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I arrived in Edinburgh at about 8.20am. Yes, it had been a ludicrously early start, but I got a clear run from Newcastle and I drove with enthusiasm and an open window on the country road route. I arrived fresh and full of adrenalin. I found the hostel easily, dropped off my bags and then drove out of town until I hit a random residential area, where I unceremoniously ditched the car outside someone's house. Taking careful note of the street and general area, I took a bus back into town and hit the queue for free tickets to the BBC recording of Just a minute.
Sadly, I did not receive tickets for Just a minute, but I did discover the existence of The XX Factor, which looked like fun, plus I did manage to get tickets for The In Crowd, a Radio 4 comedy sketch programme - more on which later.
Show: The XX Factor
Performed by: Jerk De Circle
When: 13:10
Where: Pleasance Below
Cost: £7
Website: http://www.arsole.com
One man (John Mawer), one woman (Clare Angel), tons of puns and references to pop culture. Couple this with observational humour about men and women and a pseudo sci-fi plot involving a future where women have left the planet and clowns are defenders of the earth... it was funny and original. Exceedingly energetic and chaotic performance, which had me in tears.
Jokes included pastiches of Back to the Future, Star Wars, An American Tale, the Microsoft Paperclip and AOL. They regularly advised buying Mac, rather than facing the Microsoft Paperclip!
They had a small audience, but deserved a lot better.
Show: Scott Capurro
Performed by: Scott Capurro
When: 23:45
Where: Assembly Rooms, Wildman Room
Cost: £10
Website: http://www.scottcapurro.com/
Hit and miss stand-up. Scott specialises in shock gay humour. The thing is that I was not feeling particularly shockable. He can get good laughs from humiliating his audience, but some of that backfired as some of the people he picked out of the crowd misbehaved and, in one case, disappeared without trace. In places this show was hilarious, often it just meandered.
Some of his beyond the pale humour involved 9/1, Princess Di, the death of Princess Margaret and the Queen mother. Perhaps he got the most laughs from his "dating a Thalidomide victim" material.
Scott was the first person to "out" me during the Fringe (a little surprising since I didn't think I was gay). He referred to me as "the gay guy on the end of the row" when I laughed at one of his jokes... I didn't realise that my understanding his point of view made for a whole new orientation of my sexuality... but it would have been homophobic to protest, so I ignored him!
Spent £17, had one good show, one moderately good. Taking it easy since I was with friends, who wanted to do a bit more than just wander between shows. The trip to the beach in the middle of the day was quality time. Things were going to get progressively intense.
02 September 2002
Ashley Frieze