The fringe can take its toll, but it’s all good material, right? Whether it’s pukey kisses, sleeping through a gig, or politician-induced paranoia, Ed Byrne, Paul Sinha, Olga Koch et al have lived to tell the tale. Plus! Ten shows to see this year
My worst fringe was in 2012 before I was even a twinkle in the eye of the comedy gods. I was at university and I wanted to be a Very Serious Actor in Very Serious Plays so spent all of my time in drama society productions. I was cast as one of the leads in a terrible piece of new writing about women’s mental health, and me and the rest of the cast lived 13 to a five-bed flat. I coped by going out and getting drunk every night, mostly ending up blacked out with my face in a bowl of plain pasta.
One night I had my first encounter with Buckfast and got to sleep at 7am. I had to be up at 10am to flyer our show; we thought it would be a good idea to pace the Royal Mile in straitjackets to reflect the “hashtag themes” of the play.
By the time it got to the performance I was feeling rough and, moments before I went on stage, I felt the Buckfast wield its power and I threw up. Unfortunately I had to kiss the other lead, my best friend, who’d just seen me being sick in a bucket. As we leaned in, she viscerally communicated “I hate you, you stink” with her eyes while I tried to communicate “I’m so sorry!!!” with mine. She didn’t talk to me for the rest of the run.
