It was 3 years since I’d last written a comedy show and taken it to the Fringe and about 2 years since I’d performed as a comedian. When I left Edinburgh in 2007 after doing 27 nights in a row I said very clearly I wouldn’t be taking a show for the next two years – there was a clear plan to move to London and enjoy life there…

It worked out well,we now live in our 3rd flat in London and Ruth and I are very happy here, my career has benefited from a break from comedy too.

I like planning things, thinking up schemes, shows ideas, business ideas, in fact sometimes I’m plagued by my own thoughts. Sometimes I write a loose plan for things I’d like to achieve. It’s saved on my laptop as ‘The Plan – update it’ so as to serve as a reminder when I see it to open it. It contains things that at some point I’ve felt passionately I’d like to get done.

The reasons why we do things vary, some positive, some negative and if I’m being completely honest the reason I wanted to do Edinburgh again wasn’t originally entirely positive. I wanted to prove that I could write a third show and it would be better than the first two and on a more specific level get better reviews. All of my previous Edinburgh appearances had received 3/5 reviews and this, whilst positive (it’s counts as ‘good’), suggested on some level that I wasn’t making people feel much about my shows, they were just, good.

The fear of mediocrity drove my desire to take another show; even though review ratings are something not in my control. Some time after deciding to take another show I did some training with an organisation called Lane 4, who were founded by former Olympic swimmer Adrian Moorhouse. They help with training for all types of organisations and apply some of how to get the psychological edge needed as an Olympian to people doing all kinds of job.

One of the key parts of this is setting objectives that you are in control of – in line with this thinking I changed my aim for the Brighton and Edinburgh shows to be ‘giving the best performance I can for every gig’. Secretly in the back of my mind I original goal was still there.

Ultimately, I achieved my aim, the show received a 4/5 review in Brighton from Three Weeks and on my last day in Edinburgh Chortle gave the show 2/5. Not a 3/5 review anywhere (unless of course I average them). Ultimately someone felt strongly the show was ‘Very Good’ and someone thought it was ‘Bad’ in many ways mission accomplished.

I am now back from Edinburgh slightly confused about whether to carry on, I love performing, but I’ve never actually enjoyed writing comedy that much, I first went to Edinburgh as someone that wanted to be a presenter looking to gain the live experience and maybe some contacts - but since then it’s acted like something of a drug calling me back.

Even Chortle accept I’m a pretty good presenter…

“He is a confident, eloquent speaker able to maintain the interest in even the thinnest of material”

…so maybe I should refocus some energy there?

However this is the bit that’s tricky because of all the times I’ve taken a show to Edinburgh I enjoyed this one the most. I know the audiences enjoyed it, I played to more people each day than before and they put in voluntarily a cumulatively substantial amount of money. Not only that, I went out and saw over 30 shows and actually properly enjoyed the festival.

To try and sum it up I’m going to capture some of the highs and lows of it all…

The highs

• Playing to full or almost full houses every day
• Some fantastic audience response, photographs, autographs and conversations after the show
• Hanging out with Bob Slayer and Miles and seeing their Punk Rock Chat Show twice
• Seeing some excellent shows (Paul Sinha, Andrew Lawrence, Simon Munnery, Silver Stewbilee and many more)
• Keeping my promise to perform as well as I could each day (maybe the only exception was the Sunday gig in Brighton)
• Having a 1500 word article published in The Metro
• Having a blog I wrote published in The Scotsman
• BBC Arabic filming the show and interviewing me
• Co-presenting a radio show with Chris from Three Weeks
• Spending time with some great friends and family
• Meeting new people that were genuinely nice (especially performers/staff at my venue)

The lows

• The shower in the flat we rented barely working
• Not many reviews of the show
• A 2/5 review on Chortle
• Being stung by a wasp on the last day

So a quandry…

What next

I’d always said it wasn’t my intention to take a one-man show, for a full run, on my own next year, I think I still feel the same about that.

The main options are:

• Throw myself back in to comedy, gig in London and aim to be at one of the better known paid venues next year, possibly working with someone else in some capacity
• Do a short run, a week or long weekend probably in a free venue and keep it as on-going, if slightly consuming hobby, possibly doing occasional gigs through the year
• Do as Masters in Information Science, after all, that was the original plan

While I ponder these things some more, for those that are interested this is the piece I did with BBC Arabic:

Jim x

PS: My final data readings for the Fringe 2010 are available on http://daytum.com/jimbowes

PPS: A couple of hours ago I bumped in to someone that sat at the front of one of my shows drawing. I was out jogging by Regent’s canal. I was too polite to say that actually drawing in the front row put me off quite a bit.

PPPS: I don’t normally jog. I’m going to be doing a charity run soon and thought I should train.

