Edinburgh Festival 2012. Anyone going?

[coffeymagic]

I stopped listening to Fighting Talk a long time ago. Even the appearance of the excellent Martin Kelner can't make this show worth tuning in for.

The stomach churning matey-blokeyness displayed on MotD2 by Colin 'I love banter me' Murray is turned right up to 12 with knee slapping belly laughs galore from those comedy legends Bobby Gould, Robbie Savage and the aforementioned Henning Wehn.

I've said in many places that 'banter' is the lowest form of comedy. Thinly veiled passive/aggressiveness from the likes of Lawro and co makes me want to punch my tv.

Death to banter!

[bobo the clown]

Any rode up, best of luck up there TC. Hope it goes well. If I do manage to snatch a couple of days I'll look you up. I'll let you know so you can drop any of my stories that you've stolen.

[Little Green Man]

Colin 'I love banter me' Murray

I loathe him. Any appearance, whether on radio or TV, has me shrieking 'Turn him off, for God's sake, turn him off' to nobody but myself.

And shame on you for missing that faux-southerner and faux-comedian Bob Mills off your 'legends' list.

[Gary the Enfield]

This bloke will possibly have slipped under your radar in that you wouldn't have picked up on the fact that he's actually a comedian, or at least purports to be.

The BBC's German box-ticker, Henning Wehn. Turns up on 5 Live's every single show that attempts to be funny, especially when hosted by that Irish lad. He's been stealing a living for years.

Without a shred of fear of contradiction, I'm yet to hear him come out with anything that's even made me smile, let alone laugh.

1. Have you looked up Gus the Fox yet? (Twitter conversation the otherday)

2. Remind me on Saturday to recount to you the German baby joke I heard him tell once.

[thebish]

Turns up on 5 Live's every single show that attempts to be funny, especially when hosted by that Irish lad. He's been stealing a living for years.

I quite like Henning Wehn...

but - to write "R5 Live" and "Irish lad" doesn't really narrow it down much these days!! ALL the presenters seem to be Irish lads...

[Bruce Rioja]

1. Have you looked up Gus the Fox yet? (Twitter conversation the otherday)

2. Remind me on Saturday to recount to you the German baby joke I heard him tell once.

1. Have now, and thank-you. "Bagpiping a wood pigeon" has had me in tears all day

2. Will do.

[Little Green Man]

TC, are you in the Newbest of the Newbees slot tomorrow at Beehive? I may just come along and stare blankly at you.

[Little Green Man]

TC, are you in the Newbest of the Newbees slot tomorrow at Beehive? I may just come along and stare blankly at you.

Well that was the best value hour you could possibly have in Edinburgh's Grassmarket on a sunny lunchtime (unless you're mad keen moocher of bric-a-brac stalls). Thanks again, Tony, and best of luck for the rest of the shows.

[coffeymagic]

TC, are you in the Newbest of the Newbees slot tomorrow at Beehive? I may just come along and stare blankly at you.

Well that was the best value hour you could possibly have in Edinburgh's Grassmarket on a sunny lunchtime (unless you're mad keen moocher of bric-a-brac stalls). Thanks again, Tony, and best of luck for the rest of the shows.

Cheers LGM. Good to see you and hope you enjoyed it.

Very odd time of day to be performing stand up with most punters sat drinking cupochinos and still rubbing sleep from their eyes but that's Edinburgh.

The kids loved the show they went to see Mr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and his singing Tiger. Even Mrs Magic said she enjoyed it so there's something you could pop along to if you've got kids.

Going for 100pc new stuff tomorrow. The 'crowd' should be a bit more hardcore through the week so might not have to play so safe.

And it's pishing it down again.

[BWFC76]

Hi Tony, when are you on tomorrow? I am only a few miles away from Edinburgh and will be in Town tomorrow and fancy popping along. I couldnt see your name listed on the Beehive timetable of events.

