Nothing prepares you for performing at the Edinburgh festival fringe. It’s the largest arts festival in the world and considered a rite of passage by all who flock to it in August and dream of becoming the next Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner or James Acaster. Yes, mainly men have done well at the fringe, but let’s save that for another column.
In episode four of Baby Reindeer, written by and starring Edinburgh fringe veteran Richard Gadd, his struggling standup character Donny Dunn goes to the festival and his experience is precisely how I remember it. I went with that same wide-eyed wonder. Donny joins the performers “gambling their luck on a shot at fame” for the chance to be one of the few acts, among thousands, who break through. That dream sustains you for about the first week. Reality quickly sets in.
