{COMEDY} Fringe previews Insider info
LLOYD LANGFORD’S COLD HARD EDINBURGH FACTS Hello there. My show this year is called The Cold Hard Facts of Life. It’s all about trivia. To that end, I’ve compiled the below list. Every entry, except one, is a complete lie. The question is, can you separate out the lone fact from this manifest of falsification?
Edinburgh Zoo is home to Britain’s only gay marmoset, Reginald. Edinburgh’s nickname, ‘The Athens of the North’, is a joke about the Royal Bank of Scotland’s dire financial situation.
A full-scale model of Edinburgh Castle is in storage in New Zealand. Heriot-Watt University was founded in 1985 by actor James Herriot and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Its motto is ‘Express Yourself (Through Animal Husbandry).’
In 1995, purely for a laugh, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo consisted of a soldier hitting a tambourine across the side of his head for 45 minutes. And then, after an interval, hitting it against the other side of his head for a further 45 minutes. It was a total sell-out.
Due to an administrative error, only one of The Proclaimers (the one with the glasses) has been awarded the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh. This annoys the other one.
JK Rowling came up with the idea of Harry Potter after watching a repeat of a Paul Daniels Christmas special whilst off her tits on some Leith skag. (Answer: a full-scale model of Edinburgh Castle is indeed in storage in New Zealand. It was used in the 1990s when the Tattoo visited Wellington.)
■ The Stand V, 558 7272, 5–28 Aug (not 15), 10.05pm, £9 (£8). Preview 4 Aug, 6.40pm, £8 (£7). For more of Lloyd’s cold hard Edinburgh facts, see list.co.uk/festival.
42 THE LIST 4–11 Aug 2011
L A V I T S E F
MICHAEL WINSLOW The human sound effect makes his Fringe debut
It’s been 27 years since the first film, yet Michael Winslow is still roundly known as ‘that guy who made the noises in Police Academy’. Though Police Academy 8 is mooted for next year, he’s unperturbed by the enduring connection to the movie series. ‘Things are developing because they actually know my name now, before it was just “the noise guy”. I was in, of all places, Newcastle, Australia,’ he notes, slipping into the accent of course, ‘and this guy walks up to me and says, “Excuse me Mr Murphy, welcome to Australia.” I said, [adopts Eddie Murphy’s vocal rhythms in Shrek] “Huh huh, that’s funny! Thanks a lot!” I felt like Donkey!’ Despite occasionally being mistaken for Murphy, Winslow (who also appeared in sci-fi comedy Spaceballs and was the voice of Stripe, the evil
Mogwai, in Gremlins) has toured his live show featuring stories liberally peppered with noise and musical impressions extensively in Europe, where he’s also moved into TV and film. ‘I started making German comedies; those were fun so I ended up being over there more and more and then Italian films happened and other things too. After a while it just developed into a great relationship.’ Though he’s been to Scotland before, this is his first
time at the Fringe. Looking forward to it? ‘Oh absolutely. I’ll be part-tourist and part-recording machine so I’ll be listening. I just know that every time I came out to Scotland the food was wonderful. Shhh, crackle, crackle,’ he says doing an uncanny impression of something being lowered into hot fat. Just how does he do that? (Marissa Burgess) ■ Udderbelly’s Pasture, 0844 545 8252, 6–29 Aug (not 16), 8pm, £12–£14 (£11–£13). Previews until 5 Aug, £6.50.
THE NOISE NEXT DOOR Lean and hungry improv machine
‘Edinburgh audiences push you a bit more and they challenge you because they’re generally more intelligent.’ Sam Pacelli of improv troupe The Noise Next Door knows how to butter us up. Formed professionally in 2007 from a group of university friends, their first problem was one of numbers. ‘There were about 13 of us at the time, but the five of us were the core. And we started realising that it wouldn’t really work unless one or two of us left.’ Once streamlined, the boys could perfect their chemistry. ‘We all used to live together when we first started doing it professionally; it was just easier to get one big house. But in the long run it was never going to work. It meant that work, hometime, playtime was all the time and it was just too much. Since we’ve moved out it’s been much easier.’ Now veterans entering their fourth Fringe, what lessons have the quintet learned? ‘Playing 28-whatever consecutive nights in a row is always going to teach you something, I think. There’s going to be a lot more resting and preparing and a bit less drinking.’ (Murray Robertson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 6–29 Aug (not 10, 17), 4.30pm, £11–£12 (£9.50–£11). Previews until 5 Aug, £6.