More dispatches from Edinburgh

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on August 13th, 2006

“Edinburgh is world’s toughest gig for comics” is the title of a Reuters piece about the Edinburgh Fringe that compares the three largest comedy fests in the world and also compares the styles of comics from three continents.

Says Aussie comic Adam Hills:

The Americans are the slickest in the world. The British will be intelligent, the Irish will tell stories, the Canadians will be quirky. What we do best as Australians is piss about.

Our favorite quote comes from Rich Hall:

He revels in the camaraderie of comedians at festivals.

“You feel a bit like mercenaries. We’re in Rwanda, now we’re in Angola, next it’s Vietnam.”

But he mocks the image of the comic as a lonely genius only smiling on stage.

“You cannot have a better job. All this tortured artist stuff is just bull.”