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I hit the streets and handed out flyers one final time and gave a pretty reasonable last performance, although not one of my best.

After the show I found out that a review had been published on Chortle giving the show 2/5, although in many ways the review of my personal performance is pretty good, the reviewer clearly didn’t like the PowerPoint or subject matter and I suppose in many ways this show wasn’t burning with passion, it’s a bit silly and whimsical but that’s what I’d intended.

I can honestly say there are no parts in the show that weren’t genuine obsessions of mine (as the review suggests a cynic might think) or Ruth’s – it’s all true and I suppose if you go in to the show as a cynic then I can see why you’d be left feeling like it was just a bunch of stuff I made up for the sake of it.

In any case there was no time to dwell on the review as we had to load out the venue, get lunch, load out the flat and start heading for Preston where we had planned a stopover. We did this with decent pace and by about half four we were leaving Edinburgh.

The journey was pleasant, I love the route in/out of Scotland and making it even easier was the fact that Ruth was driving this leg. We got to the Ibis Preston North for about 7.30pm and it was next to a pub called the Phantom Winger.

On the basis we were all shattered and that the town was a few miles away we resolved to have dinner in the Phantom Winger, I went for a half and half pie and then Ruth and I shared the biggest sundae I’ve ever seen. The wine wasn’t bad either.

I left Ruth and Maddie drinking wine in the hotel and headed to bed. While I was eating the biggest bout of tiredness came over me and it was all I could do to remain awake long enough for dessert. I felt loads better the next morning and drove us all back to a sunny London by about 2pm.

Back home, it felt good. Now all I need to work out is what next…but I’ll cover that in a separate post.

Jim x

PS. I’ve now completed my Daytum data profile for Edfringe 2010 http://daytum.com/jimbowes

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We made pretty good time and I was left in town with not enough time to go back to the flat but with it too early to start flyering. I took the opportunity to have tea and scrambled eggs and watch the world go by.

Changing clothes in a park with lots of people walking past you looks fairly odd, however it seemed the best location to get my lab coat on before starting my daily task of finding an audience. There were plenty of new arrivals in town and I started to run out of flyers fairly quickly (Maddie and Ruth went and got some more from the venue).

Despite the number of flyers I’d handed out at five past one there was no one in my venue and I started thinking I might be doing the show to just Maddie and Ruth, but as it rolled round to the start of the show the venue filled and in the end it was standing room only.

The crowd were really nice and it was one of my favourite shows of the run. Afterwards I headed home for a sleep before my cousin and her boyfriend arrived later in the evening. We all met up for the now obligatory glasses of wine at Hotel Du Vin and before we knew it 8 o clock was fast approaching.

We headed to Chez Jules for steaks and good times but it was full, the owner offered to pay to put us in a taxi to their other restaurant a little out of town. It’s called Pierre Victoire and upon hearing the comment that there’s a Pierre Victoire in London he said “I am Pierre Victoire”. Knowing we were sent with the owners blessing we tucked in to our steaks and fish with gusto – just about finishing in time to grab a taxi across town to the Pleasance Courtyard for Andrew Lawrence.

The gig was packed and his set was excellent, a member of the audience walked directly in front of him a couple of moments before a punchline completely ruining the build-up but I thought he dealt with it well and he didn’t attempt to do the joke again in the end – adding a different piece of material at the end of the show.

We headed on to Espionage where the cheesy tunes had kicked in and we waited for the midnight comedy show. As it was Saturday night in Edinburgh is was a fairly drunken audience and although it started polite enough it became something of a stand off between the compere Damien and a section of the audience that kept talking. In the end it felt a bit uncomfortable which was a shame.

We headed home before the end as I wanted to be awake enough to do a good final show…fingers crossed that’s the case.

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That said, by the end people were laughing more and I think I did a pretty good gig overall, not quite as good as Thursdays but good all the same. After the gig we stayed on at the venue for lunch before heading home to start packing, because as I sit here there are only two shows remaining and I’m picking up the hire car that will take us back to London in about an hour, the end really is near.

Of course we didn’t actually get much packing done, I sorted through some tickets and receipts and tidied up a bit but then energy levels dipped and I watched Escape to the Country and ate a Milky Way.

After some food in Bar Kohl we met Maddie who is here for the final weekend of the Edinburgh adventure. Once she was checked in we headed to Espionage for watch the free mixed-bill comedy show they have on at 9.30pm, very good it was too, I’ve been to paid mixed bill shows no where near as good as that one. Mike Manera who’s Music Club gig we saw the other day was one of the acts and the stand-up he did last night was more polished than that in his other show (which is a deliberately more relaxed affair). The compere and the others acts were excellent too.

