Comic v Comic: Richard & Matt

MF: Hello Richard, you have been doing Edinburgh longer than some of this year's acts have been alive. How has the festival changed since the old days?

RH: Yes Matt. I am very old. Since 1987, when I first went up, things have changed a lot. It's become more professional - in those early days most people had hand designed posters, black ink on coloured paper and similarly home-made leaflets. I suppose it felt more like a little artistic community more than the corporate machine, though people did get discovered up there.

You could take up an idea and work on it over the festival, whereas now I think you need to have it pretty solid by the start if you want any chance of success. I am not a person who pines for the past or thinks change is bad and I mainly love the way the Fringe evolves, though its size is now overwhelming.

It's hard to judge too because of course I was 20 when I first came up here and life was thrilling and fun and I had different priorities. So things
change personally and it's hard to divorce one's own experience from the whole.

MF: Can you remember each year distinctly? Do any years stand out as being particularly good or bad?

RH: A lot of it blurs into one. Even now when I go up it feels like I was only there last week. I have performed at twenty Fringes now. A lot of things you do each year are the same and I was very drunk for most of them.

The memories are happy and sad because emotion is heightened here and there is so much to win and lose both personally and professionally. 

When I was in the Oxford Revue in 1988, we were given such a hard time by the stand up comics and the press, some of which was more or less just the bullying of children by adults, that I lost a lot of my confidence and almost gave up my dream of being a comedian.

The recent years have been a lot happier, but I nearly always have a day or two when I declare I am giving up on comedy. And after all the years of struggle to get in a crowd I really appreciate the fact that I can now get 300 people a day coming to see me. Overnight success is not such a great thing and in hindsight I am glad that I have had the opportunity to become better at this job.

MF: What frustrates you most about Edinburgh? 

RH: I think that the acts who play it are financially exploited by everyone. They pretty much all end up losing thousands of pounds and when you look at box office receipts and the queues at the bar you realise someone is making a lot of money here. 

MF: When you think of Edinburgh what is the first image that comes to mind?

RH: Probably still the Pleasance courtyard, thronging with people. There are times when it is the best place in the world and others when it has been the loneliest. 

MF: What advice would you give to someone doing their first solo show? 

RH: Work hard on creating the best thing you can do, but expect nothing - don't go up anticipating awards or a TV show or good reviews, or even an audience, and you won't be disappointed. You might be  hungry for immediate success, but if you want a career, rather than an explosion of fame, then come to work and learn. But have fun after the show and talk to other acts and see their shows. Everyone is insecure and scared, but the friends and attachments you make here may well last for your lifetime. 

MF: Richard, it's been a pleasure, I agree with everything you said.