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Re: Edinburgh recordings

Messages in this topic: 26 View All
Dean BedfordAug 13, 2008
 

 
Hey Sarah

thanks very much - I can hardly believe my guess of Mike McShane was
correct! Please do post something on the second show...

On Thursday, August 14, 2008, at 12:12 PM, Sarah Falk wrote:

> I may be just incompetent in searching for these things, but no one
> seems to have written about the two Edinburgh recordings yesterday.
>
> Panellists for show 1 (to be broadcast 18 August)
> Paul, Clement, Mike McShane (well called, everyone), Rhod Gilbert
>
> Panellists for show 2 (to be broadcast 25 August):
> Paul, Clement, Fred MacAuley, Lynn Ferguson
>
> Whistle-blower: Sarah Sharpe -- these were her first shows
>
> The first show started at 12:15 pm, so taking my cue from QI, I queued
> at 10 am. (Cringesome alliteration unintended.) Instead of starting a
> one-person queue, actually, I sat on a bench by the theater, but was
> joined only 5-10 minutes later by several other people who had also had
> the same idea. I've attended many popular comedy shows at the
> Pleasance, and one really only needs to arrive about 45 minutes early
> to ensure a good seat; however, more than an hour before this recording
> was due to start, the line was already massive, stretching almost all
> the way down the wall of the theatre. I left briefly to pick up some
> food, and by the time I returned (about 40 minutes before start time),
> the line had grown so long that it had to be split into two, with the
> back end curving out of the courtyard area and spilling onto the
> pavement of the main road.
>
> During the show, Mike and Rhod were seated next to each other, and as
> the new boys (Rhod has only been on once, and Mike never), they put on
> a show of alternating teamwork and rivalry. Nicholas kept reminding
> Rhod to sit back from the microphone, because as a stand-up, Rhod's
> wont was to lean in closely. Near the last round, Nicholas also told
> Rhod that he always hesitated briefly every time he was given the
> topic. Rhod remarked, "So you want me to stand over there but speak
> immediately!"
>
> Mike did well for a newcomer, but got very frustrated with himself for
> tripping up (at one point alluding to the game "DIE!" that's played at
> the Comedy Store and with the Impro Chums, in which the audience shouts
> at performers who have lost the thread). Also funny was the way that
> Nicholas kept gesturing at Mike, who was on his left, to press his
> buzzer, and Mike would do it while clearly having no idea what he was
> challenging for. Nicholas told Mike to palm his buzzer at all times so
> that he didn't have to grab for it to make a challenge, but Paul called
> over, "Why don't you just press his buzzer for him, Nicholas?"
>
> Clement once made reference to Mike's "funny accent", and Mike replied
> that he enjoyed Clement's voice, which sounded as though he had "last
> night's dinner rolling around in his mouth". While the audience
> laughed, Clement looking at Paul questioningly, and Paul repeating
> Mike's joke in his ear. Paul was continually obliging to him in such
> ways, which was rather sweet. There was a time when Clement was
> silently having trouble opening his water bottle, and Paul took it and
> opened it for him.
>
> Clement was buzzed for hesitation after tripping over a punchline to a
> joke he was telling, but Nicholas persuaded him to finish his story,
> saying that we'd all want to hear even though it wouldn't make it into
> the recording. In case it doesn't, the gist was that Clement ostensibly
> elbowed a woman in the breast getting into an elevator in a hotel. He
> told her, "If your heart is as soft as your bosom, you'll forgive me,"
> and she replied, "If your willie is as hard as your elbow, I'm in room
> 265." It got raucous laughter, and eventually, Nicholas was forced to
> say (for radio purposes), "You were interrupted in the middle of your
> story, Clement, but knowing the end of that story, I think it's for the
> best."
>
> Afterwards, after one pick-up of the show's closer (Nicholas had
> initially stumbled a little and said "edible" instead of "Edinburgh"),
> Nicholas told us all to scarper so that they could get the audience in
> for the next show. I, and many others, literally sprinted out of the
> theatre to re-join the queue, since people who only had tickets for the
> second show would be already lined up outside. The queue was only about
> half-way down the theatre wall at that time, which wasn't too bad. It
> was raining, though, but the BBC staff let us into the theatre a good
> half an hour before the show actually began, which never happens at
> other performances.
>
>
> [It seems to be 1 AM and I'm a bit too tired to elaborate on the second
> recording, but will do my best to do so tomorrow. Or something.]
>
> --- In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@...> wrote:
> >
> > Are being done next week on August 12th - anyone going please let me
> > know.
> >
> > Paul Merton and Clement Freud are on the panel and the practice in
> > recent years has been that the other half of the panel is different
> for
> > each show so four people get to try their wares rather than two.
> >
> > I wondered if Graham Norton, who has done just one JAM recording this
> > year, his lowest total since 1998, might be going, but it seems not.
> >
> > I also wondered about Ross Noble who is in the UK at the moment and I
> > assumed would include the Edinburgh Festival on his list given he has
> > been a star there many times. But he is instead going to a festival in
> > Devon.
> >
> > So other possibilities - Chris Neill has a show there this year and is
> > due another go on JAM. Fred MacAulay returned last year and was - I
> > thought - very very good. Janey Godley had a place at the JAM table at
> > Edinburgh in the past two years. She did do the show again earlier
> this
> > year however, and is I think, not so great that she deserves another
> run
> > so soon. Other past JAMsters appearing at Edinburgh but I feel to be
> > unlikely are Barry Cryer, Arthur Smith, Richard Vranch, Nick Revell,
> Lee
> > Simpson, Bill Bailey, Kate Robbins, Rhod Gilbert, Robin Ince and Sean
> > Lock.
> >
> > Newcomers are hard to pick of course, but I thought I'd mention a few
> > I've spotted who are at Edinburgh this year and must have a chance.
> >
> > Mike McShane - is appearing with Paul at the Festival, and the Whose
> > Line Is It Anyway veteran would make an excellent JAM panellist.
> > Wouldn't it be nice to hear an American accent on the show again. I
> > think he could even be a closet JAM fan as he mentioned Nicholas once
> on
> > Whose Line!
> >
> > Rich Hall - I believe he is the most popular QI panellist after the
> two
> > regularts despite not seeming to know very much. What he can do is a
> > sort of deadpan surreal that is usually hillarious. His delivery would
> > be a bit slow to make him a star at JAM but he'd be hillarious at the
> > banter.
> >
> > Clive James - I used to love his TV show back 15 or 20 years ago. I'm
> > guessing highly unlikely but I would love to hear him have a go.
> >
> > Jimmy Carr - yes the TV star has a show at Edinburgh this year. He
> does
> > seem to enjoy doing game shows so again - unlikely but...
> >
> > Rhona Cameron - a rising name in stand-up and by all accounts, very
> > funny. And the producers are always looking for a woman.
> >
> > Ed Byrne - have seen him a couple of times on the telly and thought he
> > looked just the JAM type - sharp, witty.
> >
> > I'll be interested to see if I get even one of out of four guessed
> > correctly!
> >
>
>

 
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