We then stayed on for 77 year-old Lynn Ruth Miller’s cabaret show, this was a lot of fun, some gently suggestive humour set to cabaret songs with a little audience participation and a narrative about life in an old people’s home. She didn’t start doing comedy until she was 70 but has thrown herself in to it since then and this year has two shows so at 77 she’s working harder than me!

Jim x

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I bumped in to Craig who went to school with Ruth while I was out and he came to the show along with his girlfriend who’s here performing and producing a play.

At the venue, another friend also arrived unexpectedly (Peter) and as I chatted decent sized audience made their way in to the venue and by the time we were due to start it was almost full. I put in a really good performance, cutting down my festival drinking has obviously had a positive impact on my ability to deliver the show and I finished it feeling pleased with how everything went.

The comedian that’s on after me recognised a reviewer leaving the show and I so I imagine in a few days there should be something I can share. I was definitely happy with the performance so whatever the reviewer thought I know it was based on a gig I was pleased with.

After that we had some lunch with Craig and Peter heading to Revolution where I had another salad. After a stopping off at home we went to see Craig’s girlfriend in the play Laundry and Bourbon. It was in the Augustine church – the first show I’ve see there and in fact the first play I’ve seen all festival.

It’s by an American playwright called James McLure and is the first of a two plays. This one is told from the female perspective and the second is a take on the same period of time from a male perspective. We stayed on for the second play which is called Lone Star as well and I’m pleased we did – I really enjoyed seeing the story both perspectives.

There were great performances in both shows and even some accidentally broken glass in the first which added to the tension for the front row. It makes me wish we’d fitted in a couple more plays while we’ve been here. Next time!

After that we headed straight for Piramania (the pirate musical), we had been planning to see Plague the Musical but this wasn’t on last night. Essentially the show was a pantomime like narrative applied to a pirate tale of love, incest and treasure. I think it’s fair to say it wasn’t Ruth’s cup of tea (and the girl picking her scalp in front of her didn’t aid the enjoyment), but I found it a jolly enough jaunt, there were a few Edinburgh in-jokes from the narrator but the crowd seemed to like them. It went on a little too long for me but overall but it was still fun.

Three shows followed by an earlyish night…the final weekend beckons, I best go and find an audience for today’s show.

Jim x

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After a brief visit to Fringe Central for some strong coffee and fast internet we headed to Just the Tonic in The Caves to see the sketch show His Eyes Were Like Oysters. It had had mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed it, some of the guys from the Bristol Revunions were in the audience and as previously mentioned I hadn’t really liked their show (maybe I was just too tired at 11pm?!) but from my wide selection of two, His Eyes Were Like Oysters will go down as my favourite sketch show this year. It was pretty surreal but DJ Alan Starr was a great character holding it all together and it was well acted from all of the cast. The June Sarpong fixation and calling a bloke in the front row Lydia added to the deliberate awkwardness of some parts.

We’d already booked tickets for the revenge musical Gutted but that didn’t start until 11.15pm so we had a whole evening to fill. In the end we plumped for a free show called Belgrave and Manera’s Music Club at City Cafe. The basic premise of the show is comedians talking about music they like and being funny at the same time – loosely held together by Belgrave and Manera’s narrative.

I think this is a great idea for a show and there were some excellent parts to the show, their guest (his name escapes me) was particularly good. In places I felt the show wasn’t a good as it could be but perhaps the performers were finding it tough with an audience that weren’t the loudest.

A quick snack and then off to Gutted. A Revenger”s Musical. It is scored by Martin White who I’ve previously booked to play a show in Reading. I first saw him performing as part of Robin Ince’s book club, his falsetto accordion rendition of Britney Spear’s Toxic is something everyone should witness .

The musical is a pretty big production, in the Ballroom at Assembly on George Street with a cast of 12 ish and The Penny Dreadfuls providing the music. It’s the only musical I’ve seen this year so I don’t have much to compare against. What I can say is that I really enjoyed it, there’s a good twist on the usually sugar-coated world of musical and some decent contemporary references.

Carter USM’s Jimbob is in it alongside strong cast and even a pre-recorded audio appearance from David Mitchell. The sound was a little bit shaky at the start and made it hard to hear the opening number – but apart from that an excellent show.

Straight to bed after that – one of my latest nights of the Fringe.

Jim x

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We took the opportunity to watch the show directly after me which has two comics sharing the hour long slot. It wasn’t the loudest audience but the banter was good and although there weren’t any belly-laugh moments I enjoyed the show,  it kept me entertained.

After some lunch (my 3rd fish and chips of the festival) we spent some time back at the flat, having had people visiting since Friday we’d been out more than normal and I was definitely pretty tired. I think Escape to the Country and a Flake helped me and by the time we needed to head out I was looking forward to seeing our first gig of the festival.

