FESTIVAL FEATURES | James Acaster
third show,’ Acaster claims, ‘and actually it’s a lot more stressful. You think that you now know what your pattern and method is, and no one tells you that every year is different. I thought that there was going to be an expectation on me because of the nomination, but there wasn’t: that’s all in your head. So I had a year of thinking: everyone’s going to think last year was a l uke and this is shit.’
Three Fringes (and three more award nominations) later, and Acaster is a lot more relaxed about the festival and looks forward to it more each year. ‘You realise you enjoy coming up with new material and saying new things on stage, and when you realise that, it’s just great. I’m really not doing it for any other reason.’ Another reason? Those award nominations, for instance? Acaster doesn’t have much to say about his four gong noms. ‘It’s very nice,’ he manages. ‘That’s it, really.’ But he must feel something about being ofi cially namechecked as one of the best comics at the Fringe for four years in a row? ‘It’s really nice that four groups of people have said that,’ he elaborates, slightly. ‘But I do believe that if you took a different group of panellists each year there’s every chance that I would have never been nominated.’
Acaster is the i rst comedian to have ever clocked up four consecutive nominations. Surely he must feel pressure to win the thing this year? ‘No one is going to base their opinion on me from what happens with the awards this year,’ he reckons. ‘Last year, people thought I was going to be disappointed about it [not winning]. To me, that’d be insane. People asked, “are you OK?” and I was like, “I’ve been nominated four times! What are you talking about? Who gets nominated four times and then gets grumpy about it?”’ Being an Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee has helped put bums on seats in Edinburgh, he admits, but it’s hard to say whether it’s made much more of an impact on his career. ‘The i rst time I was nominated it dei nitely didn’t help. The Melbourne Comedy Festival rejected me, I couldn’t sell my tour, I couldn’t get on any TV shows. It dei nitely didn’t help me then.’
These days, of course, Acaster has achieved all of those things and more. After this year’s Fringe, he’s taking the new show, Reset, on tour including dates in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. After pretending to be an undercover cop in 2014 and tales of jury service last year, Reset is the third in a ‘sort of trilogy’, says Acaster. ‘The show is about how I’m set to go into the witness protection programme and about how we all want a fresh start in life. It’s also about something else, a personal thing, my own reasons for wanting a fresh start. So it’s a crime-themed trilogy that is actually all about uncertainty. And it’s the third one that begins with “re”.’ After six years of Fringe success, it must become easy to take sell-out shows and critical acclaim for granted. But for James Acaster, he’s constantly grateful for his success. ‘Every year in Edinburgh I end up waiting behind the curtain about to go on stage and I have a moment of thinking: no one’s told me what to do with this show, I’ve done exactly what I wanted. This is the biggest arts festival in the world and all these people have shown up. Aren’t I lucky? It really is amazing.’
James Acaster: Reset, Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 6–28 Aug, 7.30pm, £11–£14 (£10–£13). Previews 3–5 Aug, £8.
14 THE LIST FESTIVAL 4–11 Aug 2016
AND THE NOMINEES WERE . . . It’s not only James Acaster who has made the main Edinburgh Comedy Award shortlist but not quite got over the line yet. Here are a few folks appearing this Fringe who haven’t let the disappointment of not scooping that trophy get in the way of pursuing a i ne old comedy career
DOUG ANTHONY ALL STARS
You have to go all the way back to 1988 when the DAAS received their sole nomination, yet this was clearly a year when philosophical contemplation was the order of the day rather than raucous songs about bodily functions, as Jeremy Hardy won the Perrier. Pleasance Courtyard, 4–14 Aug (not 8 & 9), 10pm, £15 (£14). Preview 3 Aug, £10.
JOSIE LONG Having won the Best Newcomer gong in 2006, Ms Long racked up a mere three nominations in a row during
the Foster’s years, being joined on shortlists by Claudia O’Doherty (2012) and Sarah Millican (2010) in an era when more females were being recognised by the judges. The Stand, 16–29 Aug, 5.30pm, £12 (£9).
RUSSELL HOWARD The hugely popular (not just with girls in their early 20s) t-shirted comic got his one nomination in 2006 for an if.comedy award, the i rst year of its post- Perrier life. Russ might have energy to burn but even he couldn’t keep pace with eventual victor, the one-man juggernaut that is Phil Nichol. Howard’s in town this year doing work-in-progress stuff with pal Steve Williams. Assembly George Square Studios, 623 3030, 3–21 Aug (not 10), 6.40pm, £5.
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SIMON MUNNERY The anarcho-man, who is in his 30th year at the Fringe, could technically still win given that he’s continuing to do full runs while steering clear of the bigger rooms on the Fringe. His moment in the shortlisted sun came in 1999 for his League Against Tedium project when Al Murray got the nod. Munnery was in good company though, alongside the Boosh boys, Terry Alderton and Ross Noble. The Stand, 5–29 Aug (not 15), 4pm, £12 (£10). Preview 4 Aug, £9.
SARAH KENDALL Notable for enjoying two nominations over a decade apart (2004 and 2015), the Aussie stand-up gained
one for straight stand-up and the other for a more storytelling mode. There are some who reckon her day might be dawning. See interview, page 55. Assembly George Square Studios, 623 3030, 6–28 Aug, 6.45pm, £10.50–£12.50 (£9.50–£11.50). Previews 3–5 Aug, £7.