Chapter verse
DEMETRI MARTIN and TOMMY TIERNAN are the two finest storytellers on the Fringe comedy scene. So how can it be, Brian Donaldson wonders, that they seem to be taking a step back from their greatest gifts?
nce l'pon a Time . . . there were two
stand-up comedians. Both of them
tnade their l‘ringe debuts with unparalleled acclaim and success. The first one. 'l‘ommy. who was from Ireland. went to Iidinburgh (the big city with a hill and a castle and whose streets were payed with llyers) in 1998 to perl‘orm his debut solo show called I'm/nine ('mm'zly. haying appeared the preyious year with Jason. a tall. thin man who ran around and sweated quite a lot. .-\nd at the end of the month they gaye Tommy a nice big award. handed oyer by the League of (ientlemen who had won it the year bel’ore. This was an old tradition going back tnany years. Tommy then went off to do some telly and lots more stand-up and while some people felt he may haye already giyen us his best work. they were in tact yery wrong: he was still a genius.
Then one day. in 2003. a man from America called Demetri came to Iidinburgh. No one had eyer heard ol' him bel'ore and he looked a bit geeky. He had studied at Yale. His beautil‘ul wife had wanted him to be a lawyer but Demetri wished more than anything that he was a stand- up comedian. So. just a l'ew months before going to Iidinburgh on an aeroplane. he learned to play the guitar and make his own trousers. When he got there. he sang his songs and told his palindromic stories (his show was called If]. which is also a palindrome) and generally seduced his way (metaphorically. you understand) to the same nice big award that 'l’ommy had been giyen all those years before. He was also giyen the award by two men from the League ol (ientlemen (Reece and Steye).
‘WE'RE LIKE RENEGADE MONKS WITH A
DRINK PROBLEM' TOMMY TIERNAN
22 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE ‘ '