Andrew

[coffeymagic]

Hi Tony, when are you on tomorrow? I am only a few miles away from Edinburgh and will be in Town tomorrow and fancy popping along. I couldnt see your name listed on the Beehive timetable of events.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I'm on at the Beehive from 12-1pm it's the 'Newbest of the Newbies' and also at 6pm at Belushis (9-13 Market St which is, as I'm sure you know near the Castle)*

Trying to fill in the gaps between now.

*I hope everytime you hear the word 'castle' you say 'what's a castle?'

[Worthy4England]

Apparently the top 10 jokes have been announced.

The top jokes were:

1. Stewart Francis - "You know who really gives kids a bad name? Posh and Becks."
2. Tim Vine - "Last night me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily I was the one facing the telly. "
3. Will Marsh - "I was raised as an only child, which really annoyed my sister."
4. Rob Beckett - "You know you're working class when your TV is bigger than your book case."
5. Chris Turner - "I'm good friends with 25 letters of the alphabet… I don't know Y."
6. Tim Vine - "I took part in the sun tanning Olympics - I just got Bronze."
7. George Ryegold - "Pornography is often frowned upon, but that's only because I'm concentrating."
8. Stewart Francis - "I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!"
9. Lou Sanders - "I waited an hour for my starter so I complained: 'It's not rocket salad."
10. Nish Kumar - "My mum's so pessimistic, that if there was an Olympics for pessimism… she wouldn't fancy her chances."

Number 4 is probably the one I thought was funniest, but some poor, poor entries in there...

[coffeymagic]

This list comes out every year and is generally the laziest bit of writing of the whole festival.

I can not STAND puns. When I watch Live at the Apollo or Mock The Week I am absoultely dumbfounded as the audience roars with laughter at Stu 'Not that one' Francis, Tim Vine or Whatsisface.

Not that Tim Vine goes on much stuff like this but you get my point.

I can not even contemplate sitting down for 50 minutes of 'I did X it was Y'

What an excuse for not being able to think up material that is.

Sadly there are so many wannabes out there that this form of 'comedy' is crawling all over the circuit while true story telling craftsmen like Paddy McGuinness, Jethro and Jimmy Cricket are overlooked.

It also helps that 'one-liners' are ermm only 'one line' long. Easy for to fit in to a top ten list down the side of a page but it doesn't really make anyone laugh does it?

What is this? Some kind of popularity contest?

Last day for me tomorrow. It's been tiring I can tell you. I've only done 4 full days spread over the month but I have done about another 15 spots leaving work and catching the train to do 10 minutes in a deserted hell hole and then come back.

I did see Peter Kay the other night. he's done well for himself hasn't he?

Day off today. last show tomorrow - but I'll still be here when everyone else has buggered off back to London.

[Worthy4England]

I dunno Coffey, puns are fine in context and are often used to link between more substantive "storytelling" from what I've seen. I don't think there's 'owt wrong with them per se and I think they work well on shows like Mock the Week. When it comes down to it, if it's funny - be it a story or a pun - and makes people laugh, then surely that's the whole point.

I think I'd probably struggle to sit through 50 minutes of Tim Vine or Milton Jones, although both tell puns that make me laugh - albeit on a law of averages basis. The good news is, one bad pun isn't going to put me off waiting for the next one - whereas when I saw Ardal O'Hanlon, I spent 15 minute waiting for a punchline that didn't happen - that was half his show done.

The above "list" I understand is compiled on behalf of DAVE (TV), which has quite a lot of show formats that rely on puns...

[coffeymagic]

Punderwhelming!

[Worthy4England]

That made me laugh!

[boltonboris]

I managed about 20 minutes of a Tim Vine DVD... Couldn't do anymore than that, it's actually tiring!

[keveh]

I love Stewart Francis, but I've mainly seen him on shows where his one liners usually stand out. I'm not sure I could cope for a whole show of him though.