They say that, for comedians, the Edinburgh fringe is a ruthless trade fair, where sharp-elbowed acts bankrupt themselves in pursuit of the right demographics and a slot on Live at the Apollo. Well, there is that. But there are also comedians such as Olaf Falafel, a one-man art/books/comedy cottage industry, ploughing his eccentric furrow on the Free Fringe, to an audience of kids, adults and everyone in between. Some comedians would kill their granny for an Edinburgh comedy award. Falafel would make yours laugh for a tilt at that prestige-free gong, the much-derided Dave’s Joke of the Fringe.
Seldom has its shortlist been complete in recent years without a trademark dotty one-liner by the towering Luton man – who won in 2019 for an ill-starred quip punning on the word “Tourettes”. (Day one: joy and acclaim. Day two: outrage expressed by Tourette syndrome charities.) “Every year when the list is announced,” he tells me, that stink a distant memory, “you get people on Twitter saying ‘this is rubbish, these are terrible, heard ’em all before’. But no one who’s on those lists cares. Everyone knows they’re out of context, that they’re not necessarily the funniest joke.” Let’s be fair, Falafel’s one-liners are usually pretty funny – see last year’s gag: “Getting mythology wrong is my Hercules ankle.” Or 2017’s nominee for the Dave’s award, “I wasn’t particularly close to my dad before he died – which was lucky, because he trod on a landmine.” Boom boom!
