Stand Up On Everest: Report
Published: Friday 10th June 2016
Olivia Phipps was amongst those who went on the epic 'Stand Up On Everest' trip. She reports back here on what must be the most notable comedy gig of the year...
It's been 6 weeks since the Stand Up On Everest team reached Everest Base Camp to break the Guinness World Record for the highest comedy gig in the world: the rush of red blood cells has worn off; fitness levels have returned to normal; and I'm back to counting sheep at night instead of yaks. The adrenaline, though, hasn't quite worn off.
On 15th April 2016, a group of 17 trekkers climbed to the 17,598ft base camp to perform stand-up comedy to... well, whoever happened to be there that day. Climbers preparing for their first (or second!) attempt at the summit, sherpas, and trekkers like ourselves.
Building publicity for an event like this when you're trekking through the Himalayas is interesting: mostly word of mouth, speaking to trekkers along the way, both when you're walking and at the teahouses we stopped at for lemon tea and recuperation. A mammoth effort from our head Sherpa, Geljin, our guide leader, Dom Pickett, and the event's organiser, Jeremy Banks, deserves a special mention however: the night before the gig, the three of them walked the 2 hours from the town of Gorakshep to Everest Base Camp just to flyer the tents, and then walked back again. Edinburgh acts, take note: This is true dedication to flyering!
The next morning, we arrived at Base Camp at 10:30am, the sun shining down on our little makeshift stage. Built the night before, it had been carried all the way up on the back of one of our porters, Lhmbu, along with the speakers for the PA system (one of which was delayed at Kathmandu airport, and subsequently had to be collected and hurried up to Base Camp in time for the gig - a feat the Sherpas can achieve with embarrassing ease compared to us lowlanders).
It's quite hard to believe you're about to settle down to watch a comedy gig when you're standing in front of the vast Khumbu Glacier, overshadowed by some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Choose a good rock to sit on, enjoy the pre-gig Nepalese pop music and take in the scenery around you. All the while feeling pretty much breathless any time you do any kind of rigorous movement.
The endlessly amiable Mickey D kicked everything off. A fitness enthusiast, he kept us amused and inspired on the way up with his manic dedication to the challenge (an ultra marathon was waiting for him on his return to Adelaide!) But how do you open a gig on top of the world? Telling the Sherpas to settle down and waiting for the yak herd to pass, obviously. His charm and cheeky Aussie bite kept the audience warm and lively, even in the cold mountain air.
The lovable Tom Wrigglesworth followed. Bent double around 2 minutes into his set, he giggled breathlessly: "Christ, this is fucking harder than it looks." A pretty good summary of the task in hand for these guys really: trek 9 days to the base camp of Earth's highest mountain, and try to entertain a bunch of strangers with 50% less oxygen in tow.
Much of the material was written on the way up, in fact. The night before the gig I sat down to dinner, with Wayne Deakin next to me writing out some of the thoughts he'd had along the way, pausing occasionally to fact check the towns names we'd visited.
Third up was the wonderful Martin Mor, who, frankly, came on stage like a force of nature. He, like Mickey D, is a big fitness enthusiast: check out the video below of them doing press-ups up there in the mountains - it's impressive to say the least. I, on the other hand, embarrassingly, was struggling to drink water and breathe at the same time without a break.
The sharp-tongued Wayne Deakin closed the show, eloquently summing up pretty much every horrible experience we'd had to face along the way with great precision (much more comforting to a group of tired trekkers than it sounds!)
Overall, the gig was a great success. Considering the amount of things that could have gone wrong - speakers not working, speakers working but causing an avalanche, etc - it was a remarkable event that went remarkably smoothly, and the comedians were all an absolute joy to watch. How many people can say they've been a part of the world's highest stand-up comedy gig? Well, 17, as it turns out.
'Stand Up On Everest' was undertaken to raise money for Save The Children
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