Edinburgh Fringe Festival

People keep telling me about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and how I need to go and it is the largest arts festival in the world. Well, you know I can't handle long plane rides with my size, but I did send someone who used to always report on the BAFTA's for the site and is really snarky and lives over there so I thought it made perfect sense. That and there are a whole bunch of people in the UK who read the site. But, even if you have no idea what the Festival is, it is still a really fun read.

Greetings and salutations from the biggest, baddest, and wettest arts festival in the world- the Edinburgh Fringe! I could say I was a super-fancy monocle-wearing artist-type who was taking advantage of all the amazing plays, operas and highfalutin’ book readins' going on all over the city, but I’d be straight-up lying. Nope. I am a comedy whore. I like the darker, dirtier side of the Festival- the Comedy Fringe. The Comedy Fringe is basically a micro-festival in which many comics from around the world fly in, get verrry drunk, and scorn each other’s success.

And so I will be bringing you a little mix - let’s say a Chex Mix (except the little crackers- hate them) of gossip, reportage, and reviews for shows you will most likely be able to see one day near you.

Several things you need to know about Edinburgh, just so you get the flavour of the city:

1. The Weather- This was my completely unsurprising weather forecast for my time in Edinburgh:

Basically this is the internal dialogue of anyone, every day at the Festival in regards to the weather: Ugh, why does it have to rain ALL the time- oh wait, cloud moved, sun’s back, where’s my sunglasses, here they are...oh, hang on, sun’s gone again...gah, slanty rain it is freezing how can it be August? Is this REALLY August?-anyone have an extra umbrella- wait, cloud moving again, hey this sun is really nice...no no! How am I sunburned already??!- oh, hang on, sleeting now, should cool down the skin... 2. The Flyers- Settle down, Philadelphians, not those Flyers. I am talking about the insane amount of flyers that get shoved in your hand as you are walking down the Royal Mile. Actually, it is as you are walking everywhere. On 15 minute one pass down the Royal Mile (which is the main drag in the Old Town where all the performers go to lure tourists to their shows) I took every flyer offered to me. Here's the result:

3. The Performers- Granted, many of these people are not performing in the Comedy Fringe. Many of these people are drama students (ahem ‘artistes!’) whose parents have waaaaay too much money and can afford the £10,000 each they’d need to put on an awful show about an anorexic, mentally-ill woman on trial (of course the audience is the jury) for either being misunderstood or hacking someone to death, or both. Or an 'absolutely hilarious' comic show involving 2 19-year-old guys dressed in sheets and affecting old ladies' voices. Or something to that effect. At the Fringe there are thousands of shows to see, so how do the performers get your attention? By doing things like this:

There's the classic 'I am dead' pose on the street...




Then there's showing some leg...



Or doing something completely charming- this girl's marionettes played the little instruments!



Or going for the WTF? factor as seen here




And here (pretty sure these are drama students, as previously mentioned...)



You get the idea now.

4. The Scenery- at the risk of sounding like a bit of a wuss, Edinburgh truly is a beautiful, striking city. The old town has lots of little winding streets, life-threateningly steep staircases, gas lights in doorways, cobbled streets, and the cutest little Cathedral. The New Town is just all incredible Georgian architecture. Rows and rows of houses, and neat little manicured squares, and fabulous statues everywhere. They have a castle right in the middle. SERIOUSLY. A CASTLE! RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE! See? (photo)



So that's your introduction to the Fringe- I'll be back with reviews, gossip, and celebrity sightings! Don't forget, if you follow me on Twitter, at @AdamandtheKants, I will have more frequent updates, and might even be able to catch shows you recommend. TTFN!