Glom of Nit #25: Edinburgh or busted (not the band)
Articles, recommendations, shamless plugs and whatnot
Hello there.
Well here we are. Edinburgh. Or at least, on the way. I’m writing this from the train, somewhere between Doncaster and York, although who knows how far I’ll have gotten by the time I actually press send. I’m in first class, because I’m an utter class traitor and you get free sandwiches (honestly, it was like £30 extra if you booked far enough in advance and it’s a nearly-five-hour-trip. Worth it imo. Plus I now feel fancy. La-di-da).
I’m heading to the Scottish capital to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which will take up the majority of August (I return on the 29th). Those of you who’ve never been to the Fringe, or aren’t involved in the comedy world, will presumably be wondering what the big deal is – which makes sense. On one level it’s just going to Scotland to play some shows. Those that have been through the mad, mad wringer of the Fringe will understand though. It is among the most intense experiences you can do as a performer. The whole city is taken over for three and a half weeks, with venues popping up in every University lecture theatre, room-above-pub, small theatre, shop basement and street corner. The competition for audience is fierce – there’s a hundred or so other shows happening at the same time as yours, and a limited amount of people to go around. You’re performing an hour on stage every day, plus extra gigs, which drains your energy, strips your voice raw and plays merry hell with your sense of self worth, which is now wholly synced with the mood of your most recent audience. There’s the endless opportunities for booze, the difficulty in maintaining a good diet on the hoof, the need to be out shoving flyers for your show under people’s noses, and somehow never, ever enough sleep.
And then there’s the money. Fringe shows cost a fortune. If you go for the free model, where audiences attend on a pay-what-your like basis, you’ll have put up a modest sum to secure your slot and, after having engaged in a bun fight for a decent venue and time, you’ve still forked out about a grand in registration fees and marketing. And then there’s the accommodation, which in the last decade has spiked to the point that spending three weeks in Edinburgh costs a third-again more in rent than an entire month in a well-positioned London flat (where you might well also be paying rent anyway). If you have a job, then you’re using up all your holiday and pissing off your family. If you’ree freelance then you’re unlikely to be earning beyond the shows. You better hope you’re good enough for people to pay a voluntary contribution as they exit. Because that’s what you’re living off.
If you’re doing a more prestigious paid venue it’s probably worse. You’ll have paid (and almost always had to borrow) around £5-10k just to get your venue. You’ll probably have to sell out the entire run just to break even, and of course almost no-one sells out their entire run. The budget for a decent-sized show is likely to be around £15k. You probably haven’t paid that yourself, but you’ll have been funded by someone, a promotor, a management company etc, and they’ll be needing that money back, afterwards, thanks. And unlike the pay-what-you-like shows, where you’re getting a bit of cash every day from your audience, the more “prestigious” shows in fully ticketed venues won’t pay out anything until well after the Fringe, so if you’re going to eat and drink (and drink and drink and drink) then you’ll need money in your pocket when you arrive. Most comics end up doing shorter spots on mixed-bill line ups throughout the week to promote their full shows, and you can find yourself doing five or six gigs a day. I’m aware that’s not even a full day’s work in a proper job, but performing takes a lot of energy – you’re giving a piece of yourself to the audience each time; like a camera capturing part of your soul in its lens. Doing that for an hour at a time, and maybe four hours across a day … that takes a toll.
So why do we do it?
Some do it for specific careerist reasons. Edinburgh is a shop window. For a young stand up a good run at the Fringe, especially if it’s accompanied by an award nomination, can be career-making. Back in 2009 I stage-managed for a now-fairly-famous comic who was bringing his first hour-long solo show (most Fringe shows are an hour), and it was very much part of a thought-out career plan. He was convinced he’d get a “best newcomer” nod at the annual Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and then they sky was the limit. He was an entitled bellend for a lot of that run, but his show was successful, and very good. And then came the day of the nominations and … his name wasn’t on them. There’d been some buzz, and we knew the judges had been in, but ultimately he was overlooked. The next day he was as charm itself. A breeze to work with. The pressure of being perceived as “successful” and storming the Fringe had just been too much for him.
