Alexander Bennett on the best and worst of the festival

Alexander Bennett is at the Edinburgh Fringe performing his show Emotional Daredevil  at Gilded Balloon Patter House at 6.20pm.  Here he shares what he can't get enough of at the festival, his most embarrassing Edinburgh experience and the worst thing about the Fringe. Apart from the cost of accommodation, obviously…

Edinburgh binge

Simple, doing shows and seeing shows. Live comedy is never better, more inventive, more creative and more interesting than it is at the Edinburgh Fringe, so I'm always very happy when I break out of my own bubble (working relentlessly on your own show becomes a bit of a bubble) and go and see something someone has put their heart and soul into. 

Are you at the festival having a difficult moment with your mental health? Go and see something, you'll feel better (not improv). It's also very fun to collaborate at the Fringe, so I love doing gigs like ACMS (which I get to co-host occasionally) and weird one-off stuff.

A big part of Edinburgh is the weird little communities that build up around things, whether it's a particular show, a venue or an event, odd little collections of odd people come together and it's the greatest; friendships are formed, memories are made and a substantial amount of money is lost. 

There's also a whole bunch of people I usually only see in Edinburgh because they're based at the other end of the UK or they're American or Australian. I need my sweaty Australian clowns. What for? Fuck knows.

Edinburgh cringe

I learnt the meaning of 'ken' on stage in front of a whole room of Scots who were delighted that an idiot English teenager didn't know what ken meant. I didn't ken. I didn't ken at all. The more they asked if I didn't ken, the more I said 'I don't know what that means'.

I also fully lost my voice on stage once. Explaining to a room full of people that I wasn't joking, the show was over and they had to go through mime is not my idea of a good time, because I've never done Gaulier clown school.

Edinburgh whinge

There's a drain on Cowgate that I hear a voice coming from. It's normally asking for help, but often is just hurling abuse at me, based on very personal stuff my closest friends don't know. 

The first time I heard it, I tried to help it, but I couldn't. It said it was the spirit of Cowgate, all the anguish, sorrow and WKD washes down the streets of Edinburgh's Old Town, flows down Cowgate and ends up in this drain.

I caught a brief glimpse of something inside the drain, it has bloodshot yellow eyes and appeared to be made from Shaggers flyers. It spends most of its time starting fights between the hammered teenagers that seem to populate Cowgate on a Friday and Saturday. 

Sometimes when I'm at home on my own I think I can hear its voice.

• Alexander Bennett: Emotional Daredevil is on at Gilded Balloon Patter House at 6.20pm

Published: 17 Aug 2024