I am now adjusting back to normality after the amazing, draining and utterly ridiculous experience that this year’s Fringe has been.
It still doesn’t seem entirely real and I never thought that it would ever go as well. It was a year when almost everything seemed to go right, give or take a few flat shows. I will savour it for as long as I can, because I know that good Fringes can be few and far between.
From 19 shows, 18 were standing-room only. The other one had about six empty chairs.
As I’ve said previously, I am acutely aware that the hundreds of people who came to see the show did not come to see me; they came for the pub quiz element. And I’m fine with that, when no-one knows who you are then you have to come up with a concept for a show that will get people along to see it. Once you have an audience then it’s down to you to win them over, and for the most part I did just that.
Many people loved the show, but there were those who really hated it. And that’s good, I want that. If comedy is not provoking at least some reaction, then it is not doing what it’s meant to do.
I’ve not been used to having full rooms over consecutive days stretching into weeks. It took some adjusting to and used a lot of energy. In previous Fringes, I’ve had full rooms during the run, but these days have been balanced out with quieter ones. It would be stupid to complain about something such as this, but it was a new experience.
I am comfortable with failure and know how to deal with it, mainly through the medium of biscuits. Although success is something I’ve found another challenge entirely, even if it has been on a fairly modest scale.
In the day or two after my run ended, I was adamant that I would take a year off from doing the Fringe. I was utterly shattered and even thinking about 2016 was using too much energy. Yet in the couple of days that followed, my mind started wandering with ideas for what I could do and things have escalated. I expect now that I will probably be doing a show next year.
In How To Win A Pub Quiz, what I have is a concept that requires very little flyering to get a full-room in a venue that’s a fair trek from anywhere. I’m not going to pretend that the show is perfect, but it is a format that works and is usually good fun. Not only that, it can cover its costs. It would be foolish for me to drop it. At the same time, I also want to write an hour of stand-up at some point. Two shows next year is a possibility, even if the very thought is exhausting at the moment.
If I do a show, I don’t know if it’ll be as good as this year, and I don’t know if I’ll ever top this one. I do know that I’ll give it everything and hope for the best. I’ll also stock up on biscuits.