I arrived in Edinburgh the earliest I ever have before the festival, with four whole days to spare before my show begins.
The reason for this is because I was performing a couple of shows at Durham Fringe over the weekend and decided to head straight up to Edinburgh afterwards, as I was already paying for my accommodation here.
I’m definitely going to be out of the comfort zone this year of New Town and The Stand, and right in the middle of the action. But it could well work out nicely. I have been to have a look at the Gilded Saloon, which is going to be my home for the next month. It looks like a great room and I’m sure a lot of fun will be had in there.
I have done five previews for the show in the past month, which is a decent amount in quick succession to get things into shape. There is a sense that things have, for the most part, got better with each preview.
Things kicked off in Southwark when I was doing a double bill with my old podcast mucker, Siobhan Dodd. I was still figuring out the material, with some new stuff tested for the very first time.
Next up, it was Shaftesbury Fringe, which is always a highlight of my year. Due to overwhelming demand last year in the 60-capacity room I was in, I was upgraded to the main theatre that seats about 160. But I was getting increasingly concerned that I’d sold 25 tickets with about 10 minutes to go before my show started. Then the flood gates opened and about another 50 people turned up to pay on the door. This meant that I went on the stage without knowing exactly how many people were in there and worried whether the stationary I’d put out beforehand would be enough. The show was fun, but the new stuff didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. Fortunately, things kicked up several gears when the quiz began, and the audience became very lively indeed.
The final show down south was in at a brewery in Cheddar in Somerset. The stage area was right in front of the massive metal fermentation vessels. I managed to get 50 people in there, which meant the area in front of me filled out nicely. Before the show, the manager told me that no one there had any idea of what to expect from the show. This was reflected in the blank stares much of the opening material received. Thankfully, they got on more on board as the night progressed and thing also got pretty lively. The quiz seems to provoke this sort of reaction in people, which is always a handy thing to have up my sleeve if the opening doesn’t go as intended. By the end of the extended show, most of the audience seemed to have enjoyed themselves and it was mission accomplished in the circumstances.
Then it was off to Durham for the first time ever to perform at the fringe festival there. I did two shows. For the first one, it was very possibly my largest audience ever for How To Win A Pub Quiz. The reason I can’t say definitively is because I sold 71 tickets, with about another ten people who had got in with comps because they were either performers or fringe volunteers. They were also sitting on the balcony, so I don’t know for certain how many people were actually up there.
The show also took a little while to get going. I was stressed due to the last-minute surge for stationary and making sure my tech worked. Some of the new bits fell flat, but it again got better as the show progressed. Thus the pattern continues, but I wanted to make sure the second show was better.
I spent some time the next morning running through the set, seeing which bits I could tweak to improve. Lo and behold, it worked. For Sunday’s show, I had about half the size audience. But the room still felt full. Better still, it was the best version so far of the 2026 incarnation of HTWAPQ. Durham Fringe is a great festival and I fully intend to return there next year.
My show begins in Edinburgh on Friday and the material feels in a better position it was compared with a year ago. I hope this is a good sign. But you never truly know how it’s going to go until it’s underway. Check back here for fairly regular updates.