I flew up on Friday with a friend David McAdam. David is native to Scotland; he is originally from Dunfermline which is close to Edinburgh. On the first day, we managed to see three shows and go to apparently 9 different bars and restaurants. We touched down in Edinburgh around midday. The first show we saw was "Atomicity" by Chris Addison; it was a very funny and witty show. David was familiar with his column in the Guardian newspaper; this show was one of his picks. The loose premise of the show was about the universe of and how we are all made of atoms. Ultimately, the show ended on a positive note of a philosophical nature about living one's life, funny how he snuck that into a comedic monologue. At one point during the show, an older man stood up and exited the show; to exit the small hall, he had to go down to the front of the room and interrupt the show. Then the man, was not sure of the way out of the room and Chris stopped his monologue momentarily to assist. It then took Chris a few moments to remember what he was talking about; he was holding his face and laughing as he tried to regain his composure. Everyone was greatly amused by the unscheduled interruption.
Chris Addison's home page
Before the show, we had attempted to eat lunch at the Hard Rock cafe just near the venue the Assembly rooms. We abandoned our lunch about halfway only to be waiting in a queue to enter the venue. This was a preview of things to come.
David and I walked around Edinburgh after the show. We did stop at place called "Tiles restaurant and Bar" which is a listed building. I snapped a few pictures there. See the photo of David holding a Scottish five pound note.
The next show we was "Ray Peacock and Son" The premise of the show was a father and son routine that goes wrong during the performance. We saw this show at the Pleasance courtyard. We were sitting down in front and Ray asked me who I was and what I did. I mentioned that I worked for a TV company in London. He eventually got it out of me that I work for Sky Digital; he then proceeded to ask me if I could get him free satellite TV and what my phone number was. I said, "Sure" my number is 555 ...". He cut me off; he was not going to be mislead that easily. In TV and movies when someone gives out a phone number with 555 that means it is fictional; there is no 555 prefix in North America; it was my little joke. The show had its moments; the performance we saw was uneven.
Ray Peacock and Son
The last show we saw on Friday was "S.W.A.LK." This stands for sealed with a loving kiss. It was staged by a group called "Walk the Plank" with video artist Mark Murphy. "Walk the Plank" is a performance troupe from Manchester that specialize in staging outdoors events; this was no different. The production manager for the "Walk the Plank" is a mate of a mate Strat; I was hoping to get a chance to see Strat when I was in Edinburgh but I missed him by a week. This show was combination of physical theatre, video projections and pyrotechnics. We were lucky it was not raining much that night. It was a very compelling show. There is so much going on during the show that it is worth seeing twice."
I sort of lose track in what order things happened after that show. I know we went to Vodka bar called Kohl that more types of Vodka then I knew existed"
At some point in the evening, we went to the bar in the Apex hotel in Grassmarket and there was a trio of people speaking with American accents sitting across from us; I could not resist and asked them where they were from; part of the fun is meeting people at the Fringe. That is how David and I came to know Ana, Elmo and Chris.
Elmo and Ana were doing a show called "Submissive Barbi" and Chris was doing a show called "Fat, Bald and Loud". Being from Vancouver,I had the West coast connection with them. They were from the Los Angeles area; I think Chris is originally from Chicago. We bonded - haha. David and I made a point of going to see their shows over the next two days. As we sat in the bar having a few drinks, we were making each other laugh continuously. Chris was saying to David he should consider his hand at comedy stateside and do something like get a radio show. I was told that I could be David's sidekick; I replied but I don't want to Ed McMahon to David's Johnny Carson; I need to be me. Ana went on to say but see how successful and wealthy Ed McMahon is.
I know that we went to a rock pub and struck up a conversation with a fellow named Ian Gilmour. Ian had a landscaping business. He was a hardy man and talked about the outdoor life. He went to talk about some of the characters he employed and Ian came to know all kinds of people in his work; one of his clients was in band that performed earlier that night. I love that there are so many types of bars and pubs in England and Scotland. This was the type of boozer where loud music was heard in; people wore black and possibly neo unreconstructed Goths could be observed in.
The last port of call that night was a pub called "The Auld Hoose". A few more drinks were had. We kept going back to that pub over the next few days as it was not too far from where we were staying. David loved the place. It was a very local pub; when we were to return on Saturday night it would be a memorable night.
We got back to the hotel at 3:30 AM that night.