We have reached the end of our third week at the Edinburgh Fringe and it feels like about a century since we all rocked up on the train at the end of July. And London seems like the other side of the world. In my final week here, I'm going to be running around trying to catch all the shows I've been intending to see all month but haven't got round to.
It's been a funny old festival. The hold of the Olympics over the British people has not gone unnoticed at the Edinburgh Fringe (although the Olympics themselves largely have. I can't help feeling like I've missed out on an experience of a lifetime. Apparently, in London people were actually speaking to each other on the bus! On the bus! Seriously!) But anyway. The problem for the Fringe is that they've taken a bit of a chunk out of everyone's ticket sales. Apparently, audiences are down 33% across the board and pre-bookings are at an all-time low. About 50% of shows I've seen have made a request after the curtain call, asking the audience to spread the word to help fix low ticket sales - and these have been big comedians and well established fringe veterans.
We've been luckier than others. With Matthew's (one half of PUNCH) growing celeb-status on the Fringe, Steven's reputation and some great press (4 stars in Fest and Metro among others), we've had a few real people in to see the show. But there are definitely more out there. So we wracked our brains and tried to deploy some more unusual marketing techniques. I've exit flyered every Frisky and Mannish gig, every new play, every comedian who'd let us, every pub, every public toilet...
But Matthew, little bright spark that he is, came up with something new. With almost every other show experiencing the same problems, we thought we should embark on some co-promotion with some of our favourite acts. This way we could all market our own shows, and importantly, we could align PUNCH with acts that we think are brilliant.
So we picked some of our faves and asked them if they would film some short comedy sketches with us. All involving Matthew's character, John - an obscene stand-up comedian - offending his old 'friends' from the circuit and being an aggressive nuisance out and about in Edinburgh. My first foray into writing sketches for films, I've thoroughly enjoyed myself. (I'm the voiceover). I've posted a selection up here. Undoubtedly, they have helped spread the word. And I think they're great. Have a gander below - and if you like them, check out the acts involved.
Charlie Baker Freshly Baked
19:15 Pleasance Courtyard
Sammy J and Randy - The Inheritance
18:05 Underbelly, Bristo Square
The Three Englishmen: Squares
17:40 Pleasance Dome
EastEnd Cabaret: Notoriously Kinky
20:50 Underbelly, Cowgate
After these, we decided it was time for Anne to make an appearance. We're editing it right now so keep an eye out for it on Twitter and Facebook...
PUNCH by Steven Bloomer is on at 15:40 at Underbelly, Cowgate until 26th August.