Saturday 19th Super Saturday

Whistlebinkies very full :-)
My pre-start worked very well which is when I do a fake mic. test chatting to the audience up close. Then I ask which start they would like,  high or slow energy?  They always want high! Then clipboard comedy plus theme tune dance....  boom!

Very lovely show and matching bucket i.e. lots of tips.

Lunch and comedy blether with Wes Dalton

Busiest Quillarious ever! 30 in. Steered away from dark themes and allowed the rounds to fold back the chatter into the show.
Twice when the room was divided on a decision we had dance offs which worked very well.
It all went very well with happy people and good bucket.
Another good blether about comedy writing with our Quillarari winner Lorna who presents for ITV Wales. Press your big blue button now or catch it on our podcast.

Youtube link  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPASQFD9QqlVag-LiIjRPsQ5E2nQrfFgf
Saw a nice and curvey one man show at Black Market but can't remember who. He's Welsh and looks like Jesus. By curvy i mean it had a lovely flowing narrative curve. Taking us though good solid funnies down into storytelling, then some audience interaction  to lift us up to wards the fake end, bucket speech ..... and by the way boooooom! Arrrrrrrrr.

I was then asked to mc a show also at BM. It was a small audience and challenging fun to connect with them and fluff them up. I was please with my mcing but over ran by 5mins. A big no no so I slap my wrist. Time to get that watch with a timer?

I stayed on to watch Drunken Heckle which is always fun and got back by 1.30am

Fri 18th

I was so tired last night, and I had essential admin to do which half got done before I crashed.  Woke up much refreshed :-)
Spent t he early part of the morning re covering the white board with film. Very tricky sticky stuff. So then I'd recovered from the recovering.

Back to the weather. It lightly rained from 10.30 driving the crowd into the show before mine, then it cleared 20 mins before mine, driving the crowds onto the streets away from my show.
Can't change it so move on!
The show was good with three no shows (my good morning text didn't happen) so I was able to grab Stone Wall Todo and Anige Gallagher from the previous show.
Daniel a teenage audience member was wearing a fringe lanyard and turned out to be a young magician  who did card tricks on me to the delight of the small but very nice crowd.
I did more material than ever and had a fun time.

Quillarious was busy with 15 in :-)
Surprisingly it was the first time a whole team didn't want to do the stand up challenge but an excellent performance by David.
Nice to see Bryn back #repeat-customer
Heres the vids

#Quillarious 2017-08-18: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPASQFD9QqlVCqExWBW_723FoEGsviS6k

After Quillarious I thought I'd see a show but it ended up as three very good show that reflect the diversity of the free shows at the Fringe.
First was Lucy ??? Women of Power. Wonderful but hard to explain other than an experience.
Performed in the round with a theromin and esoteric themes and interaction.

Then a full on production of Julius Caesar but with pirate costumes! Still no idea why. I would have gone step further and changed a line or two:
Arrrrrrrr et to Bruti me hearty!
Release the seagulls of war!
Then improve loosely based on history. I've a love hate thing with improv. It so formulated but when it works it's funny.
All very good shows.

Thursday 16th Too Much Sun

SUN streaming through my window, the worst thing ever for a daytime Fringe show.
I remember back to my days as a garden centre manager, if the temperature hit 20 degrees by 10am the sales would double. Here it's the opposite. Sun sun go away!

My show was very quiet c.15 but still fun.

Quillarious has two but once again the format works with two. To be honest I was almost hoping for one as there's a cardboard cut out of Billy Connerly as the Waverley bar is where he made the transition from folk singer the stand up. It could have been audience vs Billy.

https://youtu.be/SXLqIo72qvA

Wed 15th

Last night was my first guest spot. It was a tough gig. A bunch of students who'd looked like death and some family groups. I'm sure a more experienced act could get something out of them but all I got seemed like two titters and a couple of groans. Dead at the Apollo. I still think I should do a late evening show called Death at the Apollo.
Before the gig on the street I bumped into Astrid and Sander, they enjoyed the tale of their public engagement, phew!