For others the Fringe is about learning. New comedians tend to be stuck in the 5-10 minute open-spot circuit for a while, and you’re constantly hustling to find gigs. Stage time is golden. It’s an art form that can only be practiced live. Taking up a two-or-three hander Fringe show with a friend means suddenly you’re getting 20 minutes of stage time every day for nearly a month, plus whatever other gigs you can hustle. That’s invaluable.
And of course there’s the best best reason of all – pure creativity. The Fringe is unique in that it has a primed audience who will take chances. Few performers would get a chance to write, let alone perform, a one-hour show that loops their jokes in with their storytelling and creates a tangible piece of art with a beginning, middle and end if it weren’t for the Edinburgh Fringe. You can create something unique to you, and try and find an audience for whom it will resonate. You can’t do that on the club circuit. And if you’re not a club comic, if you’re a storyteller, a poet, an actor, an odd-ball act, a clown … performances opportunities are hard to come by. The Fringe is uniquely satisfying; an opportunity to create a piece with real weight that someone might actually come and see – because the city is full of people specifically interested in seeing shows. That’s why, for so many performers, the Fringe is the centre of the year. It’s a reason to actually write something substantive.
That’s more or less my reason for going this year. When I wrote The Magic of Terry Pratchett (the book) I always had in mind that I’d also make into a live show. I love performing, and I thought I could find a way of translating from one medium to the other. And that idea always hinged on doing it in Edinburgh, it just felt like a natural home for it. It has one of the smartest audiences anywhere. That was my impetus for writing and then previewing. And then of course, because I'm a little bit self-conscious of just being “The Terry Pratchett guy” I had to do a pure stand up show too, which is where Marc Burrows in the Glom of Nit comes in. That’s a pressure valve. The show about Terry is in one of those big, expensive rooms I mentioned. There’s a lot riding on it. When i’ve done the Fringe in the past its been with fairly low-key shows in small venues, where the audience has low expectations – that’s a great platform to start from, because it makes it a lot easier to impress your audience. The Magic of Terry Pratchett is going have audiences who have paid a decent amount of money to see a quality product, and I’ve worked relentlessly hard to make sure I give them one. The other show exists to have something with no stakes. It’s in a room that barely holds 20 people, literally a karaoke booth with benches in it. I can use it to play with ideas, while hopefully getting enough spending money to eat the next day. That’s the idea. I’m really happy with how it’s shaping up though!
As for …Magic – I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on a show. I’ve done nineteen previews across the country (and one in Germany) which is unheard of for me. Around a thousand people have already seen it in an unfinished form, and if you have been in one of those audiences I promise you have helped. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to write, and one of the things that I’m most proud of. We open at the Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh’s Bristol Square on Wednesday August 2nd. I am terrified, exhilarated, proud, anxious … the whole bleeding cocktail. This will be my ninth year performing a show at the Fringe (I did my first gig ever there at 2008), and my fifth solo show – I already have a stack of memories and history there. I can’t wait to add to it. Come see!
Marc
PS Obviously I didn’t finish this on the train because me. I am pressing send my nice little flat I’m lucky enough to be able to rent during the Fringe.
A new, mini, book of Terry Pratchett writing FOR FREE
So this is something I’ve been excited to share for a little while. And can’t quite believe I’ve been able to do. Anyone coming to The Magic of Terry Pratchett show at the Fringe will receive a free copy of this …
It’s an A6 booklet containing four exclusive Terry Pratchett stories all of which have been unpublished since 1965, 1977 and 1978 respectively. I selected them myself and have added footnotes because there has to be footnotes, doesn’t there? These are pieces Terry wrote for newspapers - one is the original, unedited opening to The Carpet People, which has never been republished in this form, the other three are satirical columns and fake letters from Terry in his 70s columnist mode, and you can really see the voice of Discworld coming through, five years or so before The Colour of Magic. The clarify, these aren’t the “lost” stories that are coming out later in the year, these were more just … misplaced. I’m really proud to have been able to bring them to you.
This version of the booklet will only be available at the Edinburgh Fringe, never to be republished. However, if you’re coming to the big show at the Bloomsbury theatre in October or to see the show on tour next year, there’ll be something else. It won’t be free, or the same thing, but it’ll be worth getting, I promise.
As ever, I have to thank Rob Wilkins and the estate of Sir Terry for allowing me to do this.
