All-singing, all-dancing, by Stephen K Amos

It’s that crazy time of year again when hundreds of otherwise successful comedians decide to risk their reputations, re-mortgage their homes and court liver failure by taking part in the the biggest arts festival on the planet. Young performers from all over the world have been hunched over desks, overflowing with ideas, desperately writing and rehearsing their shows with one big aim – to tease a smile from the comedy savvy Scots and crack them up in the aisles. As for me? I just hope it doesn’t rain because the sewers have been known to rise after a heavy downpour – Edinburgh’s not called Auld Reekie for nothing!

I’ve been on the road for the couple of weeks before the Fringe doing what we comics solemnly term previews. When performers who regularly command big audiences sneak off to play in tiny rooms tucked in the upstairs spaces of dusty and musty pubs to try out our newest half-boiled material. I've run the gamut from the delightful Comedy Bunker at the Ruislip Golf Club to the Tattershall Castle, not a castle at all but rather a wobbly boat moored on the river Thames off the Embankment. I couldn't be sure that any groans from the crowd were due to mild bouts of seasickness rather than a defect of material.

Things got off to a rocky start for me this year as I missed my flight due to an acute bout of lost passport. The nice men and women at British Midland were happy to let me board the next flight using nothing more than an extra £200 quid. Last year we got into the rented flat to find a life sized oil-painting of a gollywog and so I was careful to use a reputable estate agent this time. No gollywogs for me this time. however, no gas. So after shivering through my first night in Bonny Scotland we went to a hotel for a shower and a shave. There are a couple of places that rent by the hour down on Salamander Street in Leith if you’re ever in the need or want to slip off for a dalliance.

This year my show has a few surprises. Our first job was to find some singers and dancers in the city willing to take a turn with me on stage. Who’d have thought it would be so hard to find some drama students ready to don leotards and have a laugh for a couple of minutes in my venue when so many seem to be making a go of it on the Royal Mile? Exasperated, we took some time out to let out hair down at the legendary CC Bloom’s where, to our luck, a karaoke show was going on! A couple of shandies later and we’d found a star singer who could sing, dance and all in high heels.

Unfortunately it turned out they were doing their own show which conflicted with ours, but a couple of phone calls from him and we had half the musical theatre types in Edinburgh performing in our kitchen (now nicely heated). I felt like Miss Grant from Fame You want fame? Well fame costs! The best of the bunch were truly mind-blowing and they are currently to be seen on stage in the Pleasance Grand with yours truly. Any requests for their talents in future reviews will have to come through me now. I own them.

Stephen K Amos’s show, The Feelgood Factor, is at the Pleasance Courtyard, 9:40pm, until 31 August