Egypt 2011, a set on Flickr.

My talented video production specialist friend – Mr Iain Slater BSc BBC – has polished it up with his trademark high production value. He’s slow, but he’s good! Have a butchers at the finished product (and some embarrassing outtakes).

Until another time: zoot alors!

Paris 2009

Paris 2009 outtakes

Then we kicked the evening into gear with a tutored whisky tasting session at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. The society is quite unique: they taste and bottle single casks (so long as they pass muster), without any blending, at cask strength. They deal directly with Scottish distilleries creating distinctive and always interesting bottles. It was a great experience, learning about tasting and trying some pretty unique whiskys.

So came the final show of the festival – Richard Herring’s Christ on a Bike. A last minute booking on recognition of the name, not a great way to choose a show, but worth a shot. Unfortunately Herring’s show was stale, cliched and pretty uninteresting; it seemed like he wasn’t trying, that or he’d performed the routine so many times he was simply bored. A bad note on which to end the fest.

We were still going from the tasting whiskies earlier but a night-cap was needed before the morning’s long train ride home. A Talisker 10 year was the choice: a simply, smokey, whisky but with a clean palette as well.

With that the festival was over, we stayed in a lovely house, Edinburgh is a beautiful city, and the festival is a great time. Thoroughly recommended.

Next, after a quick run along Cowgate to the Underbelly, was a show from another sketch troupe. Comedy Bitch is three girls and three guys jumping from sketch to sketch with some clever little observations wrapped up in it all. A nice, gentle, comedy ride but no revelation.

The last item of the day was the big name – Jimmy Carr. Jimmy was playing at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, by far the biggest venue available in the city. It was standard Carr fare: quick one liners, cutting comebacks, and some filthy punchlines. So nothing new, maybe that was the problem; with a big name you expect big things but his show fell flat. And in the light of some fantastic unknowns we’ve seen Jimmy was even more disappointing.

To drown our sorrows (well, disappointments) we needed a couple of drinks. First up a deeply smokey Lefroy 12 year with woody overtones and a just hint of Walls vanilla ice-cream. For the night-cap a 12 year Bowmore was required: a smoothy with a kick in the tail, the Bowmoore brings thoughts of dark cocoa and morello cherries.

Second up was a flyerers recommendation: The Incident. Two Aussie’s and their one stage cardboard box show about…well I’m not sure. Very physical comedy and alarmingly fast-paced, fun but somewhat disturbing at the same time. Recommended if only for the novelty of its oddness.

Time for a coffee break

Josie Long has been a longtime (geddit?!) favourite of ours so her show was really a given. The lovely lazy Josie went on and on about breakfast and Walter Ezell (her favourite Flickr celebrity) but that was okay, breakfasts are a funny subject. She had a point too – everyone should be a better person, or at least try. A noble show from a funny girl.

At the end of a long day there’s nothing better than a sketch show, at least that’s what my mother says. The Beta Males’ Picnic offered up a great show, set in a post-apocalyptic bunker with everyone going a little crazy. Disgustingly energetic, amazingly clever and full on puns, a brilliant discovery to finish a long day.

Balvenie double wood 12 year was the choice tonight: woody and tasting of oak chips this is a lovely nightcap.

We kick off with Kevin Eldon titting about. He really does tit about, right there on stage, pulling half a dozen characters out of the bag throughout. Paul Hamilton (Kevin’s poet alter-ego) opens the stage with unique rhyming style before introducing Kevin proper. Kevin sings, dances and acts, all the time with utter brilliance, his song about skipping CDs a particular highlight.

A walk up to Arthur’s Seat served as the meat in our comedy sandwich, all 251 metres of it. Exhausting but pretty.

The second big name was Greg Davies with his show all about those beautiful ‘you had to be there’ moments in life. Titled ‘Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog’ Greg tells us about his life: from year zero, through his days as a drama teacher, to his recent holiday tormenting a Spanish dog. There are some roaring laughs in the show, particularly during the retelling of some of his encounters as a teacher. It’s a great theme, very uplifting, and ties together Greg’s life story nicely.

An Oban 14 year was the choice of the spirits shelf tonight: a creamy palette with notes of toffee and burnt caramel, like a creme brûlée in a glass.

Day two, show two: we took a chance on Toby Hadoke – Now I Know my BBC. The long lost descendant of fishermen Toby loves the BBC, he even knows the correct positioning of the apostrophe in Howards’ Way. It’s an endearing show, full of Toby’s passion for the importance of the institution (rightly so, as it’s one of the cornerstones of our British culture). A brilliant little show/lecture that lifts the heart.

The final event of the day and the first musical number of the festival was Barbershopera. Apocalypse? No! Half barber shop quartet, half opera, half comedy – the show is cleverly constructed by just four actors playing and singing all the parts. Genuinely hilarious despite being of the musical genre.

Tonight’s whisky choice was a Dalwhinnie 15 year: much more depth than yesterday’s choice, with light fruit flavours, particularly watermelon.

First impressions of Edinburgh are very confusing; it’s one big hill with lots of levels, making finding anywhere in a lot less than easy. Nether-the-less we found our house (thank you Festival Beds) and made our way to the Pleasance Courtyard.

First up Seann Walsh; a great start with some original observations (not usually my cup of tea, most comedians seem to observe incredibly mundane things). Just under half way through things were obviously turning. Stumbling, Seann lost it, put his head in his hands and had a little lie down. We filed out of the venue. This would be hilarious if it were all part of the show, but alas it wasn’t (our tickets were refunded).

Not a great start to the festival. But Josh Howie managed to save the day with a tour through his life living with his gran. Josh gave us some top tips for coping with an elderly housemate as well as making a lovely cup of tea.

Tonight’s whisky: Highland Park 12 year, quite one dimensional with a unpleasant lingering aftertaste.

You’ll have to wait a little while for the video (it’s still being edited) but check out the photos below (all beautifully graded by Iain).

Paris 2009

Piccadilly Circus – Sight 16 (The letter P)

We covered almost the whole of London and we hardly ever cheated (except maybe for Z) walking almost 11 miles and travelling by tube for over 25 miles. There’s even a map of our trip!

We’ve made a little video, you should get a good feeling for how we got on. And you can flick through the photos too.

London A-Z

London A-Z trip

London: A-Z map