A Herring, a Mosque and Was That a Spontaneous Round of Applause?

Saturday 19th August

I had another gig as part of Kill the Monster at Lindsay's. This is a nice wee venue. It looks more like a hotel than a pub and there is a bar upstairs, a beer garden and a nice little basement.

After an audience of about 8 on Thursday I was surprised to find quite a few folk when I went in. The crowd then swelled to a standing room only audience. There must have been about 45-50 folk in this little room.

The reason may have been that, in addition to me, the bill also included Richard Herring. He waited 'backstage', really a cubby hole, with a black curtain over it, though you could easily see through it. He opened the show and did a fair amount of gutter level material. He apologised for being hungover, as he effortlessly mined parts of his current show, Menage an Un.

Some folk, like Stanhope for example, can do material that might offend folk, but have a point. Herring is one of those kind of comics who'll say stuff pretty much cos he knows it will offend people. He asked Jim, who was running the gig, how long he had after he delivered a joke that ended with the punchline, 'the stab wound in the stomach'. Jim told him it was about time to wrap up, which led to a humourous rant about ending his set on 'the stab wound in the stomach'.

The Toothpaste Expedition were on next. A character double act, their routine seemed to be short on jokes. I've seen one of them before at The Stand in Glasgow and he did a few of his Steven Wright styled one-liners here as well. They're going for the 'weird' end of the comedy market and although some folk will love it, I think that style potentially alianates some people.

I was up next and was much better than on Thursday. The audience seemed to go for my patter. It was one of the rare times when I was up there that I was actually really enjoying it.

After me there was Vikki Stone. A former backing singer for Elton John, she was pretty funny. Her routine was mainly based around her attempts at weight loss (as part of mine was). This involved her ending her set singing a song while eating a packet of jaffa cakes.

Finishing the show was Niall Browne a Northern Irish comedian based in Edinburgh. in in all it was a very good wee gig.

For tea I led Graeme to the Mosque Kitchen off West Nicholson Street, behind Edinburgh Central Mosque in Potterrow. Long tables and plasti chairs are set up outside. In a small kitchen you take your choice and it gets heaped onto your deep plastic plate. We both had chicken, rice and vegetables for £3.50. The food was first class and came in a huge portion. It was one of the best meals I've had in ages and when you're next in Edinburgh you should pop by.

Victoria had been doing an interview on Festival FM to promote the show. Caroline had went along with her. I understand that on this interview she mocked Graeme and I's attempts at flyering. She also told the interviewer that she was going to put 'Weird' - The Scotsman, on the flyers. To which he replied, "but you'd have to add 'not in a good way'". What's 'good weird' anyway? Being touched up by a stranger in a cinema?

We had 17 through the door for tonight's show. A bunch of girls from Graeme's work had come through from Glasgow. They roared with laughter through the whole thing. They even burst into a spontaneous round of applause at one point. To be fair a few other folk seemed to be enjoying it as well.

We went for a few drinks afterwards. Only one show left now.