Fringe audience send punter to Spain

Fringe-goer Dave Allman is going on a dream trip to Spain after being picked on at Edinburgh's rowdy Late 'n' Live.

Compere Daniel Kitson started chatting to the punter from the stage, and found out he was a surveyor.

He asked what his favourite building was, and Allman replied: "The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao" - though he had never seen it.

So Kitson, pictured, started a whip-round among the 200-strong audience to pay for him to go.

It netted £127 - including £25 from the comic himself, a pack of cheese and onion crisps and a book of matches.

"Just in case you decide you want to burn it down," Kitson joked.

But that's not the end of the story, as The Gilded Balloon received a phone call yesterday asking about 29-year-old Allman's situation.

The caller was told that flights to Bilbao were currently £322, leaving the Edinburgh surveyor well short of his target, The Scotsman reports.

On hearing that, the concerned caller agreed to pay the £195 deficit - providing he remained anonymous.

Published: 6 Aug 2002