As Mervyn Stutter embarks on another year at the Fringe. Mervyn kindly took some time out of his busy Edinburgh preparations to answer some questions and share an insight into what happens to enable the magic of “Pick of the Fringe” to take to the stage throughout the festival.
Thirty years shows an incredible dedication to the Fringe. What draws you back every year?
It’s 35 years actually Elaine! I started with my annual comedy song cabaret shows in 1987. By 1991 people were asking me if I’d seen anything good. So I thought a change of direction would be fun and so in 1992 started a showcase of well-researched Fringe talent and called the show “SEEN ANYTHING GOOD”. It was an immediate success with artists, audiences and the media – so I came back for more the next year. It just grew exponentially from there.
Did you ever imagine you “Pick of the Fringe” would still be going strong Thirty years on?
I never really thought about that really. It was just such great fun to host a very informal and spontaneous showcase. It started in the Pleasance old Cabaret Bar and so the relaxed style was immediately established. There were always seven invited guest shows doing five minutes of their show plus an interview chat with me. Theatre, comedy, cabaret, music, dance circus – the lot. But the audience knew we created the actual show technically the hour beforehand and so within that given structure almost anything could happen.
Do you replace the iconic Pink Suit each Year?
Not every year Elaine! As the show grew, so did my waistline and so the suit trousers were always vulnerable. For some years I continued with just the original jacket and blue jeans thinking I sported a kind of cool Shawaddywaddy look. Then the jacket got quite tatty and it just had to go and so on my 20th year and to support my 20th year Charity Gala we raffled the old jacket – signed by the Fringe famous. Bizarrely when we made the draw at the last show, the cousin of the winner was in the audience. He was a local Scot! And he wore the jacket whenever he came to show over the next years and kindly returned it to me to raffle again on my 25th. That winner also then returned the jacket to raffle again this year for my 30th.
How do you choose the acts you have on “Pick of the Fringe”?
Since the first shows in 1992 I insisted that any show appearing had been reviewed by my team. It’s a guarantee of quality so that my audiences can trust each show – and trust me. It started with a random group of actors who were on the Fringe and were happy to pitch in and blag their way into shows (no Arts Accreditation in 1992!) As we became more established I was able to create a more regular and organised team and rent a house so we could all live and work together. Much more efficient.
I had to trail yards of telephone cable from the hall up over door frames to the kitchen – or office as it to be – to get the phone there to receive calls from my team. They were out each day and night armed with a fistful of 10p pieces to phone in with any confirmations, cancellations or crises. We often had to wait 20 minutes in the Edinburgh raIn outside a public phone box while some lovelorn teenager broke up with his girlfriend! No mobile phones back then (I’ve lost the younger viewers now!) How we did it I don’t know. But we did.
You have spotted many big household names over the years, do you feel a sense of pride watching their careers blossom?
Yes, I have. And by household that usually means TV? And therefore, that usually means comedians. The great exception might be the magnificent magician BEN HART who went on BGT and got to the final.
Or Showstoppers – The Musical who triumphed with a new improvised musical each night in London’s West End
Or Dave Johns (comedian) who starred in the Ken Loach film ‘I. Daniel Blake’ won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
But the fabulous dancers, actors, cabaret singers of the Fringe don’t get their own TV sitcoms or panel shows or front The Great British Sewing Bee. They just aim to get great reviews or win awards and so get big tours both here and abroad – and to grow their work and reputations in other festivals around the world.
But to answer your question directly Elaine, some household names who started out unknown on the Fringe and who appeared on Pick of the Fringe and also won my annual Spirit of the Fringe Award would be – Ed Byrne, Omid Djalili, The League Gentlemen, Tim Vine, Sindhu Vee, Henning Wehn, Zoe Lyons, Ross Noble and Jess Robinson.
Are you planning a sequel for “Getting Nowhere Fast”?
Oh yes, I’d love to do that. But would Radio 4!! I have a new plan and will submit again soon. There seems to be much less comedy on R4 these days. A lot of my friends agree that there’s much less comedy in the actual comedy shows these days!
Nevertheless, Radio 4 Extra are repeating GNF right now. So tune in people and enjoy – John Challis Tracy-Ann Oberman, Martin Freeman (whatever happened to him) Lill Roughley and Christopher Etteridge – and me of course. A sitcom with rock parodies. In my live shows around the UK back then, I called it Comedy for Menopausal Flower Children.
What Inspired you to start “Pick of the Fringe”?
In 1991 the new alternative comedy scene was getting big – but not as big as their posters! The emerging managements were talking of leaving the Fringe and having their own Edinburgh Comedy Festival. So, I checked the figures and back then Theatre was 45% of the Fringe but their PR ‘noise” was minimal. But comedy was sexy. Comedy was the new rock ‘n’ roll.