Whistlebinkies went well with reasonable numbers and I was OK. The story of my engagement went down well and is evolving into something quite nice.
While Dave Hemming was on, a man at the back with a dog called Molly heckled a clear paragraph about Tarentino. We were all stunned. Dave did a sweet put down (the man not Molly) and things moved on. The last act was a manic clown who got nothing but I did a good inappropriate reference which got my best laugh of the day.

Here's the link to the story in the Edinburgh Evening News
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/video-couple-get-engaged-at-the-edinburgh-fringe-1-4532218

Here's the link to the Sun story
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/living/1421967/wes-dalton-edinburgh-fringe-proposal-whistlebinkies/

Tue 14th Sorry dear

Whistlebinkies was good and as expected several acts didn't show so as Steve Mclean walked in to watch the show I said you're on. Lucia did her first fringe gig and it reminded me of my 2nd gig at Kate Smurthwaite’s show several years ago.
Good show decent crowd all good.

Get the the Waverly bar and the manager Ronan has a copy of the Edinburgh Evening News open to my story of the engagement.
I shoot off to bye a couple of copies. When I read it they've made a few mistakes. Well one mainly I that it says I've come to Edinburgh with Astrid and I've got engaged! I think they've muddled Sadler with Sander.
After 24 years of marriage to Fliss that's quite a surprise. Not as surprised as Fliss was when I called her. Somethings are best not discovered on facebook.
So if I'm the guy in the picture I've got plenty of hair and a beard So there's always a silver lining.

Monday what day is it?

No press reaction to press release about the coupkes engagement :-(
I expscted Lunchtime Showcase to drop back to early week quietness but it was nearly full! It felt like a Saturday which threw off my timings for the rest of the day.
Could it be that some miserable weather is my best publicity? Today it's supposed to rain at 12. Perfect for cat hearding the public. Fingers crossed :-)

Quillarious sadly no  one came :-(
Two years ago when that happened I was deeply upset but now it's just one of those things that happen at the fringe. I'm going to be pissed off if it happens more than three times but the show isn't a straight forward format.
I'm switching tacticks re flyering to exit flyer shows nearby that finish at least half an hour before. Time for them to regroup and then come. Worth a try.

I had a stand up spot to do later that evening so went off to the park by Waverley Station to write and rehearse. There I saw a robot lawn mower 'on trial' just taking its time zig zagging across the lawn. Not exactly Terminator, unless you work as a manual laborer. How many jobs will be lost to machines like these. Watch out road sweapers!

OK I got the day wrong for my spot, it's tomorrow, so I saw a one man show about William Wallase called the Tanners Tale and then David Tsonos's Drunken Heckle which I did as by then I was suitable qualified.

Walked home in the pouring rain at 1am thanking my heavy bag full of mavs and hats and jumper :-)
A good day.

Streetbeat Comedy's Free Lunchtime Showcase 12.15 Whistlebinkies top of Niddry st and Southbridge.

#Quillarious A New Comedy Format Free 15.45 Waverley Bar St. Marys St. next to The World's End on High St. (Royal Mile)
Every day of the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The show where the audience write the stand up. Its game show meets comedy writing workshop.

Youtube Channel  #Quillarious https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdLGESm8uJy4PGSCmyaMGSg

Sunday Romance at the Fringe

Romance was in the air at Whistlebinkies this morning as a couple got engaged on stage.

Now a stand up comedy show isn't the first place I'd think of for romance, but today at Streetbeat Comedy's Free Lunchtime Showcase at Whistlebinkies on Niddry st Sander asked Astrid to marry him, and she said ... yes!

 I and the audience watched amazed as comedian Wes Dalton played with the couple. “Why haven't you ask her then?” and Sander said “Ok I will” and he did.

A ring was borrowed from another audience member, space made on the stage, and on one knee he asked in Dutch as they were. I got most of it on video.

https://youtu.be/WIM-bPaXnPg and an evening doing press releases.

Quillarious was awesome, two fantastic teams and superb presentations, worth a watch.

#Quillarious 2017-08-13: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPASQFD9QqlU62gUSiG327QFu3N9yQL6L