Comedy of the Week - Fresh from the Fringe

Episode Date: September 2, 2024

Radio 4 brings you the spirit of the Edinburgh Fringe this August. Host Mark Watson takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the city, capturing the buzz of the festival, taking us with him to the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and showcasing some of the most exciting comedy talent from this year. Acts this week include Hannah Platt, Marjolein Robertson, Ania Magliano and Huge Davies.Additional Material: Christina RiggsProduction Coordinator: Katie BaumSound Recordist: Sean KerwinSound Editor: Charlie Brandon-KingExecutive Producer: Pete StraussAssistant Producer: Becky Carewe-JeffriesProduced in Edinburgh by Gwyn Rhys DaviesIt was a BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.

This is the BBC. This podcast is supported by advertising outside the UK. It's summer in Britain and the crimes are just getting started. I found another body. Stream the best of British crime drama only on Britbox. Don't miss new seasons of acclaimed series like Blue Lights, which Time Out calls Belfast's answer to the wire.

Back up, back up Ivan! And The Responder, starring Martin Freeman in his international Emmy award winning role. I can feel it, I'm gonna crack. Stream the best of British crime drama on BritBox. You know this is why I want to be a detective. Watch with a free trial today. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. For the past month, Edinburgh has been packed full of performers and punters enjoying the biggest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Fringe.

I'm comedian Mark Watson and I've been coming to the Fringe for 24 years. So as this year's festival draws to a close, I'm going to catch up with some of the best comedians performing here and drop in to hear a, I'm going to catch up with some of the best comedians performing here and drop in to hear a bit of their shows to bring you the truest Fringe experience you can get without being fly every 30 seconds. A bit later, I'm going to head to the ceremony for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards and chat to the winners. Let's head out into town and see who's about. This is Fresh From The Fringe. fresh from the fringe. We're now in a sort of cafe with Anya Magliano, just right on the meadows where a lot of fringe performers can be seen almost every minute of the day.

This is your third year on the spin, isn't it? How are you finding it? This third year I've done something different, which is in the other two years I've been very like monk-like for the first two weeks and then in the second two weeks I've sort of gone a bit wild. Interesting. Yeah. This year I did the reverse. Really? Yeah. You started bigger than come down. I started kind of big. I was seeing stuff. I was staying out late and then this morning I made a chicken casserole. Well, that is not something that most people can say in the final week of the French. I know. Most people don't even actually eat a chicken casserole by this day. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I've made three servings of it minimum. Three servings you boast. Yeah. So you've not only made a casserole but you know you've got a couple of dinners in hand now. 100%. I think maybe even four. So that's almost, that almost see you over the light if you can stomach eating casserole for most of the rest of the festival. Which I can I think. You've got a casserole per meaningful show left in the bank. Yeah, exactly. meaningful show left in the bank. Yeah, exactly. I read this quote a while ago that really resonated with me. It said that to love, you have to be brave enough to let go of the past.

Isn't that powerful? I read that on my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's Instagram page. I love that page so much, I can't stop looking at it. I first came across it completely by accident when I was Googling her full name. The account came up, I clicked on it, it wasn't private. What a generous woman. But when I went on it,

there weren't actually that many posts there. And I was like, that's interesting. She giveth and she taketh away. But not to worry, I'll just add her to the rounds. Okay, for anyone who doesn't know, the rounds are basically where I check the social media accounts of the people who I can't follow, because it would be weird,

but I still like to keep an eye on what they're up to. I love doing it, I feel like a farmer tending to my crops. It can be people that I like, people I dislike, enemies even, so one that I check quite people I dislike, enemies even. So one that I checked quite a lot is this girl who wronged me. She wronged me in primary school. Basically what she did is she got the same pencil case as me. After I got it she told everyone that I copied her. Thank you. This is the thing, I can't call a seven-year year old a bitch.

But what I will say is now she works in marketing. I just think that must be hard for someone with no original ideas. Another one that I check is my ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. She's a burlesque dancer and that's fine. That's fine, I just find that very interesting more than anything else because he couldn't have picked someone more different to me. I'm not a burlesque dancer. And I don't think I ever will be unless there's a type of burlesque that is exclusively forward rolls.

