Edinburgh Fringe

At the beginning of the week I went to Edinburgh with my daughter for the Fringe Festival.
We were just going to go for the day, but a comedian that she wanted to see was on too late in the day for us to catch the last train home.  As we were only planning this a couple of days beforehand I thought that there was no way we would find any accommodation in a city that would be heaving with visitors, but by a stroke of luck my brother was staying with us for the weekend and he has friends in Edinburgh.  A couple of phone calls later and we were all fixed up!

Although there's all kinds of performances at the Fringe - theatre, comedy, music and dance; it was comedy we were after. 
There are so many acts to choose from (The Royal Mile is littered with people giving out flyers), some free and some paid for; and in some very unusual places.
In this place 

we were led up very narrow, darkly lit staircases, through small doors, and more staircases until we reached the venue which was called The Cave.  I forget what the act was called but I'm glad it only cost £2.50 because it didn't live up to my expectations.  The comedienne herself had given us the flyer in the street and was talking to us for quite a while in her lovely West Country accent that had me smiling all the while.  Sadly the act didn't raise any more than a smile.

This small stage on the other hand was where we saw a two man improv group (is two a group?) who were very funny.

We booked in advance for Paul Foot so as not to miss him.  I must admit that although I recognised his picture I didn't recall ever seeing him on TV.

My daughter wanted us to sit on the front row (always a no no in my book, at comedy shows).  I asked her if he was the kind of comedian who would pick on people in the audience and she said she didn't think he did.  (Turns out she'd only ever seen him in panel shows like 8 Out of 10 Cats and Never mind the Buzzcocks, and you don't see the audience in them.  Apart from that time in Buzzcocks when Preston from The Ordinary Boys walked off in a huff and they replaced him with someone from the audience).  
Anyway there's something about him that had me in stitches from the very start, which I think is why he came straight over to me, with his nose touching mine!  Luckily I was laughing so much I didn't have time to be embarrassed.   It was a real good laugh.

We had such a good time and saw lots of funny acts, as well as a couple of duds - in one, apart from a few titters, the biggest laugh was raised by a member of the audience!