Let's Do Lunch
An interesting discussion sparked up between a few comics on social media recently about gig times, at the Edinburgh Fringe in particular. Not the length of the shows - although that is also an interesting topic, as a lot of people think the standard hour for an Edinburgh show is at least 15 minutes too long - but when the ideal slot would be.
Obviously if you're a big-name TV star you don't worry about what time your show is on - bang it on at prime time and let the other comics worry about competing with you. But for newer or less-renowned acts, picking your slot is a choice fraught with worry. Get it wrong and you may waste a whole month of your time and a whole bunch of cash.
Regular rules fly out of the window during the Fringe, in truth. Taking a lunchtime slot may seem a massive roll of the dice, for example, but a lot of local folks might well appreciate breaking the working day up by taking a chance on some random comedy. If your boss is fairly chilled about timekeeping then a gig at lunchtime can actually be a lot more appealing than the evening, when you have a spouse or kids to worry about, or perhaps a William Hill promotional code you want to spend some quality time with.
It's all a bit of a lottery, but early gigs have probably seemed less of a gamble since Bridget Christie won the Edinburgh Comedy Award a few years back, with a show that packed people in every day at 11am. Indeed, Christie and fellow clock maverick Tony Law established a popular block over at The Stand venues every day. You'd go to see Christie make heavy issues impressively entertaining at 11, then run upstairs to see the much dafter Law at midday; or sprint across the road. That year doing the Christie/Tony one-two was potentially life-threatening.
For those of us who like to pack in a whole stack of shows during any given day at the Fringe, a quality early gig like that is an absolute treat; boom, straight on the schedule. And unlike most things you put a tentative ring round in the programme, you'll almost certainly make it there at some point. As an act you can arguably get more reviews that way too, if you want them, as critics often struggle to work their Fringe schedules around potential conflicts. They've got enough potential conflicts after their reviews come out.
Still, most gigs happen later, with perhaps early evening the popular choice for up-and-coming comics, even though there's a lot more competition that way. Perhaps we just need to get used to the idea of lunchtime gigging. Over in Belfast they embrace it: in early January every year there's an an excellent arts festival in the Cathedral Quarter called Out to Lunch, which includes numerous daytime performances, and actively tries to give people a pick-me-up after the festive season finishes.
Lunchtime gigs: it's what a stressed-out nation needs right now.