Fringe 2013

I didn't really keep blogging through the fringe this year but here's a round up of what happened.

Total shows: 88
TV and radio appearances: 2
Articles published: 1
Reviews: some, generally good,
Awards: 1, **yay**
Arthur's seat climbed: twice
Fun had: lots.

So I did the following shows:

Aug 3th: Domestic Science, Calculating Comedy, The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Magic Faraway Cabaret, Midnight Hour
Aug 4th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, Fat Penguin Showcase, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, PBH ASC, Fat Penguin Late
Aug 5th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, Fat Penguin Showcase, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Spank!
Aug 6th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, International Federation of Comedians, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Magic Faraway Cabaret, Spank!
Aug 7th: Crunch the News, Big Comedy Lunch, The News At Kate: World Inaction, Soho Comedy Club, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Spank!
Aug 8th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, Edinburgh Must-Sees, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 9th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 10th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, Edinburgh Must-Sees, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, PBH ASC
Aug 11th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Magic Faraway Cabaret
Aug 12th: Free Tasters, Crunch the News, The News At Kate: World Inaction, Six O'Clock Club, Fat Penguin Showcase, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 13th: DAY OFF!
Aug 14th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 15th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 16th: Crunch the News, Calculating Comedy, The News At Kate: World Inaction, Comedy at New Town Bar, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Magic Faraway Cabaret
Aug 17th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Midnight Hour
Aug 18th: Domestic Science, The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 19th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, Six O'Clock Club, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, PBH ASC
Aug 20th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion, Magic Faraway Cabaret
Aug 21st: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 22nd: Free Samples, Big Comedy Lunch, The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 23rd: Calculating Comedy, The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 24th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion
Aug 25th: The News At Kate: World Inaction, The News At Kate: My Professional Opinion (extra show), Magic Faraway Cabaret (dance spot), Spank! (well... I went on stage!)

And I did see one act bragging he was the "busiest man in Edinburgh" after having racked up 76 gigs last year. I did over 90 last year and 88 this year. I guess us women mean something different by "busy"!

Two TV and radio slots. One very frustrating one on Sunday Morning Live (which I've written about elsewhere) and a BBC Ulster Talkback spot which I can't even remember what it was about!

One article, in Scotsgay: http://sgfringe.com/2013/08/21/fringe-free-speech/

Quite a few reviews, including (as usual) some very nice ones - four stars and "When it comes to political comedy, The News At Kate is the cream of the crop" from Broadway Baby - and the usual run of people angry that I dare to have an opinion - "gets a round of applause from a sympathetic audience, but you couldn’t call it comedy" and three stars from Chortle. Note that the Chortle review was also based on a preview I did on 7th July but has been published to look as if it was based on my show from 5th Aug. I did agree to have a reviewer at a preview (because it was fairly obvious I wouldn't get a review otherwise) but I didn't expect or suggest being dishonest about when it was done. It's pretty confusing because it references parts of the show that were dropped and/or dramatically revised in the intervening month. Various commenters pointed this out and also said nice things about the show in the comments section below the review but these were then deleted by the site owner, while angry comments from trolls saying I'm awful are left up.

All of which is small fry really - the bigger issue is the fact that I still get so few reviews. I bought a journalist coffee and took advice on my press release, rewrote it. He still didn't review me. The review site than ran the show after mine didn't review me. Scotsgay (who I wrote an article for) only reviewed my afternoon chat show. And still - ten years in this industry - never a review from a national paper.  Said journalist told me he was sorry but he had to cover "the newcomers", but I wasn't reviewed when I was a newcomer either!! Infuriating.

One award. Yay. Three Weeks Editor's Choice Award.  Link to citation here: http://www.threeweeks.co.uk/article/threeweeks-editors-awards-presented/ which rather made up for the lack of reviews...!

Highlights were:

(1) Being super-proud of my show, can't wait to tour it. Please suggest venues if you'd like to see it near you. And my lovely audiences, full of great ideas and joy.
(2) Amazing guests at my afternoon chat show. Patrick Harvie MSP, Martin Luther Stacey (Devine, NUS Scotland Women's Officer), Danny Vermont (from the US's Bill Maher show), Alfie Brown, Rebecca Morden (from Scary Little Girls theatre company), playwright Tom Watson (author of Sugar Kane), Sweets from NorthernXposure and PBH himself!
(3) Spank! The last night, the inevitable nudity. And getting to MC it with the despicable Marcel Lucont.
(4) Last night at Magic Faraway. Sand dancing with my boyfriend. Video to follow (sign up to my mailing list for the link when it comes, on the front page of my website www.katesmurthwaite.co.uk)
(5) All the lovely people I met and lovely visitors ... oh and GETTING AN AWARD!