Edinburgh 2016

Hello hello.

Outrageously I've had to delay my first taste of the Edinburgh Festival vibe until the second weekend of August due to inconveniently timed courses I decided to attend in London. Sadly the ever present threat of unemplyment and failure to progress in a professional capacity struck me like a heavy goods vehicle driven by a blind man in May, or my mother's despair at my lack of telephone calls home, leading me to sacrifice the first weekend of August to sitting in a hospital learning about x-rays (oh the things we do for staying in paid employment). And I forgot to call my mother that weekend (damn).

BUT! that time has passed and the second weekend is racing towards me.

Due to the hectic work hours of my previous placement, the Edinburgh schedule for 2016 was compiled rather late with this year's shows being booked only around 20th July.

Here my tendency for disorganisation foiled my plans once again. As it turned out I have a mandatory training day on Friday 26th August, a day on which I had planned on sneakily being in Edinburgh for a rather long weekend. "No, this day cannot be rearranged" said the e-mail from the course administrator. Oops.

Cue mild panic, arranging trains, re-buying show tickets and even more frantic shedding of pounds from the bank account (if only it could have been from my waist instead...ha-ha-ha-ha-ha [give it a moment, the awkward silence will pass eventually]).

Finally I have my schedule and trains for Edinburgh for 2016. I'll be making 4 return trips to and from Edinburgh again this year, though there will be a period where I'm away from Edinbirgh for less than 24 hours in the final week (oh the things we do for the never-ending pursuit of laughter, the meaning to life and art).

There don't appear to be as many old favourites in Edinburgh this year. Unfortuantely no Pappy's, no Alex Edelman and no Joseph Morpurgo, though I will be making a trip to James Acaster and Nish Kumar in the final weekend, and I wrangled a ticket for Daniel Kitson on Thursday 25th. Good God is that going to be an excellent weekend.

Show number one on Friday will be Shappi Khorsandi, who I was inspired to see after listening to her Comedian's Comedian Podcast episode. Heavens, does she have a story to tell, and an insight into comedy and performance that astounded me.

Over the past year I've seen some excellent comedy since Edinburgh 2015, namely Joseph Morpurgo's show another two times, Nish Kumar's 2015 show and James Acaster's 2015 show.

Nish Kumar once again delievered sharp, brilliantly crafted observations and jokes about privilege, life and the outrageous state of UK politics in 2015. James Acaster surprised me with what was a highly entertaining and imaginative show; his bit about a made-up fable nearly drowned me in laughter.

And Joseph Morpurgo... I must admit I've thought and re-thought about that show several times in the past year. Even now I still feel goosebumps and a warm fuzzy feeling envelopes itself around me whenever I think about that show. It was one of the best shows, and most probably my favourite, I've ever seen. The feelings I had after that show will never leave me, and it's a rare feeling; a feeling of wonderment, excitement, astonishment and joy all wrapped up in a sweet moment that just can't be recaptured. Even watching his show a second and third time didn't leave me with the same feeling after the first. His numerous Chortle awards were more than deserved, and it's a shame he didn't win last year.

I've got just over 20 shows scheduled for this year. I may not be able to fit in any extra, and I doubt I'll beat last year's record of number of shows seen, but no matter.

Here's to Edinburgh 2016.