But Will, who's my boyfriend, his ex is the one that I check the most. I check that the most because they went out for eight years. Hello? Eight years? That is too long. I just think if he loved me he wouldn't have done that. I never told him that I was doing it by the way. If anything I actually threw him off the scent.

Anytime he'd even mention his ex's name I'd be like, who's that? Is that your mum? You've got to get in there a little bit from time to time. And then one day I was doing, this is the thing, I did sometimes get worried. I got worried of like, is it bad to do this from a feminist perspective? Don't worry, I realise not at all. Not at all. If anything is actually the most feminist thing you can do in that situation, isn't it? Because I've never met her. So I've only ever heard about her from him. So if I don't look, that's erasing a woman's voice. And I'm a feminist.

So one day I was doing the rounds. It was already quite exciting. The burlesque dancer had got a new wig. And I got to Will's ex and something huge had happened. She'd done a new post. The new post was announcing that her and her new boyfriend had bought a van. They were renovating the van and they'd made a whole new Instagram account

just for the van. I was like, oh my God, what a bountiful harvest we have here. The van needed so much work. I was like like these fruits are gonna get us through the cold cold winter. They were posting so much about the van. I think I might be the only person who's been with them every single step of the way. I'm so proud of what they've achieved and I can't tell

them that. That's cruel. That makes me feel like I'm a dead relative watching from heaven. I did have one moment where I thought, oh you're gonna judge me for this, but I thought what if I made a fake account? Just so that I could get a little bit more involved, just comment the stuff I was thinking, you know, nice wheels. But I did realize I think that would be a step too far, because it would be a slippery slope after that wouldn't it? First you're making a fake account to follow the van, next you're dressing up as a mini fridge and living in it with them.

That's my dream. And then one day Will went to a party with some people who know her and he came back from the party and he said to me, I found out this funny thing about my ex, right? Apparently now she's moved to France and I was like in her van whoopsie and he said how do you know about that and I said well it's actually very feminist of me but I keep looking at her account I don't know why I can't stop maybe I was a bit jealous at first but now I'm just really invested in her content. She's so good at DIY. And he said, oh, that's fine.

You don't need to keep that a secret from me. You can tell me anything. Like, you don't feel like you have to hide anything. I thought that was quite nice, isn't it? It's nice. Yeah, so we're all on the same page now. I mean, mostly. He doesn't know that I subscribe to the Vans newsletter but that's just a treat for me. I don't think a fake email account

is as bad. Vanya Magliano at gmail.com. They just think it's a Russian bot. It is now properly raining and so we've taken refuge in one of the Monkey Bar's bars, just on Cowgate. I'm here with Mary-Elaine Robertson. Cowgate has quite a strange place within the Fringe. In a sense it's the absolute centre of the festival geographically, but on the other hand it is a place you'll see a lot of people who hate the festival and want you to move

out of the way, I think it's fair to say. Oh my god, it's the Belly of Edinburgh. It's a street that shouldn't exist it's beneath the city itself. Apparently your show is so disgusting that people faint. That to me is really funny. I've seen people faint in French shows especially with how hot the room is but did you know this was a subject that was gonna make people feel uncomfortable well not uncomfortable it's not the word, is it? It's a medical thing that you talk about. I think what I've learned is I have a very high tolerance for body gore, and I wasn't

aware that other people don't share this with me. We're gonna hear a little bit of your show now, but especially given that this is Tea Time on Radio 4, I think it's fair to say we're steering clear of some of the bits. No one at home is likely to faint or feel unwell. We're doing some of the nice more comforting parts of the show, like my childhood. Yes, you're talking about growing up on a farm. So if that makes you faint, switch off the radio now,

but otherwise you should be fine. A human farm. Ever since I was a young girl, seven years old, I have always been planning and daydreaming and scrap picking for my dream. That's right, funeral. For example, I don't care about my headstone. What I do want to have is a cement cast of my own hand bursting forth from the grave with a plaque on it that reads not actual hand.

