After founder Liam Mullone is elected a councillor

Alternative Edinburgh magazine FrignePig is closing after founder Liam Mullone was  elected as a  local councillorin Devon.

Libertarian comedian Liam Mullone successfully fought as an independent in Teignbridge, along with Richard Daws, co-owner of the Komedia venues.

They stood on a ‘Newton says no’ ticket in opposition to the district council’s plans to allow more housing development in the area – which they felt would destroy the town of Newton Abbot and ignored the views of locals.

But Mullone says his new mission means that he would no longer have the time to work on the magazine he founded in 2015, initially as a website to review the reviewers.

Writing on Facebook, he said: 'The realisation hit me when trying to make a sofa for a stuffed-toy photoshoot out of a cereal box and burst into tears because it didn’t look right. It felt like I shouldn’t be doing this at my age.

'Anyway Fringepig wasn’t something I did because it was lucrative (it wasn’t very), or even successful (I would say that it was) but because it was fun and it seemed important, and it maintained a link with people I care about, and my kids were proud of me for it, and I think it’s fair to say it made its point. But it doesn’t have to take over my life any more.

'Also, it became very clear last year that to carry on we would need to go big or go home. An arrangement with Gilded Balloon to become a venue as well as a magazine fell through, and the anarchic style of the thing didn’t attract any big-money advertisers, though a couple of them thought about it.'

He said anyone who bought an advert would be refunded, but added: 'If anyone would like to take it on, I am willing to sell it for the price of a second-hand Vauxhall. You can still feasibly complete it in time for the Fringe.' (And if any comic who wants to spend their budget advertising to Chortle's daily 10,000 readers instead can find details here)

Mullone and Daws are two of four new Newton Says No councillors whose election helped tip the council from being Tory controlled and into Liberal Democrat hands.

Daws told Chortle: ‘We gained more coverage for the area than could ever had been imagined. 

‘The last week of campaigning has been a dark soap opera; stolen election boards, dirty tricks and police complaints (from all sides).’

He said that his group  – which stood on the manifesto 'not to be distracted, not to be bought and not to behave' – had found success by campaigning  online ‘with the website landing high-power satire and political takedowns, and with Facebook giving us the reach to a generation that is largely disengaged with local politics.’

Newton Says No group campaigners claim that ambitious plans to expand Newton Abbot would involve ‘pouring concrete all around the town’s greatest beauty spot, the Grade I listed Church of St Mary the Virgin and the rolling hills beyond’ with ‘plans that go beyond all logic or reason’.

Fellow comics Henning Wehn and Phil Hammond helped the campaign, by performing in fundraisers.

• Comedian Jimmy O’Neill was elected as an independent councillor in Wigan.  O’Neill – who performs offensive old-school comedy as Jimmy O The Wigan Joker – hit the headlines in 2017 over a homophobic rant he made about Wigan Pride and has admitted to having a conviction for racial abuse. The comic has also been involved in legal wrangling with the Frog & Bucket comedy club who accused him of stealing their name when he opened a gong show called Kick The Bucket.

Published: 4 May 2019