Edinburgh Fringe - The moment I knew E was my favorite city

So day 1 of the Fringe for me skewed the results a bit, as I felt like I almost couldn't miss on the show selection.  I was really nailing it - great show after great show.

First up at noon was Ellie Taylor:

One of things I noticed was the female comedians I saw generally killed it.  Ellie was a free show in one of the very small rooms in a pub just off Nicholson Street (all of these shows made me learn almost all of the streets in Edinburgh - I can navigate it like the back of my hand now).  She was absolutely hilarious - from London, just starting out in comedy.  I would have paid probably $15 for a full show - I got to see her for free with 30 other people.  I hope she was full the rest of the festival, she deserves it.  The Fringe works on word of mouth - in most shows, restaurants and hotels it's customary to tell your neighbor what you have seen that is good.

I can't find any review articles done by newspapers on her show, so if you stumbled on this by #edfringe she was great.  She also deserves a later time slot, although it worked perfect for me because I don't think I would have seen her if it hadn't been so early.

The fringe is so busy that I honestly forgot to eat, because I was too busy rushing to my next show or figuring out what to see next.  I did manage to grab a chicken sandwich and eat on the run to Fall Girl, which was showing in the Gilded Ballroom.  The venues for these things were incredible - works of art themselves.  I paid for Fall Girl...

Fall Girl is more like a musical than a comedy show.  It follows one girl who is naïve to the extreme and 3 others rotating characters tricking her into different things.  It has heart and some funny moments.  I liked it - it wasn't better than Ellie (free) but still a good pick.

After that, I paid for a quick ticket to Ria Lina:

who did an awesome stand up show about her year of home schooling her kids in central London.  She made fun of Americans a little more than I liked, but her nerdy jokes, especially a full 5 minute joke using exclusively math terms was comic genius.  I'm glad I paid for her.  As good as Ellie but for different reasons.

I then thought it would be a good idea to broaden my horizons a bit and go for an a capella show:

 

So this group is from Oxford, which I have an affinity from having 2 friends who went to uni there (I'm an Oxford girl obviously). The group was good, but I'm not sure they were as good as Apotheosis from A&M.  It was different though - mixed group.  The girls could really sing...I honestly wish I could remember everything they sang, but the best I remember is Landslide and some Stevie Wonder.  I paid for this ticket - it was worth it.

I had time before that show to enjoy my new favorite drink, cider.  How did I not know about that in the states?  I just started on a kick of cider - Strongbow is available a lot of places in the UK, so I sipped a cider and planned out post Alternotives.  I'm sure drinking cider has some sort of connotations (slutty or what not) but long hair don't care.

I rushed out of that show to a free show on the Royal Mile:

 

Stuart Mitchell was a packed show just like Ellie Taylor.  He was hilarious - Scottish guy who lost the tips of his fingers on one hand when he was a boy to a sewer lid cover.  Don't ask - he tells.  It's very classic self effacing humor.  He did a compilation show earlier in the day with 15 minutes of his longer show and people followed him to see it.  I chuckled a lot.  Equally as good as Ellie and Ria.

 

After that, I went to see a show that I didn't initially intend on seeing, but then a woman near the venue talked me into it by saying how great it was.  Turns out it was the actress's mother; the actress was definitely a university student actress.  I paid for this show; I could have done without it.  It wasn't bad, but I just didn't get some of the jokes and the audience was super small (like maybe 8 people, including her parents and brother).

 

 

It's essentially a sketch comedy show with one girl playing all the characters about a university student actress who daylights as a waitress.  It was just ok - moral of the story is be skeptical when an actress's mom sells the show. 

 

I made the mistake then of not going for dinner. Big fail, because next it was off to the Tattoo, which deserves a separate post.