Sniff sniff. Cough. Splutter. I seem to be in the throws of post-Edinburgh illness. This is normally the result of spending a long time in Edinburgh, eating poorly and attempting to hand out flyers in the rain. As my visit this year was essentially a short city break and was nearly two weeks ago, I guess this sniffle doesn’t really count. Unless it’s just withdrawal symptoms from the lack of constant FUN.

The festival is over now and I’ve been living vicariously through reading reviews and the tweets of people up there. All sorts of things have been happening without me.

Three of the shows we saw were nominated for an Edinburgh Award (You know: the Perrier award, but sponsored by Fosters). So hats off to Helm, Long, and Buress/Montannibal for their nominations.

This means that Kerry and I and the award judges all have the same great taste. So when I finally get around to doing an hour show, I fully expect to win an award on the grounds that I like what I do because otherwise I wouldn’t do it and the judges like what I like so they’ll like what I do too.

Right?

Hats off, also, to Adam Hess who has just won the Chortle Student Comedian of the Year. Adam is doing Charity Chuckle this month and is a bloody nice bloke.

This is the first year I’ve gone up to Edinburgh without being part of a show and, although it was a fun holiday, it did make me feel rather lazy and a bit guilty. Seeing great comedy is inspiring, but also reminds me you have to work at it.

On the other hand, as I didn’t have a poster up this year, I avoided having a comedy cock stuck on it.

As part of “Cockgate”, a comic had to apologise earlier this month for handing out free phalluses and encouraging people to deface other comic’s posters as part of an advertising campaign. Almost all the comedy posters I saw had a genitalia stuck over the artist’s face, hands or… genitals.

With a lot of the big A1 posters of the bigger stars, I must admit, I found it rather funny. It seemed to be a humorous way of “pricking” (sorry) the pomposity of the marketing machines.

But then I’d see one on the A4 poster of somebody doing their first free fringe show and I’d feel bad for them. If I’d been doing show, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted a cock on it. Especially if that cock was advertising a show of its own.

See here for photos.

On the up side, this is also the first year I have gone up to Edinburgh and not eaten a single hamburger. Now, there’s an achievement not to be sniffed at. Unfortunately, given my current poorly state, I can’t help it.