Lest the mortals be afraid. Also, I care a lot about my order of service at my funeral. I want my eulogy to be relatable and hilarious, starting with my childhood, growing up on a farm in Shetland, where me and my brother would play in the hills, swim in the sea, and pull back the flesh on a tourist's head to see the colour of the skull beneath. Pink! Fresh bone isn't much pinker than you can imagine. underneath. Pink. Fresh bone is so much pinker than you can imagine.

Next the eulogy would go into my teenage years and I would like my funeral to be open and honest and talk about those awkward conversations we have with our parents. Like when we have the talk, you remember the talk? When you teach them how to restart the computer? I planned all my funeral, I'm so excited for it. I can't wait to die. I think sometimes I can seem a bit alarming or strange, but I believe we all have very similar moments

in our life and our development. For example, we all learn about the miracle of life in the comfort of our own living rooms through a rectangle on the wall. The difference might be that your rectangle was a television. The miracle of life is a zebra giving birth in a Serengeti and is narrated by Sir David Attenborough. In my living room, the rectangle was the window.

The miracle of life is my dad with his arm inside a sheep. And it was narrated by my mom saying, why is he wearing his best shirt? Because I grew up on a farm, I did, and nothing teaches you more about death than trying to keep sheep alive. They keep dying.

Because we keep eating them. I want to ingratiate myself to you more. I think I was a normal child. I think I was a normal child. Like me and my brother would play games on the farm. There's one game in particular we loved, but I've been told it's categorically too dangerous and it's irresponsible for me to tell you how to play it.

But I think if anything, natural selection is taking too long. So here's the game. The game's called Pitchfork. See what would happen is me and my brother would stand two feet apart because that's all we had left over from the tourists. And we'd take a pitchfork between us and we'd throw it in the there like, and then the first

one to move loses. But if you move too slowly, you also lose and you have to go to hospital. We had to stop playing it. We had to stop playing it because my dad caught us and when he saw us playing it, he was so shocked. He's like, no, you'll damage the Bronx. Woo! Woo! Woo!

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! It's now early morning on the final Saturday

of the Edinburgh Fringe. I say early morning, half past 10. And I'm heading to the ceremony for this year's Edinburgh Comedy Awards. This is the traditional culmination of the festival. Many previous winners have gone on to have great careers including Lee Evans, Steve Coogan, League of Gentlemen, more recently, Rosemata Feo, Richard Gadd and loads more.

There are three prizes given out at the ceremony, best show, best newcomer, and then the panel prize, which is given out at the panel's discretion to recognise something that has made an impact at this year's festival. And now let's hear who's won this year's panel prize. This year to honour the spirit and story of The Fringe, the 2024 Victoria Woodward is awarded to Rob Copland.

CHEERING I'm now in a sort of an empty room with the winner of the panel prize, Rob Copland, who was brought onto the stage as Copland. Yeah, Copland. And devoted to some of his acceptance speeches, correcting the surname quite rightly. How do you feel? Er...

Genuine question. Yeah, hard to explain. I knew that I was going to win this one, so I wasn't coming into the room thinking like, oh, well I won't I? But clarity, the winner of the panel prize is informed the night before. Rob's not just saying I knew I was going to win, because of some sort of incredible complacency.

Oh, I always knew this was going to happen for me. Yes, you're not saying you manifested it, you're saying you actually got a phone call yesterday. I feel like in a way I did manifest this, you know. I called the show Gimmie and they gave it to me. I suppose so, yeah. Maybe next year someone should just call their show I Would Like the Panel Prize, please. This is an interesting award because, well, I won this same prize a million years ago.

Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations for 2006 Mark. But it is a huge pat on the back from the industry, your peers, everyone I suppose. Yeah, it's funny. My first show, my debut, I won the Comedians Choice Award best show. I remember. And this feels like the critics. So I kind of feel like I've won the critics over. Or the panel critics? I'm not really a critic, are I?

No, but you're certainly racking up semi-official prizes. Yeah, it's a bipolar victory. I've got the comedians on board now, I've got the panel on board now, I just need to get the audiences going. Now you just want the public to enjoy your work, yeah. Exactly, yeah. Congratulations to Ken Robb. And now let's hear who is the 2024 Best Newcomer.

