...in a way that even he concedes might be 'needlessly contrary’

Daniel Kitson is to release his 2009 Edinburgh Festival show The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church online.

However, he’s doing it in a way he concedes might be considered ‘needlessly contrary’ – with a series of limited capacity screenings across next week.

Indie comedy label Go Faster Stripe recorded the show was recorded in 2011 at the Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol with a full eight-camera set-up. The taping followed an Australian tour and a run at St Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.

‘I was proud of the show. It seemed worth trying to make a decent record of it,’ Kitson explained in an email to his fans.

But the comic – who has been notoriously cautious about putting his work in the public domain – admits he then had concerns about releasing the show, which is why it has not been seen until now. Unhappy with the original edit, only now he is in lockdown did he have the chance to put together a version he was happy with,

Kitson will be screening it three times a day – on Monday to Friday when its 9pm in London, Melbourne and New York; and when it’s 11am in those cities on Saturday and Sunday – and introducing it himself. 

The capacity of each screening will be limited to the number of seats in the venue where he performed this show in those countries, between 200 and 376.

Tickets will cost £5 (or local equivalent) and go on sale at midday tomorrow in each of the time zones here.  

‘I’ve always preferred doing a few smaller gigs (at slightly awkward times) rather than one big one and there’s no real reason for that to change now,’ Kitson wrote. 

‘Capping the tickets seems to make it feel more like an exciting thing to attend, potentially and also makes it a more sustainable way of continuing to make work and raise money for people in this, undeniably, odd situation.’

All the money will go to The Angel Comedy Micro Bursary Fund to support comedians who have lost work during the lockdown.

For simplicity, here are the UK screening times of the Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church:
Monday-Friday: Noon, 9pm and 2am 
Saturday and Sunday: 11am, 4pm and 2am

Read Chortle's original 2009 review of the show here.

Published: 14 May 2020