The Edfringe guide is out NOW!

I can't remember what page Roman Around is on, but online it's right here.

Go there. Like it. And 'get your tickets', by which I mean 'plan to come see it'.

Six weeks or so and then it's go time.

In what can only be described as super-fortuitous serendipity, Roman Around has found an excellent director to help tweak and develop it for this summer's Edinburgh Fringe. 

The director is an old friend of mine with oodles of theatre experience and a booming infectious laugh. I'm looking very forward to getting his input on the show - a show which I've always been happy with and extremely proud of, yet equally aware that it could benefit in significant ways from a sharp and helpful eye and some incisive cuts.

And so, that's the next project as we prepare for another go at Edinburgh, and hopefully, some warm up shows in London.

I'll keep you posted.

Have just received my proofs back from the Edinburgh Fringe, confirming that Roman Around will again be part of the festival. What's more, it will be playing right before another great show in which I'm involved: the improvised double act Marbles.

This means this summer will be the chance to present both sides of what I love to do: present the entertaining, historically factual whimsical yet rather precise Roman Around, and the improvised flight of fancy known as Marbles. Every show has been wildly different in terms of form and feel, but we're onto something special - especially since we've added keyboard-and-sampler whiz Rob Grundel to the line up.

Read a review here.

So Edinburgh is back on, and in the run up Roman Around will be undergoing some changes and improvements. And Marbles, the improvised double act that has been described as "like watching a younger and better looking Baddiel and Skinner; though more talented and less smug," will be gigging regularly. By the time August rolls around, there will be a proper comedic onslaught in the offing.

Great article in this week's Brussels Unlimited about Roman Around and me.

It's always nice to get some press, and as a bonus, it's all written in the first person. Read it here.

After some months of (much-needed) hibernation, Roman Around is gearing up for a new adventure. This time it will be a weekend trip to my old town of residence and current caput mundi: Brussels. Whilst there I will teaching an improv workshop and performing Roman Around for two nights.

After such a long break, I'm excited to get this show back on its feet. I'm also looking forward to seeing a bunch of old friends, and teaching them about history, and getting arrested in Rome.

To further your exposure to alternative presentations of true history I present an excerpt of

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE INAUGURAL NORSE ASSAULT ON PARIS FOR BOSTONIANS.

BY ROWDY GEIRSSON

So back in the late 700s this guy Charlemagne was goin' completely fuckin' nuts, n' I mean completely fuckin' nuts, 'cause this guy, he was pickin' fights everywhere yah fuckin' looked. Pahks, gahdens, fahms, pubs, castles, fuckin' monastehries—yah name it: he was there n' he was fuckin' fightin', n' what's mohr is he was fuckin' winnin' too like yah wouldn't even believe, n' so on accoun'ah all that winnin' he was able tah staht gettin' all the Franks from 'round the diffahrent neighbahhoods tahgethah in ohrdah staht makin' 'em all submit tah his own highah fuckin' authahrity. N' then tah celebrate these victahries'ah his, aftahwahds he'd go n' he'd take all the Franks' land so that ovah the years he ended up accumulatin' the biggest goddamned pehrsonal fohrtune in real estate that anyone'd evah even fuckin' seen. N' so this Charlemagne guy, he's a smaht guy right, so next thing he does is he goes n' he takes that fohrtune'ah his n' he stahts investin' it so as tah make even mohr money, n' yah know, some people even say he gets intah bootleggin' too 'round this time, but eithah way, it don't really fuckin' mattah, 'cause back in those days, yah didn't build up that kindah huge fuckin' financial empi'ah without alsah gettin' yahself crowned Holy Roman Emperah. N' so that's exactly what this guy fuckin' does—he actually goes n' he gets himself fuckin' crowned by the goddamned Pope himself n' he ends up bein' emperah fah awhile, which yah know was all fine n' shit, till he finally fuckin' went n' died in 814.

The complete article is at McSweeney's.

Wow. I just looked to see that the last post was shortly after I'd arrived in Edinburgh. I'm now back in London. So much for regular updates.

Edinburgh Fringe was an amazing action-packed whirlwind of vortextual hyperspace.

In numbers:

Flyers distributed: 1,800

Posters posted: 44

Shows seen: 18

Shows performed: 7

Review stars (out of 5): 4

Beers drank: 900

Jokes bantered: 3,500

Lessons learned: 19

Bagels eaten: 17

Average hours slept: 6.5

Average Audience: 25.57143

Fun-o-meter: Maximum

That's Edinburgh in a nutshell. It was a very educational and fun experience, which is interestingly also how people describe the show. I will be back next year.

I'm here in Edinburgh. Festival starts on the 6th, my first preview is on the 5th. Been busy today checking into my hostel, finding the venue, taking a guided tour (natch), getting my performer's pass, putting up some posters (witness the evidence!), and of course, flyering on the Royal Mile.

Apparently flyering the Royal Mile can be a soul-sucking, thankless, spirit-crushing nightmare. But I can say that when it's your first time at the Fringe, it feels good to get out there and do it. It brings the 'spirit of the fringe' home to roost in your heart of hearts.

Plus it sets the correct tone. I've got a box full of 2,500 flyers that I need to all but get rid of in the next week, so it's not just a 'correct tone', in some sort of abstract sense. It's a very real sense.

Come ask me for one. I have lots.

It's now Friday. I'm off to Edinburgh on Tuesday. I had my last preview last night - a ten minute 'taster' which included material not in the actual show. Just for fun. Like B-sides and blooper reels. It was great fun, and allowed me to see a sampling of some other acts destined for Edinburgh and/or Camden Fringes, and possibly, also greatness.

The night before that I was part of a double-bill with Fat Kitten improv. I couldn't stay for their set as I had an improv show across town at the Rich Mix, but I thoroughly enjoyed my final full-length preview. The audience was warm, the jokes hit the mark, and everybody seemed to really enjoy it. 

That's gone and put me in a confident mindset for Edinburgh. Until I actually arrive at which point I'm sure I'll panic at the overwhelminess of it all.

But for now, I'm feeling good.