The Fringe and football – early setbacks, bad luck and off the ball antics - Vladimir McTavish

It’s the second weekend of the Fringe and also the second weekend of the Scottish football season. There is not a lot of crossover between the two events, although there are a couple of soccer-themed shows on sale.

Tam Cowan will be playing a couple of nights later in the festival while his fellow Off The Ball presenter Ray Bradshaw is doing the full run at the Waverley Tavern.

The Ghost of White Hart Lane, at Underbelly, celebrates the life of legendary Scottish midfielder John White, who was known as The Ghost. He was tragically killed 60 years ago this month, struck by lightning when playing golf.

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On Monday, fictional ex-manager Bob Doolally, who claims to be a close personal friend of The Ghost, makes his annual Fringe appearance, playing one night only at The Stand. Expect his usual brand of drink-fuelled musings on the ugly side of the beautiful game.

Actually, the Fringe is very like football, in that the strongest characters will survive early setbacks and bad luck, come back stronger and still end up winning.

Undoubtedly, the unluckiest comedian at last year’s Fringe was my old mate Raymond Mearns, one of Scotland’s finest stand-ups who suffered a stroke last August and had to cancel his entire run. The Stand held a benefit show for him and a Go Fund Me page raised a five-figure sum. At the time he joked that 2023 was his most financially rewarding Fringe ever. I’m pleased to see he’s back with a new show, Raymond Mearns Had A Stoke of Luck, part of the Scottish Comedy Festival at The Beehive Inn.

Another good friend making the best of a weird Fringe experience is Edinburgh comedian Ralph Brown. He was doing a late-night show at the Waverley Tavern which was disrupted by a drunk and deranged heckler pulling out a gun. I won’t tell you what happened next but he survived to tell the tale, which he does in his hilarious show this year at The Stand. On the day I saw it, two people in the audience had been at the Waverley on the night in question. Thankfully neither of them had a gun.

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