The Invisible Dot comedians’ collective is planning to make a song and dance at the seaside this Fringe. But before that, they’re just content to build sandcastles. Niki Boyle takes a bus trip to Portobello beach with Alex Horne, Jonny Sweet and John-Luke Roberts
F or once, in a week of overcast skies, the afternoon sun is shining through the clouds. Three comedians, one of whom is a little uppity, are on Lothian bus number 26, heading towards Edinburgh’s Portobello beach. Alex Horne, John-Luke Roberts and Jonny Sweet (the uppity one) are here as representatives of comedy stable The Invisible Dot, which this year has made an effort to extend the Fringe beyond the city centre, opening a one-night-only show, The Invisible Dot Club: By The Sea, somewhere in Portbello. The exact location of the show is still a closely guarded secret, so instead of going for a sniff around there, we’re off on a straightforward jaunt to Portobello beach for some classic seaside fun. Despite Sweet’s initially aloof demeanour, the foppish young comedian eventually admits some level of excitement when badgered by the twin enthusiasm of Horne and Roberts (Roberts: ‘That was classic peer pressure, Jonny, classic peer pressure. Two people said they wanna play with castles and then you change your mind’).
Arriving at the beach brings out a slightly competitive aspect in our comedians. Roberts and Horne play a brief game of bat-and-ball,
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which ends with Roberts throwing a strop and stomping off down the beach to build a sandcastle on his own, Sweet takes his place in a game that is soon aborted when Horne, through over-enthusiasm, manages to break both bats.
The rivalries persist on the bus home, with Horne using his experience on TV show The Games That Time Forgot to devise an activity involving the bat-less balls rolling around on an up-turned frisbee, eventually settling on the catchy title, ‘They Must Not Touch (And Yet They Must Move)’. As the day draws to a close, everyone shakes sand from their shoes and waves goodbye. Each of our comics has been pre-occupied to a degree with the next few weeks’ solid graft, but it was nice to get out and enjoy the restorative effects of a stiff sea breeze. We’ve included the best chat from a day well spent below.
LIST What’s your favourite beach activity? Alex Horne I’m quite a fan of the bat and ball. [The List conveniently produces a bat and ball] Yeah, that’s great, I love that . . . We’ve only got two bats? Jonny Sweet Two bats, two balls. AH So two of us play a game, the other one . . .
plays catch. I’d quite like to use a bat. John-Luke Roberts Alex, this is right up your street, with your Games That Time Forgot show. AH Yeah, I did a TV programme about old sports. JLR Bruce Forsyth – he’s an old sport, isn’t he! AH [spots a joke shop out the window] That shop there sells jokes. JS Oh yeah, so it does! That’s amazing. JLR Wouldn’t it be great . . . JS . . . if you saw loads of comics coming out, yeah! JLR All the big ones, lined up outside. JS Tommy Tiernan. JLR Michael McIntyre! AH [noticing the shop also sells masks] Oh, I need a mask. LIST What for? AH Just to cover my face. Wake up my baby. JS I got the impression today that his eyes seemed to widen when I saw him. Not that I wanna tread on your turf . . . AH Like he fancied you? JS No, I don’t think he fancied me! AH Cos people do, don’t they? JS There was something. There was a moment. AH No, I know what you mean. There’s a