That gig was Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip at a club called Liquid, it’s ages since we last saw them live, before their first album came out and so I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect. Fortunately they were brilliant and for a Tuesday night crowd the whole place was buzzing. Great gig.

The reality that the Fringe will be over soon is becoming real, today the sun is shining and despite the bright skies I’ll a little sad it’ll all soon be over.

Jim x

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I was the most hungover I’ve been for any show so far and Ruth wasn’t fairing very well either. All things considered I did a good show although I don’t think it was one of the best.

We went home after the show feeling pretty tired and after some more blue screen of death action from my laptop headed to join a friend to see The Ginge, The Geordie and The Geek, however just as we got to the front of the queue it sold out. We said our goodbyes and headed home until we met Kevin at Revolution.

He used the entirely random method of just letting his hand fall on to the Scotsman daily guide to choose a show – this took us to see Ant Dewson: I bought Richard Hammond’s underpants on Ebay (Ebay, Ebay, Ebay). It was a very enjoyable, well delivered 45 minutes of music/comedy/music.

We then had some mexican for dinner before heading to see Brendon Burns up at the Udderbelly. He had a guy with tourettes in the front row calling him a pigeon fucker. When, as a comic you imagine tough gigs, I think having someone uncontrollably shouting obscenities through no fault of their own and with no particular timing must be right up there. He did a fantastic job and really crafted a show from what could have gone very wrong.

I only drank one rum and coke yesterday, sober jim is back. I hope todays audience are ready.

Jim x

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Just before I went on we said our goodbyes to my aunt and cousin who were heading to watch a play and then dashing to the station to go home. Colin came to the show for the second day and I think he enjoyed it a second time. Interestingly the show after me was absolutely packed and I think the slightly later start time helped them on a Sunday. It was still a good though – I’m pretty sure the audience enjoyed it.

After the show we went to see Simon Munnery: Self Employed, he was excellent, I really liked his delivery, the show had a really good pace with jokes ranging from silly to more intricate, he opened with a section about a conceptual restaurant and there were some musical and video interludes  too. I’d been meaning to see him at Edinburgh on two of my previous visits but this was the first time I’d actually seen him perform, definitely recommended.

After dropping bags of and trying to send some pictures over to the Scotsman (I think they’re going to use my blog) we headed to Edinburgh’s worst kept quiet drink location (that said it remains not too busy) Hotel Du Vin where we had a farewell drink with Colin and a welcome to Edinburgh drink with Kevin who arrived for the friend shift changeover. In fact we stayed for two further bottles of wine. Frank Skinner was also there having tea with Clive Anderson.

We then headed across town for Chez Jules (our third visit) and had more wine and steak. Having not been drinking all that much I was a little drunk by this point and so after a swift drink in my venue we called it a night and headed home.

When we got back we watched my appearance on BBC Arabic – and you can too:

It’s chucking it down this morning – flyering will be difficult. Especially with a hangover.

Jim x

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The show was absolutely packed, the busiest so far, I also had friends and family watching. I’m really pleased I was able to do a good show when they were all here. After we had lunch at the venue and then did a test run with my cousin and aunt to see how quickly they could get from the station to the Pleasance Dome, there is a play they are seeing today and it ends quite close to their train time. We did it in 13 minutes 36 seconds which considering the number of people we had to navigate through was pretty good going.

We took everyone to see Bob Slayer’s Punk Rock Chat Show, Colin loved it, I’m not 100% sure it was entirely my aunt and cousin’s thing but we all had fun.

We then headed to the Pleasance Courtyard and I had to duck out of proceedings to co-present the Three Weeks radio show with Chris Cooke on Fresh Air. Despite initially being locked out of the studio we managed to get in and do a really good show.

The guests were the Noise Next Door, the guys from Free Fringe show ‘Slides Of Chaos’ (it turns out this has been inspired by someone also working at Barclays!), the team behind the Theatre Ninjas website and iPhone app, and the cast of ‘Hamlet: Blood In The Brain’.

As far as I know it’ll be available to play from the Three Weeks website from later on today – I’ll post a link as soon as I can.

In my absence the others didn’t see any shows, but they did get wet and pick one. We went to see the Bristol Revue sketch show at 11pm in Pleasance Below, this is where todays blog title comes in as it split the girls and boys completely. Both Colin and I didn’t find it funny at all, however the girls all thought it was hilarious, I’m not sure where this leaves me in terms of reviewing the gig, there were a couple of pretty good performers but I just didn’t find the actual material funny, the girls laughed about a bit with kimonos all the way home. Colin and I talked about how unfunny it all was.

All in all a well balanced day, the boys enjoyed Bob Slayer, the girls like the sketches and the rain soaked us all. A perfect day at #edfringe.

Jim x

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