I had been working in theatre for about 15 years by then and knew that theatre had no place to show itself off on the Fringe. Comics and musicians can gig around town and advertise their shows, but theatre could not. Parading in costume in the street didn’t work for or indeed suit many companies.
So, with people asking me if I’d “seen anything good?” I decided to host a showcase of all the talents, not just comedy lineups. Theatre and dance etc needed a safe calm well-resourced space to show its work and I would provide that. And I have done that for the last 29 years.
Any practical advice for First Time fringe performers?
Be prepared to lose money.
Make friends quickly in case loneliness sets in.
Hang on in there, it’s a big festival, your work is still great it’s just people haven’t found you yet.
Bring a waterproof, Vitamin C, and bags of talent.
What do you do to escape the hustle of the Fringe to recharge your batteries?
Because POTF runs all day and night I’m often the one back at the office/kitchen updating the show sheets and doing bits of admin and ready to troubleshoot. Perhaps with a bottle of wine for company?
Saturday nights are the noisiest and as I get older the less, I want to be part of a loud and crowded Edinburgh. A few years my favourite Fringe act was the only classical orchestra ever at the festival – Misha’s Gang. A small mischievous Russian conductor is passionate about his music. He would play lots of mini-concerts all over town. For a few years, my favourite was Saturday night at Old St Pauls Church where the orchestra was playing. I could sit at the back while this glorious music swirled around the magnificent acoustic of the church. No Misha on the Fringe these days unfortunately so it depends on who’s in town.
How many team members worked on the original “Pick of the Fringe” and how many now work on the show?
It’s always been a team of five and me to start with when the pressure is on. There’s a staggered changeover mid-way to avoid burnout. The team see 4- 5 shows a day and they must stay fresh! The team drops to four later as our daily schedules fill up. There can be a core group for a period of years with some changes alongside. One man, Owen Thomas, has been with me for 20 years now. When interviewing him in 2002 he said he really wanted to write plays so I immediately gave him the job because I knew he’d research diligently for me – and for him. He’s now a well-respected award-winning playwright. And he’s still working with me every year!
Which venue did you first perform in? How long has The Pleasance been your regular home?
For my first five years of solo shows, I performed in the old Cabaret Bar (now the snack bar on right of the foyer). The changing area backstage was the Uni kitchens and costumes had to be draped over the food warmers. The anarchic Doug Anthony Allstars followed me and they resolutely refused to wash their jackets. The air was filled with the fragrance of…Aussie talent.
In 1992, I did two shows a day – my solo show and the brand-new showcase. I begged my solo show audience to give this new idea a try. They did. It worked. We moved to the new Cabaret Bar, then to Pleasance Over The Road (now the Roxy) then Pleasance Dome, then the Gilded Balloon Debating Hall for many years, then a bit of a mixture of venues before arriving back at Pleasance One where we have stayed.
The Pleasance has always felt like my natural Fringe home – not least because the man running Pleasance is Anthony Alderson who told me a few years ago that as a young student he was on the crew of my first solo show in 1987. Wonderful.
Please feel free to add anything in that you would like to say about this milestone and any future plans.
Yes, thank you. Please support my huge 30th-year Charity Gala show of top talent in Pleasance Grand. Monday 21st August 2.30 – 4.15pm.
All proceeds to the Cape Town charity The Imibala Trust. My 20th Gala raised £5000 for them and my 25th Gala raised another £5000 (raffle of my original pink jacket on top!)
Each of those Gala donations was used by Imibala to upgrade arts studios, buy musical instruments and pay for tutors for the talented township kids. What is thrilling is that this year a small troupe of those kids will be appearing at the Counting House in YES-YA-YEBO a songs and dance celebration of the 12 languages of South Africa.
The audiences who came to both previous Galas will now see some of the kids they supported right here in Edinburgh performing on the Fringe. A life-changing moment for these young people who have never been in a plane or out of Africa – and for us an incredible third part of an unintentional trilogy.
Oh and don’t forget the Raffle. That original POTF pink jacket from 1992 will be raffled again this year people! Oh, we do love a raffle!
Whether this is your first Fringe or your twentieth I can personally recommend adding this to your fringe programme. You might get a taster of something you would like to go and see.
Thank you, Mervyn and good luck with everything at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe, 35 years is an incredible achievement. For more information please check out the links below.
https://www.mervspotfringe.com/
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/mervyn-stutter-s-pick-of-the-fringe
Theatre, Films and Art reviews 