Live and late from Edinburgh Fringe
6 days late, oops
Hellooooo Sternal Journalists!
I am at Edinburgh Fringe and nearly a week late. This is because last Sunday was my birthday and I went to All Seasons Brewery (which I love) and saw Twisters (which—sue me—I thought was boring!). I was not in any state to write it when I got home.
The next day, I recovered (from the boredom. I love everyone involved in the movie, so I was upset). The dat after that, I packed, and the day after that, I hosted for my dear friend Sam Salem at the Brea Improv, and the day after that, I embarked on a 31-hour train, plane, and automobile journey from Los Angeles to Scotland.
Highlights included:
The fish ‘n chips and Guinness as Kings Cross station. All of my local friends assure me that Kings Cross is not a cool thing to like, and that neither the fish nor chips nor Guinness can actually be good.
The Belgian woman next to me on the plane going wine for wine with me and then surpassing me (not crazy, but not not crazy). And then when a baby was crying, she said “My children never cried on planes.” And I said, “Haha must be lucky!” And she said, “Mm-mm.” It was the most effortless judginess I’ve ever seen. If judginess was in the Olympics, I believe she would be Belgium’s champion. Also, these were the only words we exchanged.
That terrible “train or bus” sleep where you’re no longer awake but you never quite sleep and you’re always just bobbing around and think you might have fallen asleep on the person next to you for a second, but you’re not sure and you’re scared to ask. This wasn’t actually a highlight, but I think it builds character to experience this in moderation.
Anyway, I’m here now and I had a sold out show today (wahoo!) because my venue only seats 10 people (awwww), but we actually got 13 people in (daaamn!). I’m only telling you all the second part, I’m just going to keep celebrating it on Instagram.
In all seriousness, my venue is a private karaoke room that has a full, floor-to-ceiling window looking onto the sushi restaurant it’s inside of, and I think this is awesome. This means that someone could be enjoying a nice plate of sashimi and look up to see me in a soundproof room gesticulating the performance of my “Poop Train” song to a dozen confused, but happy people. And that’s the kind of shit I love to occur at Fringe.
I’m gonna end it there! But I’ll (probably) be back to the normal schedule Sunday. Before I go!
Recommendations!
The Streets of Edinburgh. Song. As a lifelong fan of the “I would walk 500 miles” Proclaimers song, it is very cool to, after a few years of building an affinity for this city, realizing that they wrote a song that fully encapsulates the vibes of walking around one of my favorite places.
Coronation Chicken Sandwich from Tesco. Sandwich. This was the first round-ish meal I ate in a couple days, and I just like that their queen had a chicken sandwich invented for her coronation. I thought this was not real, but then I learned that each monarch actually does have a coronation dish and King George’s was a quiche.
Challengers. Film. I finally watched it on the plane. Brilliant. Brilliant. Love it. Spoke to me too much.
Alright, that’s it! If you’re at Fringe, come say hi!
Love ya!
Julian!
P.S. here is a screenshot I took of the map while I was on the train because I thought “cockenzie” and “longniddry” were hilarious in their own right, but especially so when right next to each other.
