THE NOISE NEXT DOOR lead us through their experiences at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival week by week.
3 Days of Preparation
We arrived in Edinburgh and spent most of our first night marvelling at our swanky flat and catching up with some old buddies. We also overcooked some pasta.
A day of generally sorting stuff out. Our tech rehearsal was cut in half by a slightly worrying power failure, the cause of which, the tech staff at The Pleasance confidently informed us, was entirely unknown. A contingency plan involving opening doors to let light in was put in place… Sounds safe. Met up with fellow B+G acts including Stephen K Amos, Sean Hughes and Tim Vine and then went out for the Fest Magazine launch do.
Last minute touches to the show, including a bit of set decoration and some singing practice was slowed only by the onset of the first signs of the Edinburgh bug as a few voices waned. The first show was a blast; a surprisingly packed house and a great reaction across the board. An evening spent variously at the Just the Tonic and Assembly launch parties with various lovely folk. Good times… They had pick’n’mix.One of our number had an unfortunate incident where he lost half of his left big toenail in a popular food chain and gushed blood all up the side of the drinks fridge. Some slightly over dramatic screaming and some panicked flapping by some passing ballet dancers led to a free sandwich for us. That’s a big win by our books… It was all very Claims Direct. Only without the crappy adverts.
WEEK2
A good week for us. We’ve had full houses and some very satisfied customers.
One of our number had an unfortunate incident where he lost half of his left big toenail in a popular food chain and gushed blood all up the side of the drinks fridge. Some slightly over dramatic screaming and some panicked flapping by some passing ballet dancers led to a free sandwich for us. That’s a big win by our books… It was all very Claims Direct. Only without the crappy adverts.
We had a box sliding race down Arthur’s Seat on our day off. It’s not a technical sport yet but it’s good fun. The basic rules involve jumping in a cardboard box and slipping down the hill at speeds that most people would describe as ‘uncontrollable’ due to a total lack of brakes… and steering. Fear and an absence of safety wear meant the game was called off relatively quickly. Our bodies emerged from the fray unscathed… Our minds, however, were utterly blown by the mind numbing speed we had experienced. Most people we met that night weren’t as impressed with our efforts as we clearly were.
WEEK3
A Week In The Life…
The Fringe has become some what of a blur in this week. We are going to promos and parties left right and centre… Some of the most memorable…
We were the final guests on Hardeep Singh Kohi’s Chat Masla in which he cooked up a pea and haggis vindaloo for us! Our resident vegetarian, Charlie, politely turned down the dish, Matt quivered at his first haggis experience once Hardeep explained exactly what it was, whilst Little Tom and Sam were left near blinded by spiciness. Big Tom however, true to form, proclaimed it the best thing he’d eaten in weeks and proceeded to shovel it in… three portions of the stuff. To everyone’s surprise (and slight disappointment) this didn’t affect him in any negative way… Iron stomach.
Backstage is a funny place to be sometimes… Matt had been racked with toothache all day and had gone to seek serious help at a pharmacy just before a late night show. As the rest of the guys warmed up and chatted to the other acts Matt applied a gel to his offending wisdom tooth. Minutes later, having lost nearly all feeling in the left side of his face, Matt was, unbeknownst to him drooling profusely out of the corner of his mouth down his trademark green tie. In a room full of comedians its tough to make a mistake like that and not pay for it. Through a barrage of banter and stifled laughter Matt managed to clean himself up just in time to get out on stage in time. Close call.
Accents can be tough to get perfect when you’re making things up on the spot. A distinctive Geordie twang is an old favourite of crowds however the guys attempts at the voice were somewhat over shadowed on Stephen K Amos’ Chat Show when they appeared alongside Alistair McGowan… Talk about out of your league.
Tags: comedy, comic, diary, door, Edinburgh, funny, management, next, noise, the, vlu, voice