The winner of this award is Joe Kenwood. Sitting next to me now with the best newcomer award, the award I lost in 2006, is Joe Kent Waters. Do you want to hold it? Well, may I? May I touch this at least? It's been 18 years. Minchin never let me have even a look at it. The four or five days while you were a nominee are quite sort of challenging.

Easily the worst shows of the room post-domination. That's a common experience I think because crowds are suddenly full of people who are expecting something that you weren't previously. One of them was on Mushrooms. One of your audience? One of the audience, yeah. Yes, that's sort of not exactly ideal for most shows. Absolutely not.

And they were just continuously laughing, they didn't stop. Which you would think would be a dream, but it's actually not, is it? In reality, though, it completely ruins the momentum and the tension. I'm surprised that the legacy of it has been more people on mushrooms in your crowd, yeah. That's not a common complaint. Enjoy the rest of it however you do it, John. Yeah, yeah, thanks, Mark. And now finally, we're going to find out who has won the Coversley Best Show award.

The winner of the Don and Eleanor Tappner Best Comedy Show is... Amy Gledal! And I've been joined now by the winner of this year's award, Amy Gledal. In fact, the award is right in front of us I'm not letting this out of my sight. No, well my friend Tim Key won it 15 years ago and he still totes it around It'll be in your hand luggage everywhere you go. Yeah We I mean I'll tell you before we were recording. I've seen quite a lot of people Express surprise when they've just won something but you were probably the most dazed looking person I've seen I really like I can't express this enough. I genuinely

I would have put a lot of money on me not winning this. It's lucky didn't I know actually my show is about low self-esteem so maybe it's on brand You've sort of got yourself into a bit of a paradox now where you're gonna be renowned As a winner for us about low self-esteem What you're gonna where you're going to be renowned as a winner for a show about the Selfish team. What are you going to do? Are you going to sacrifice the underdog tag and just lean into being a massive success or? I reckon. I think I'm going to become a nightmare. Yeah, maybe it's time. You've always been a really likable person, but at some point you've got to jettison that, surely. It's got to go. 2025, it's not rat girl summer, it's horrible woman autumn and I'm ready.

I can't wait for you to really just disappoint everyone that supported you thus far. It must be possible to put it into any sort of proper context when it's this recent. Yeah, I still can't believe it. I still think there's going to be like a recount or something. That'd be very unpopular now I think. Yeah, I'd feel really bad about that actually. Get Richard Osmond back. You've got this odd shaped chunk of plastic for your mantelpiece. I'm so thrilled with the award, because I've been wanting to put up a shelf in my flat.

Oh, this is your incentive surely. This is my incentive for a shelf, my first shelf and it will have one thing on it and then loads of arrows just respond to it. Signs in the house directing people to go and look at it. Well done and enjoy putting yourself up, you deserve it. Thank you so much. Well congratulations to all the winners, that's the end of the awards but it's not quite the end of the fringe. Let's see if there's a few more people we can chat to and catch their shows.

I'm now on, well actually just off the Royal Mile with Hannah Platt. I mean the Royal Mile is an odd spot in the Fringe because obviously not really, this isn't the Fringe at all, but this is like the iconic site of Edinburgh. Yeah. It's hard to describe isn't it? Essentially it's drizzling, there are street performers doing free stuff. I arranged to meet you at a certain point and then just a show happened around me and I felt like I couldn't leave. Yeah the best way to describe the world, Mark, maybe is it just is where things happen around you. You're quite likely if you walk down this street for more than

30 seconds to be harassed by like people dressed as wartime refugees. Someone lying on the floor and you're like are you okay? And they're, I will be if you come to this show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you flooring for yourself? I'm not. I think I would be more of a deterrent if I fly. So you're on the show. Yeah, yeah.

