By Ben Pabla
What a lovely Easter weekend that was!
Easter, the time of year that slaps Diabetics hard across the face. I hope you all enjoyed a load of chocolate, an extended weekend, and seeing Pope Francis die. I have a theory on how he died, but we’ll wait until the end before I go into that*
Fringe Season Is Upon Us
For now, it’s time for Fringe season! What do I mean when I say Fringe Season? It’s the time of year when many Fringe Festivals start to kick off around the globe. There will be Fringe Festivals in Brighton, Edinburgh, Melbourne, and obviously, Barcelona (more on that later). Not just Fringe Festivals, but Comedy Festivals in general start to kick off this time of year. We’ve already had one in Lisbon last month, Stand-Up Europe. A few Barcelona-based Comedians headed out there and had a blast (Lisbon is a quality city if you need holiday ideas).
It’s an important time in any comedian’s calendar. They’ll be taking a show to at least one of the festivals, so they’ll be performing plenty of Work In Progress and Preview shows to prep. We have a ton of international comedians based here in Barcelona who will be taking shows to festivals this year, so there’ll be a bunch of shows popping up soon that you’re going to want to catch.
The High Cost of Comedy
Comedians put a lot into this time of year. If Easter is a slap across the face for Diabetics, then the Edinburgh Fringe is a punch to the genitals for working-class performers. Taking a bare-bones show on a limited run can cost thousands! The Edinburgh Fringe’s growing costs are actually why we are seeing more festivals pop up on the international scene, hence Fringes in Brighton and Barcelona (I’ll get to that in just a second).
Going to check out the Fringe is an amazing experience. I urge you to go if you haven’t. But if you do, don’t just check out the Mummy and Daddy-funded shows that have had the cash to put up the glitzy marketing and pay for the reviews. They aren’t bad shows at all, nor am I saying that people who have access to funding shouldn’t showcase their hard work.
What I am saying is, check out the performers who have saved, scraped, and are staying in squaller in order to perform. Some will possibly be working themselves into debt and develop scurvy during the Fringe, an infamous disease known as Durvy to working-class artists. So if you go, seek out those performers. Show your support and take a chance on some lower-funded shows. It’ll mean a lot to the performers.
Fringe Comedy Shows You Shouldn’t Miss
Anywho, that piss-poor Dickens-esque paragraph aside, these are some of the comedians/shows popping up that you’re going to want to catch!
DEAD PARENT SOCIETY, by Chris Groves & Anna Gerber
Chris is the Godfather of the English-speaking comedy scene in Barcelona, not only because of his pouchy cheeks, but because I heard he masturbates to images of Richard Pryor. Listen, the more I hear about Chris, the more I love him. He can host, he can roast, and he’s taught about half of the bloody comedians in the city! Meaning he teaches a Stand-Up Comedy course too, which is definitely the sort of thing you want to check out if Stand-Up has ever interested you. And Anna is a slightly newer comedian, but is already running a weekly show, Thorny Thursday Open Mic, every Thursday at Secret.
Check it out at Secret Comedy Club, Friday, 9th of May, at 10 pm.
LESBIAN INNIT, by Esther & Ben Pabla (that’s me)
This isn’t meant to be a shameless plug, but you’d never believe me if I say that, so cracking on. Esther and I have a split-hour comedy show. The title does get explained, sometimes, not always. We talk about everything and nothing, sharing our specific sense of humour about it all. Between the two of us, we talk about a lot of silliness, but also get into some serious stuff, so you get a full display of what’s inside our heads.
Check it out at Secret Comedy Club, Friday, 25th of April, at 10 pm.
More Fringe Comedians to Watch
At the time of writing this, there’s a load of performers I know will have shows, but I do not have the details. So, just keep an eye out for these names. They’ll be performing the main Preview Shows and whatnot.
STUART KENNEDY!
If I love Chris, then I’d shag Stuart… again. Stuart gets around Europe more than a Scottish variant of Covid; The Greggs variant, let’s say (wouldn’t mind having that to be honest). He’ll no doubt have an hour show to check out. But more importantly, he has a special show called Comedians & Dragons! Where he, the game master, takes comedians through a game of D&D. Most of the comedians have never played D&D, which is where Stuart’s hard work causes amusement for us all.
ALEC SNOOK!
Alec came 2nd in Joke of the Fringe last year at Edinburgh. Let that sink in. At the entire, bloody festival, not only did he get in contention, he came 2nd. Alec is a wordsmith. He makes Shakespeare sound like a K-Holed Dan Brown. He took his show, Decomposing Live, to Edinburgh last year, and performed it again here at the Barcelona Fringe, to amazing acclaim, and if you see his name, get on it, is all I can say.
I’d be here all day if I wrote about all the comedians that’ll be knocking about the Fringe circuit, so keep an eye out for:
Andy Casper, Esther, Ewan May, Darren Cullen, James Regal, Iain Anderson, Kyla Cobbler and many more. So keep your eyes peeled! Keep checking in with Secret Comedy Club to stay updated with upcoming Preview and Work In Progress shows.
Barcelona Fringe – A Local Scene on the Rise
And now, the Barcelona Fringe: A subject that will pop up again in later posts, but we had the first ever Barcelona Fringe last year, and it was really special. Having something like that here was amazing for the comedy scene. It brought comedians from all over the globe to perform here. We had locals making a name for themselves, and it can only be bigger this year. It’ll start at the end of October, so a lot of time to go, but heads up, it’ll be amazing, and check back in here for all the information you’ll need on it.
Take care,
Ben 🙂
*The Pope, the Catholic version of Robin, most likely had slipped into dementia these past few years, forgetting it was a holiday. This would cause a misunderstanding when he heard “Jesus has returned”. Thus, through fear of being Catholic, the people who killed a specific Jewish founder of Christianity, thought Big-J was coming back for revenge, therefore deciding to have a massive heart attack and die. All whilst being molested by a giant Rabbit, one hopes.