Now Who's an Underwater Comedian?


It was a little daunting to arrive at my venue today to find the stone floor completely soaked, as a wise man once told me that water and electricity don’t mix; that or they mix all too successfully.

I remember this being the case last year too, and I’m used to the slightly lax but inevitable Edinburgh Fringe attitude to health and safety, but while it’s most likely all will be fine, I’d sooner not turn my show into an exercise in snuff comedy, as that’s hardly a viable model for a sustainable career.

It doesn’t help that apparently one of the last shows in the room uses a bubble machine and a hazer; surely neither are a very good idea in an entirely enclosed windowless stone wall-and-floored space. They usually have cleaners in first thing in the morning - and last year they had a dehumidifier too (decadence) - but based on the evidence they couldn’t have been in today; all we have to push the damp about this year is a single fan, which I moved around as much as I could this morning to make a token gesture at drying the floor off before I taped my leads down; even the taping was a largely pointless affair, as the Gaffer wouldn’t stick to the damp.

Other than risking life and limb, today’s show went well, though the audience was pretty quiet. Some days feel more like a lunchtime slot than others; today’s definitely did. I threw as much energy as I could into it and could see people were enjoying it, but it can be disheartening when you get little back; that’s the curse of an early show, I think. Still, at least I’ve got my wife up for a few days now to give my mood a boost, as I’m starting to flag a little bit.

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