But especially when like the show is kind of about how you have low self esteem and anxiety. Yeah, yeah, you definitely should be flooring. And then you're like, come to this show. It's the best at four stars. What's it about? My crippling self-doubt. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. and then you're like, come to this show, it's the best at four stars. You know? What's it about? My crippling self-doubt.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, yeah. I was trying to think, I find it so awkward to introduce myself to audiences, and so I asked my friends how they describe me

to other people. I wouldn't recommend that. I wouldn't recommend that. You've got to have a strong stomach when the people that you love most say to you, no, you're really nice. No, no, there's nothing wrong with you. What are you saying? No, there's nothing wrong with you.

You're lovely when people get to know you. That made me feel great. That made myself a steam skyrocket when I realised I was the human version of when you recommend your pals a TV show. You're saying it gets good in season six. I don't know why my friends need that disclaimer for me. I think maybe because I'm quite a quiet person,

but I don't mind being quiet, right? If you're a quiet person like me, I'll give you a tip, right? If you're involved in a conversation and you're not enjoying it, just don't have it. Just don't have it, just stop it. You know, because what Lyle people do, they've got us covered, right? They've got it covered.

I do like doing that on first dates. I was once on a date with this bloke, and if you're sat there being like, oh, I thought she was gonna say, woman, congratulations, you figured out in about a minute what took me 24 years. I was on a date with this bloke, right, and it suddenly occurred to me

that I hadn't said a word for 40 minutes, but he was having the best time. He loved it. I was his dream girl, you know? He was like, we've got so much in common. I was like, I've told you my name, and it's not Matthew. But suddenly you can see the self-awareness come over his face, right? This does happen sometimes with a lot of people.

And what they try and do to get you back on side is they give you a compliment. But the compliment that this young man gave me on our first date was that I was unconventionally attractive. I didn't know what to do with that so when I went home alone, when I went home alone after this date trying to make myself feel better about being called unconventionally attractive I googled it don't do that. It didn't make me feel any better when I googled

unconventionally attractive and all it came up was a picture of Ian Beale. LAUGHTER It's not the look I'm after, you know? Last time I went on a date with a bloke, he said I was striking. That's Steve Buscemi, innit? LAUGHTER I do really read into comments that people make about what I look like. Whether it's good or bad, right, I'm the type of person that if you compliment me,

I will stay up for weeks on end to figure out the insult you actually meant. But I have been going to therapy now, right? I've got to say therapy in a stupid voice, otherwise you'll think I'm a knob. Not you guys. If you guys say you're going to therapy, you're working on yourself. That's good for you. I don't know if you're aware of this. It is one rule for me and one rule for the rest of you. I don't know when that was decided.

I don't know if it was like when I was crowning, you know, I was coming out my mum, and they were like, oh no, that one's off, that one's off. That one's gonna have to say sincere things in a stupid voice, otherwise it's gonna melt. But no, congratulations, it's a girl. An unconventionally attractive one, but... She's gonna have a cracking personality.

Some of you don't seem convinced. But yeah, I am going to therapy now, right? Therapy's all right, but I don't like the whole self-help trend now. It feels like a con. It feels like it's just made to sell us endless jellycats. I don't like self-help. I don't like the self-help products. I've got so many of these self-help products.

My flat looks like Oliver Bonas. I've got so many of them. I've got so many of them that one day when I was feeling really bad about myself, I just did them all at once. So I put on my weighted blanket, I'm colouring in, I've got my whale sounds on, I've got a sad lamp, I've got my oil lavender diffuser and you know what? I've never felt more mentally ill... in my life! In my life! We're in the dying embers of the festival now.

We're going to in a moment finish on a song as a traditional and the song's going to be supplied by the man standing next to me now, Hugh Davis. Hello Mark Watts. Firstly, hi Hugh. You're the final person I'm talking to about the festival so it's sort of you have the opportunity to give a postscript how have you found this long, grueling experience? It's been actually very similar to the other experiences I've had. All of this festival every single year at the same time.

Yes, you go into a sort of a mindset that's not like the other 11 months of the year. Yeah, it's sort's like there's an exhaustion to it. For me, I think it's quite strange to have an experience in which you're in the same room every day, saying the same things in a slightly different way to slightly different audiences. And it's just, it's an insane way to live, to be talking for an hour every day.

