Before going
to the Fringe I had never heard of Benn Fogg. My mum and I arrived at the
Fringe for the day as I had friends whose shows I was determined to see before
the Fringe ended. As these shows were late at night we were staying overnight
but leaving early in the morning (I took the day off work so we could spend the
day but Mum was determined to be back at work the next day). We arrived around
two and spent a few hours trying to decide what else we should see but we couldn’t
find anything that one, was free and two, was showing on a Sunday and hadn’t
yet started. Not finding anything we walked down the Royal Mile towards Holyrood
we were stopped by someone with a flyer saying that there was a show just
starting we should go and see. Unfortunately there were no entry tickets left
by the time we got there and so we walked back dejected.
On the way
back up the royal mile we spotted a sign saying Fringe Venue – Comedy Shows
downstairs. This was quite misleading as when we went to investigate it was not
in fact downstairs it was down an alleyway. I looked into the New Waverly
Arches when I saw a comedian who looked like something out of the Big Bang Theory
complete with a purple headband talking to an audience. He called out to me to come
in and informed me that I wasn’t late for the show.
I have to
admit from what he was wearing I really didn’t expect it to be good and talking
to my mum afterwards she felt the same. Leaving the show however I was crying with
laughter and my cheeks were sore from laughing. Most of his set wasn’t part of
the show at all. It was mostly preamble before the show. He has a great way of
interacting with the audience and making them feel at ease. The room itself
added to this atmosphere as it was old cave style walls and quite small and
intimate. He focuses on joyful things in his life instead of complaining about
life but he is not afraid to poke fun at himself either.
If you are
going to the Fringe this year I would definitely make time to go and see his
show and if you’re not going he also live streams his shows to Periscope which
is not really as good as being there in person as a lot of his act is taken
from interacting with the audience but still worth the watch.
Benn Fogg is
at the New Waverly Arches on 7-11, 13-18, 20-25, 27-30
Aug 2015 at 4:45pm
