EdFringe Review: Crowd Work with Frank Skinner

This is the second show starring Frank Skinner at this year’s Fringe Festival. The format is that Frank introduces two comedians onto stage — in tonight’s show, that was Dan Tiernan and Sarah Keyworth — and the three of them interact with the audience to create the show. Anything could happen, and it’s mainly up to Frank to make sure that the format works. And there’s plenty of audience participation, like it or not.

Audience members are given paddles as they come into the auditorium and warned that they will regret it if they don’t take one. Whilst in line, they’ve already been asked to complete a pre-show survey, and it transpires that the material they provide will help to make up the content of the show. If you don’t like getting involved, you might think this format is not for you, but believe me, there are plenty of volunteers looking for their five minutes of fame, so you’re not likely to get arbitrarily picked out (or on) if you don’t want to be.

I guess it works better or worse depending on the content shared and the chemistry of the three comedians on stage. There is no set — the comedians stand on stage with a hand-held mic each — though there is an occasional prop and the use of the screen to share the audience’s contributions as appropriate, or potentially inappropriate.

Sorry Dan and Sarah, but I didn’t know who you were, and the introductions were cursory. The set-up seemed to suggest the three comedians didn’t know much about each other’s work, but that might well have just been a bit of joshing. The format requires the two guest comedians to make their mark on their own steam. Tiernan tried to do so initially by being loud and sweary. Age guidance for the early evening show is 14 minimum, though Tiernan and Keyworth acknowledged there were kids in the audience and rightly carried on regardless. Keyworth was brilliantly low-key and is extremely witty, with clever asides and wry facial expressions. In their own ways, both are perfect for this ad hoc kind of show, though I felt it took a wee while for them to get into their stride.

Unscripted Chaos and Audience Participation at the Fringe

So audience participation included a ‘put your hand up if you want to tell us what you think is a funny/interesting story’ invitation. You’d be mad if you thought you’d get much/any sympathy here, but some’ll do anything to be involved. And I guess it gives them yet more ammunition to do the same again in another show: ‘I once took part in a Frank Skinner show in Edinburgh…’. And then there were shared photos from people’s phones, recounting examples of trivial disputes — which in one case felt like the precursor to a marriage breakdown and the opportunity for a quick-witted audience member to offer their legal services in any ensuing divorce proceedings. As for the man who wouldn’t wear black tie to his own son’s wedding — well, all I can say is that Frank suggested he high-tailed it out of the auditorium before he was lynched.

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A Fringe Quickie (#30) with ‘Bloody Mary(s)’

Frank Skinner is funny, smart and quick-witted and interacts with the audience like the pro he is. He doesn’t really help his fellow comedians much — they sink or swim on their own merit — and if they want people to come to their own shows, it’s important they shine and presumably give the audience a hint of what they might expect, so it’s potentially a good showcase. But it could also be a bit of a backfire situation if they can’t hack it. Frank will always shine, so I guess the challenge is to be the very best you can be. I had the feeling Tiernan and Keyworth maybe didn’t quite get the rules (were there any?) and had to find their own way, so it was a little awkward to start with, though Keyworth jumped in to help Frank out of a bit of a hole when he’d struck up a conversation with a heavily tattooed couple, who turned out to be married lesbians. He knew he was in danger of saying something potentially offensive, and Keyworth was right there to save the day. Once Tiernan found his feet, he gave it his all, and loud and sweary probably sums it up for me.

“Frank Skinner is funny, smart and quick-witted and interacts with the audience like the pro he is. He doesn’t really help his fellow comedians much — they sink or swim on their own merit…”

Having spent my son’s childhood watching him trying to get on stage with comedians at the Fringe — and often succeeding (thank you Alex Horne, you made his year when he was about ten!) — I’ve paid my dues to participatory comedy shows. It’s not usually my cup of tea, but I’ll tell you what, they really hooked me — I was laughing out loud, booing, hissing, cheering and clapping at the ‘confessions’ of my fellow audience members before I knew it. Frank carried the day for sure, so the show is worth it for him alone.