Well thankfully the Scottish gigs were lovely. Dundee was a particular pleasure, and Edinburgh was nearly as good. They restored my faith in student audiences. To be fair, most student gigs are fun - it's just badly set up ones at late night balls that should be avoided!
It's always odd for me to return to Edinburgh for the Comedy Network gig, because it's held in the Pleasance Cabaret Bar, where I performed in The Comedy Zone at the Fringe in 2005. The room is laid out slightly differently, but the smell is identical, and as soon as I walked in it immediately brought back memories of the great gigs and the not-so-great gigs we had that month. It feels like a very long time ago. The little dressing room at the back is almost exactly the same as well. It's plastered with posters and flyers from Edinburgh shows and the Comedy Network from around 1997-98. Most of the names are familiar, indeed many of them are very successful now. It's strangely inspiring to know that people like Lee Mack, Chris Addison, Al Murray, the Boosh etc all performed there. And then there are a few names that I've never heard of, which is conversely slightly depressing.
The city is much quieter without the Festival. Instead of lots of tourists wandering around there are a few students. Most of the venues have reverted to being cupboards, store-rooms or holes. And the Pleasance Courtyard is not a bustling centre of excitement, networking, drinking, whinging and flyering. It's just a car park. Quite disconcerting. The only reminders of the madness of August are a few weather-worn posters on abandoned properties; most of them are ripped down within days. That's why the Cabaret Bar dressing room is fascinating: Edinburgh posters are usually transient and disposable. That room is a snap-shot of a particular moment in comedy, which also happens to be around the time I first performed in Edinburgh. I hope they don't re-decorate any time soon.
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