Hotshows
A guide to the best shows at the Festival by The Scotsman’s top team of reviewers
one another and develop a great show.”
I am left wondering, if after all this “bouncing,” the comic goes off and has a sell-out tour and makes a massive amount of money, why did we pay £18.50 to help them? Sometimes, of course, it is just a privilege to bounce. Stewart Lee, a comic whose yearly WIP shows at the Stand are a must-see, says he quite often enjoys WIP shows more than the finished article. I have always thought of Lee as having kicked off the trend but, he says, “I think it was definitely [Daniel] Kitson, whose WIPS are superb fun.” “The audience is part of a twostreet way and when I am doing difficult big rooms, I am on some level playing the show as a remembered recreation of what it would be like to do it in the Stand.”
Lee’s heart is in the Fringe. His WIP shows are not just a means to an end. “I love being in Edinburgh every summer (and have only missed 2001 and this year since 1987) and so does B [Bridget Christie, his wife], so it’s good to have a reason to go, and doing WIP in the daytime makes it viable, and means you have a presence.” I wonder, though, why comedy gets to be “special”? Why not a week of a WIP Tattoo, with pipe bands wandering around and bumping into each other, WIP dance shows, theatre shows with cries of “line!” every so often and cabaret where we watch someone try to find the right key for their big number? “In many ways, comedy is no different from other art forms,” says Wood, who has pretty much programmed them all. “They all go through processes of development and adjustment. However, having a work in progress run for comedy is different from an audience perspective, because some of the ‘mistakes’ can be really funny in themselves, and you can be there at the creation of a brilliantly hilarious new piece of material that comes from an off-the-cuff moment that you witnessed and then makes it into the arena tour/dvd.
“Comedy also relies on audiences more than a lot of artforms – their reaction is so integral to it being funny. Whereas with dance or theatre you can know that something looks beautiful or is well-written without an audience being there to tell you so, with comedy you need a process to double check that an audience are going to laugh.”
Barry Ferns believes “working on a show, crafting it, making it cohesive, is a real skill and a specific type of work, and after watching Simon Amstell and Daniel Kitson do WIP shows at The Bill Murray/ Angel Comedy over the last six months, I realise that making a show takes a lot more work than most people realise. Loads of comedians can be funny – but can they make a cohesive, unified and complete show? You tell me how many ‘shows’ are really ‘shows’?” Oh Barry, don’t get me started. “I would hope that an audience comes to watch a performer they like, whether it is a work in progress or a finished show,” he says.
So if you do go to see work in progress, what does the comic want from you? “I suppose to act as a live version of a literary editor,” says Watson.
“In other words, be warm and encouraging, but not blandly positive. You don’t want people shouting out ‘well, that didn’t work, did it?’ but you can quickly tell when that is the general sentiment. As long as the audience has some critical faculties, but is eager to be entertained, it should all be fine.” l Barry Loves You (Work in Progress), Sweet Grassmarket, 5.45pm, until 27 August. John Bishop: Winging It (Warm Up), Underbelly Med Quad, 2.40pm, until 25 August. Jason Manford: Muddle Class Work in Progress, Underbelly, 5.15pm, until 20 August. Mark Watson: This is not a show yet, Stand Comedy Club, 1.35pm, until 27 August. Simon Amstell: Tour Previews (Work in Progress), Pleasance Courtyard, today until 19 August, 11.20pm Underbelly’s Circus Hub JJJJ Dance Base JJJJ