Well, it had to happen at some point. At an Edinburgh Fringe with widespread low audience turnouts this year, my 6.20pm show succumbed to this trend and had to be pulled as, despite flyering for more than an hour and a half, we had no-one turn up to watch.
I was even in negotiations with a street fundraiser from Greenpeace to come and see the show. She agreed to, but only if I signed up for £8 a month. As you can probably guess, I am not a new member.
Pulling a show wasn’t quite as demoralising as I thought it might be. Up until yesterday, I was proud of my record of having never pulled an Edinburgh show in the two years I have been doing shows up here. But if there is absolutely no audience, then the show can’t go on.
Although one person did stick their head around the corner of the room we were due to be performing in, which was my Edinburgh flatmate Deech. The three of us then decided to sing some rock n roll with Gwilum on guitar in the empty room.
Which brings about this question: if three comedians are performing poorly sung songs to an empty room, did it really happen?
Yes, it did happen, philosophers. And it was good fun. So there.
With one show pulled, I still have a 100% record of Dirty Laundry going ahead. We started with an audience of seven, but ended the show with 18 people. I don’t know where they all came from or why they couldn’t all make the start, but performing in a room where there are more full chairs than empty ones does wonders for the soul.
It was a decent show and we both got laughs; but I found it quite hard work, especially as I had to do the admin of showing latecomers to their seats and explain exactly what I was talking about. But we got there and made about £24 in our collection at the end, so not a bad night at all.
- Love and Langton’s Dirty Laundry is on at 11pm every day until August 25 at the Kilderkin, 67 Canongate, Edinburgh, EH8 8BS, as part of PBH’s Free Fringe. The 6.20pm Amuse Bulletin takes place at GHQ, 4 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, from August 20-25.