Would you say you've enjoyed it? And you don't have to say yes. No, I have enjoyed it. It's my funnest show yet. The show is really hour every day. Would you say you've enjoyed it? And you don't have to say yes. No, I have enjoyed it. It's my funnest show yet. The show is really different every day because there's a lot of audience stuff built into the show. And it's just a really silly show. So I'm enjoying it.

So the song is about your grandma's Pokemon skills. Yeah, she was a Pokemon master. And it's a song about what it's like to grow up in that time. It was a difficult time, a difficult childhood. Pokemon Master and it's a song about what it's like to grow up in that time. It was a difficult time, a difficult childhood and none was harder than the Pokemon Master. I'm here to talk about my grandmother. She was an Asian lady and in many ways she she still is but my grandma she had a very tough very tough childhood and yeah I would I'd like to relay that to you to you now

so here we go. When I was a young girl I went to see the professor said, I have a special task for you. I would like you to go out into the world and see all the magical creatures and register them in a Pokédex in a world of Pokémon. In a world of Pokemon in a world of Pokemon I said oh that sounds incredible what an adventure for me all of the places I could go all of the

things I'll see I will say as many Pokemon as the eye is willing to show. Do I just get pictures of them or do I just write them down? Or do I just write them down? He said, oh, it doesn't work like that. The Pokédex is very specific. It doesn't take descriptions or even register pictures. This is going to sound quite strange. The Pokedex only works if you capture all the animals and then make them your slaves. Oh, then you make them your slaves. I said, oh, what an adventure.

I've never really had any slaves. But I can see a problem, a problem about space. Oh, but how will I store them? How will I store them all? He said, don't you worry, dear dear girl you can force them into balls oh force them into the balls force the ball in I said oh that sounds like quite a lot I am literally 10 are you sure they want to go in the balls they seem sentient. Oh, but how will I pay for travel? I haven't got any cash

He said don't you worry dear girl You can make them fight for money on the road sweet child Make them all fight in a big arena full of all children all fight and the Pokemon they'll grow big Big and strong big and three times bigger than the evolve big but the balls they'll grow big, big and strong, big and three times bigger than the evolve, big but the balls they'll stay the same size. Yes! And after you've become a Pokemon master at the ripe old age of 12, I wanted to guard the world, I wanted to catch every single one of the little bricks, send them all to me, send them all to me, not a single ant will be free from me, even the skies won't be safe, you a Caxa Bowl. Caxa Bowl. But also try to make friends.

I said, hey professor, can I see your degree? Ha ha ha. And that's the festival done for another year. Thanks for joining us on our journey around Edinburgh. And goodbye for now. Fresh From the Fringe was hosted by me, Mark Watson, and featured sets from Anya Magliano, Mary Elaine Robinson, Hannah Platt and Hughes Davis. Additional material by Christina Riggs.

The assistant producer was Becky Kirou Jefferies and it was produced in Edinburgh by Gwyn Rhys Davis. It was a BBC Studios audio production for Radio 4. Thanks for listening to the Comedy of the Week podcast from BBC Radio 4. If you want more, check out the Friday Night Comedy podcast, featuring the news quiz and dead ringers. Hi, I'm India Rackerson and I want to tell you a story. It's the story of you. In our series, Child, from BBC Radio 4, I'm going to be exploring how a fetus develops

and is influenced by the world from the very get-go. Then, in the middle of the series, we take a deep look at the mechanics and politics of birth, turning a light on our struggling maternity services and exploring how the impact of birth on a mother affects us all. Then we're going to look at the incredible feat of human growth and learning in the first 12 months of life. Whatever shape the journey takes, this is a story that helps us know our world. Listen on BBC Sounds. It's summer in Britain and the crimes are just getting started. I've found another body.

Stream the best of British crime drama only on BritBox. Don't miss new seasons of acclaimed series like Blue Lights, which Time Out calls Belfast's answer to the wire. Back up, back up, over. And The Responder, starring Martin Freeman in his international Emmy award winning role. I can feel it, I'm gonna crack. Stream the best of British crime drama on BritBox.

You know this is why I want to be a detective. Watch with a free trial today.