Go big or go home

I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I’ve done something massive. 

I’ve persuaded one of the top venues at the Edinburgh Fringe to give me 27 consecutive days for a comedy show this summer. 

I’ve never performed at Edinburgh before and I’m 55. I’ve only done the show once and that was in the southern hemisphere, when I was very tired from a much delayed flight.

WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT?

Last year I started going to a comedy acting class at Kings Cross on a Monday night. It’s one of the sessions run by Stage and the City which offers performing arts classes for adults in London. 

I’ve always been a joker, but I’ve never been much of an actor. I wanted to do the class to help improve my after-dinner speaking. Instead of just telling the stories, I wanted to act them out, become the characters. 

My background is broadcasting, as a journalist with the BBC. For the past twenty odd years I’ve also worked as an after-dinner speaker and built up a decent reputation on the corporate circuit. 

EDINBURGH

Last year I went to the Edinburgh Fringe in August. It’s the best month to go, because that’s when it’s on!

My wife Jeanette is South African and we went to see a show by her cousin Jan. Afterwards we had a meal with Jan and his partner Pieter. They own the Foxwood House Theatre in Johannesburg. 

Jeanette is very good at talking me up, and was saying how I was doing comedy now. She didn’t mention it was just a class that I was attending. Pieter was impressed and then said I must bring my one man show to their theatre. Instead of saying, ‘I don’t really have a one-man show, I just do 30 minutes of after-dinner stories to corporate dinners, I heard myself saying YES.’

YES AND…

I blame Maddy Anholt, my comedy teacher at Stage and the City. When we do improvisation sessions she encourages us to say, ‘yes, and…’ You are not allowed to block the other person in improv, so you always agree with what they say, and then add something else. 

So I said I’d be delighted to do my ‘one man show’ in Johannesburg on December 12th 2017. I figured that I had a few months to turn my 30 minute corporate set into a one hour show. 

December came quickly, I kept thinking no one would buy tickets, but the show sold out. This was great news, but also meant that I would actually have to do it. 

Our flights to South Africa were cancelled because of snow, we had to fly the next day, via Cape Town, and arrived at the theatre in Johannesburg just 90 minutes ahead of the audience. 

It wasn’t ideal preparation, not having slept more than 40 minutes in the past 40 hours. I got through it on adrenaline and coke. I don’t usually take coke, but this was an emergency, so I had two cans. 

It worked, I got a great write-up in Beeld, one of the top South African newspapers. 

WHAT NEXT

At the back of my mind I’d always thought I might like to do this show at the Edinburgh Fringe. If it worked in Johannesburg I could then apply for 2018. If Joburg was awful, it’s a long way away, so nobody would ever find out…. assuming they didn’t have the internet. 

So I applied for the Fringe. Now, I’m a big believer in going big or going home, so I applied to the Big Four venue providers: Assembly, Pleasance, Gilded Balloon and Underbelly. 

I’d had conversations with some of the less well known venues and three of them were very keen to have me. However, I didn’t want to go somewhere that wanted me, I wanted to be somewhere I was lucky to be.

Amazingly the Gilded Balloon said YES! They’re given me a slot at their Teviot venue, which is an incredible opportunity and a place where I hadn’t dreamt I would get to perform. 

I feel very proud and lucky to be part of #TeamGB. The Gilded Balloon is the place that many of my heroes started, like Tim Minchin, Bill Bailey, Eddie Izzard and Peter Kay. 

This year Luisa Omielan will be at the Gilded Balloon Teviot and she’s one of my all-time favourite Fringe performers. If I meet her at one of the many showbiz parties, that I’m sure I’ll be attending, I’ll have to bite my lip really hard so I don’t bore her with my ten top lines from her award winning show ‘What would Beyonce do?’

IS THIS SHOW GOING TO BE A DISASTER?

I’m very confident that my show will be great fun. It will be very tight, well crafted and funny. It’s called After Dinner Stores From My Disastrous Broadcasting Career. It’s all the horrendous moments from my life on live TV and radio. I’ve had a good career with some great moments, but I haven’t put any of them in. This show is rammed with the embarrassing, foot-in-mouths bits, where I’ve wanted to dig a hole and hide. 

Maddy Anholt, my comedy acting teacher, is producing it. She’s very experienced, having put on some great shows at Edinburgh over the last four years. She’s helping make the show more theatrical. 

WILL ANYONE COME?

My only doubt is about audience numbers. Will anyone come? I hope so. If I’d had a 50 seater venue I’d have been reasonably confident of selling out at the weekends at least, but I turned down a 50 seater room and opted instead for a bigger one that seats 150. That’s 27x150 tickets to sell, which is just over four thousand. I just thought I’d go big!

The established wisdom is that you start small and work your way up. You do free five minute spots at comedy clubs and gradually build a twenty minute set. Then you build a following before you take an hour long show to Edinburgh, with the backing of an agent and the accompanying publicity machine. 

I don’t have an agent and I’ve gone straight to a one hour show in my debut year. I’ve no idea what will happen. I’m relying on the Kevin Costner maxim from ‘Field of Dreams’. If I build it, they will come. 

PREVIEWS

I have eight preview shows booked to get the ball rolling. If you can come to one it would be lovely to see you. If you could bring some mates with you, even better. 

Best of all if you know any comedy bloggers or reviewers, please share the dates with them and get them to email me for review passes. (jem@jeremynicholas.co.uk)

TOUR DATES FOR MY EDINBURGH FRINGE 2018 SHOW:

After Dinner Stories From My Disastrous Broadcasting Career.

May 6     Cavendish Arms, Stockwell, London

May 17   Balmer Lawn, Brockenhurst, New Forest

June 15  Rad Fringe, Radcliffe on Trent, Nottinghamshire

June 21  Museum of Comedy, Holborn, London

June 26  Hen and Chickens, Islington, London

June 30  Quay Theatre, Sudbury, Suffolk

July 4     Turk's Head, Twickenham, London.

July 26   Bread and Roses, Clapham, London.

Aug 1-27 Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? 

I’m really excited about my Edinburgh adventure. What are you doing this year to stretch yourself? Whatever it is, my advice is to go for it and go big.

It’s far better to do something and regret it, than not do it and always wish you had. 

JEREMY NICHOLAS

(Writer, broadcaster and Edinburgh virgin.)