Foley work. The show is presented as a radio play, and that means lots of sound effects performed live. The story is very much classic horror, but the theatre experience is much more visual than you would expect… and thoroughly engaging. There’s also the importance of the entire body of work built on H P Lovecraft’s work – all which is out of copyright and free to perform.

As Shedload Theatre piled into the studio, we did something a little different. Yes there’s an interview in here to find out more about the show… but there’s also a performance from part of the show (a story called The Temple) which they perform live… along with all those foley effects!

And so we head, warily, to Surgeons Hall, to a desk of foley effects and horror, to the Statement Of Randolph Carter.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Sofie Hagen (Bubblewrap, 2015)

October 27, 2022

Season 18

Episode 9

00:13:33

Sofie Hagen started their stand-up career in their home country of Denmark, before quickly moving to London to further their career. 2015 brought the debut show to Edinburgh.

Bubblewrap examined issues of depression and mental health, difficult teenage years, and attacking the beauty industry, all with just a dash of Westlie and a perfectly cringe reading of their Westlife Fan Fiction.

It’s fair to say that Hagen nailed the Edinburgh experience, with the ‘Best Newcomer award from the (no longer the Perriers) Edinburgh Comedy Awards, joining previous newcomer awards from Laughing Horse and Chortle.

The Fringe podcast caught up with Sofie early in August. The show was doing well, and audiences were coming in, but the plan for a small and intimate first time in Edinburgh was upstaged with the venue moved to the 500 seater Liquid Rooms rock band stage.

So, let’s take a trip to PBH’s Free Fringe, into the Liquid Rooms, and get ready to enjoy some Bubblewrap…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Little Soldier Productions (The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, 2014)

October 20, 2022

Season 18

Episode 8

00:16:21

The Fringe is not just a recruiting vehicle for Live at the Apollo, there’s more to comedy, more to the fringe, than that. You can have theatrical performances that bring the art of clowning and farce to the stage alongside pathos and examination of the human condition.

In 2014, Little Soldier Productions brought its first production to the Fringe, the aforementioned Don Quixote show, which took massive liberties with the story, twisted reality and fantasy, and ignored any semblance of structure… in other words did a Don Quixote to the classic Don Quixote structure.

And it paid off. At the Fringe, it was awarded The Stage’s Award for Acting Excellence, and since then it has seen over 130 performances in 5 different countries. Little Soldier has gone on online talks, presentations, workshops, and five more shows, including “Nothing Happens (Twice)” which graced the stage at London’s Soho Theatre this summer.

Once the podcast team stumbled over the show, we couldn’t wait to get everyone from the show into the studio and on to the podcast. In 2014 we were broadcasting live on community radio as well as publishing the podcast, which meant rather more energy in the room from myself and co-host Dan Lentell from the Edinburgh49 website.

So let’s go back to the Zoo Southside, to the cellar of the Zoo, in 2014, and find a tiny windmill from Little Soldier’s “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha”.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Kate Smurthwaite (The News At Kate: Leftie Cockwomble, 2014)

September 29, 2022

Season 16

Episode 5

00:15:53

2014 is our destination this week, for that year’s ‘News At Kate’ from Kate Smurthwaite.

Smurthwaite’s TV writing credits include ‘Have I Got News For You’ and ‘The Revolution Will be Televised’ her words have appeared in The Guardian, New Statesman, Cosmopolitan, and more; and she has made countless appearances discussing politics over the years. 2022 saw the award-winning Smurthwaite bring “The News At Kate: Humanity’s Last Hope” to the Edinburgh Fringe.

“The News At Kate” is a lynchpin of the Fringe, and it’s been part of August for as long as I can remember. 2014 saw “The News” with the delightful tagline of “Lefty Cockwomble”.

The tag came about following her appearance on the BBC’s Question Time. With so many people asking her about her experience, this highly visible foray into political debate was the starting point for that year’s show that examined the definitions of freedom of speech.

There have been countless political whirlwinds since 2014. Yet some of the points raised remain just as pertinent, if not more, in 2022’s devastating landscape.

So let’s head back to 2014, to the Free Fringe stage in Viva Mexico, to the ‘News At Kate’.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Sarah Kendall (Get Up, Stand Up, 2012)

September 22, 2022

Season 18

Episode 4

00:12:58

This week we’re back to 2012 once more, as former Perrier nominee Sarah Kendall returned to the Fringe after a five year absence.

“Get Up, Stand Up” (or is it “Get Up, Stand-Up”, how delightfully interpretive) takes on a more storytelling approach than a bang-bang-jokes routine, and Kendall’s acting chops wer brought to the fore in an hour of pitch perfect raccentouring, reflecting on motherhood, the world that her daughter was growing up in, all wrapped up by the tale of the Ugly Duckling.

Her recent work includes the TV show Frayed, which has just finished its second season, and an appearance on the UK version of Taskmaster – so as you’d expect there’s countless clips of her discovering a bag of salt.

As for 2012, we’re off to The Pleasance and the ridiculously early time of 8.30pm, to talk to Sarah Kendall.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Tiff Stevenson (Uncomfortably Numb, 2012)

September 15, 2022

Season 18

Episode 3

00:10:52

Tiff Stevenson has been a Fringe fixture since 2006, debuting as a solo act in 2009. Stevenson was already established on the circuit in 2012 when, following her appearance in ITV’s ‘Show Me The Funny’, she brought ‘Uncomfortably Numb’ to Edinburgh,

She continues to bring new material to the Fringe, with this year’s ‘Sexy Brain’ picking up five star reviews; And year round she runs and MCs the monthly new material night ‘Old Rope’ each month at London’s Comedy Store.

So let’s go back in time, back to The Underbelly, and back to Tiff Stevenson’s ‘Uncomfortably Numb’

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Arthur Smith (…Sings Leonard Cohen, volume 2, 2013)

September 8, 2022

Season 18

Episode 2

00:15:28

Into the archives once more with another Fringe legend. Over the years, Arthur Smith has performed countless stand-up sets at the Fringe, been arrested for some outdoor shows, wrote his own review and snuck it into The Scotsman, kidnapped a puppet, and many more adventures lost to time.

In 2013 he performed the second of three shows around his love of Leonard Cohen and how his music is wrapped around Arthur’s life. We invited him into our podcast studio to tell us more about “Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen, volume 2”, his memories of the Fringe, and which of the then up-and-coming comics he was watching out for.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Our Shows