Stuff I’ve written this month
Terry Pratchett would love the queer politics of Good Omens 2
Award winning Author Marc Burrows on the Magic of Terry Pratchett (Geektown)
Interview with Avenged Sevenfold for Marvin magazine (US and print only)
I wrote part of the cover feature for last week’s issue of the Radio Times on Good Omens season 2 (print only, I think)
The Magic of Terry Pratchett: An Interview With Marc Burrows
Marc Burrows on the Magic of Terry Pratchett (British comedy guide)
Commercial writing corner (because bish gotta make rent)
The water cycle explained (this is a nifty page actually)
Upcoming live shows and tour dates
AUGUST
2-28 EDINBURGH FRINGE (5.30pm) - Gilded Balloon, Teviot - The Magic of Terry Pratchett INFO & TICKETS
2-28 EDINBURGH FRINGE (7pm) - Gilded Balloon, Teviot - BONUS SHOW The Magic of Terry Pratchett: The Footnotes INFO & TICKETS
4-27 EDINBURGH FRINGE (11.15pm) - City Cafe, 90s Room - Marc Burrows in The Glom of Nit Free entry (pay what you like after the show)
SEPTEMBER
30 NORWICH - The Magic of Terry Pratchett - Playhouse TICKETS & INFO
OCTOBER
12th LONDON - The Magic of Terry Pratchett - Bloomsbury Theatre, London TICKETS & INFO
23rd-24th - Irish Discworld Convention, CORK, IRELAND TICKETS & INFO
2024 (More tour dates to be announced)
Feb 20 - COLCHESTER - The Magic of Terry Pratchett - Arts Centre TICKETS & INFO
Feb 29 BRIGHTON - The Magic of Terry Pratchett - Komedia TICKETS & INFO
August 2-5 International Discworld Convention, Birmingham INFO & TICKETS
Recommendations
My gods, but the new Blur album is just gorgeous. I saw them at Wembley a few weeks ago, and it was one of the most emotional gig experiences of my life. I wrote a detailed thread about it on Twitter here.
The new album is the glorious, melancholic version of Blur that characterises their and Damon Albarn’s later career. It years. It soothes. It weeps. It’s brilliant. One of the albums of the year, for sure.
On a comedy tip, my friend Luisa Omielan, whom I’ve known on the circuit since I started in 2009, has a new comedy special out:
Luisa’ s one-woman-shows are extraordinary. The last time I saw her at the Fringe, when she was doing a show called Politics For B*tches, she had me openly weeping and laughing my arse off. She’s properly special, and we’ve spent many a Fringe rooming together and ranting about our woes. She went on to be way more successful than me, obviously.
Our lord and saviour Nicholas Alan Jones, aka Nicky Wire has finally released a second solo album. I was a huge fan of his first, I Killed The Zeitgeist, was back in … gods, 2005? Something like that? Typically for Nicky he’s kept this low key - you can ONLY get it from Bandcamp, which I think is kind of brilliant. The record is wonderful. Nicky’s musical abilities used to be treated (unfairly) as a bit of a joke, by his own admission, but over the decades he’s matured into a fine musician and a great songwriter, and his voice has real character. Honestly, I love this. Go listen. It has jazz interludes!
Obviously I couldn’t let this go by without mentioning Good Omens 2
I was lucky enough to see a screening of episodes one and two a few weeks early and I was bowled over by how much love and heart is in this series. Neil Gaiman and John Finnemore have done an amazing job, and David Tennant and Michael Sheen will break your heart. It also does a superb job of cueing up the prospective third and final season, which tells the story Terry and Neil dreamed up all those years ago but never wrote. I’m excited.
Okay my friends,
I think I’ve waffled, prattled and splurged enough. I have to be at my tech rehearsal at 9am tomorrow. This just got VERY REAL. Hopefully I’ll see you in Edinburgh, or on tour or at least online. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter (I refuse to call it by its horrible new name) and I’ll try and keep you abreast of ye olde situation.
Mind how you go,
Marc x
PS if you spot any typos in this letter (and you will), please do me a huge favour and don’t actually mention them.
PPS. I LOVE it when I get replies!
Hope it all goes well! Something something leg something.
Proud of you. It's not glam. It is hard! So talented x