“It feels like you’re at university – wandering around a big campus, constantly bumping into people you know, going out late, drinking too much, sleeping in late, ‘working’ for a couple of hours a day and then hanging out with your mates.”
WHO: Rich Spalding
WHAT: “We’re all alive and we’re all going to die. Let’s have a laugh with it, shall we? Join award-winning comedian Rich Spalding for his hotly anticipated debut hour. A stand-up show about fear and boredom, legacy and regret and, ultimately, the universal experience of working for a living and dying sometime after. Beat the Frog: World Series Panel Prize Winner 2022. Get Up Stand Up Runner Up 2018. Co-host of the Our Dads Died podcast. Tour support for Eshaan Akbar. Pleasance Reserve Shortlist 2020, 2023. ‘Razor-sharp, understated brilliance’ (Tom Ward). ‘My favourite comedian’ (Eshaan Akbar).”
WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Cellar (Venue 33)
WHEN: 21:15 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This will be my first full run at the Fringe, but I’ve been a few times before. Despite being a big comedy nerd, my first visit to the Fringe was in 2019, and it was exactly as I imagined it. Weird hours, weird shows, weird people – all in a really, really good way. There’s no such thing as normal at the festival, and I think that’s what keeps people coming back year after year. My theory is that comedians love it because it makes you feel young. It feels like you’re at university – wandering around a big campus, constantly bumping into people you know, going out late, drinking too much, sleeping in late, ‘working’ for a couple of hours a day and then hanging out with your mates. Of course there’s also the stress and the money and the regular ego deaths and the rain. But that’s all part of the package.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
The main thing I learnt in 2023 was that I didn’t like my show and needed to write a new one. I was doing a work-in-progress of the show I was planning to bring up for a full run this year, but I realised that it wasn’t good enough. So I’ve spent this year writing that new show – one that’s more about what I want to talk about, and one I’m genuinely excited to do. So I have definitely absorbed that lesson. The other big lesson is that if you go to the same late night pizza place every single day around 2am the staff will start to worry about you even though you’re genuinely fine and just really like pizza. Whether I’ve absorbed that lesson or not, though, only time will tell. I fully expect to be concerning wait staff across Edinburgh once more this August.
Tell us about your show.
Oh, so, the show is called Gather Your Skeletons. It’s a stand-up show. It’s written by me and produced by me. The writing of it has been great fun. The producing of it has been quite stressful, truth be told. I didn’t know exactly what a producer did before I started, and now I still don’t but I do know it’s very hard. But the show itself is about, mainly, death. But don’t let that put you off! It’s about a theory I used to have about the afterlife – something I thought of decades ago and recently remembered, and how that idea has, in a small way, changed the way I live my life. I like it, the show. It’s quite hopeful and kind, I think. I’ve done as many previews as I can get people to attend, so far, and it’s been fun seeing it come together and finding I don’t hate it. Which is rare, for me. There’s loads of good jokes in it, and some funny stories, and, dare I say it, some poignancy. I’d like to think it’s got legs beyond this festival, I’d love to take it around to anywhere that’ll have me, but that depends on how well it’s received. So, if you want to come along and receive it well, that’d be very much appreciated. I’m very friendly and we’ll have a good time together, I really do believe.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Oh man, so many things. I could go on forever. First and foremost, my perennial plug, Alexandra Haddow. She’s a superb comedian doing her second show, called Third Party, at Monkey Barrel 2 at 10pm. She was also, until recently, my housemate, and for the duration of Edinburgh we’re getting the band back together (sharing a one bedroom flat where one of us sleeps on the living room floor)! I’ve seen a preview of her show and it’s already great and will continue to get better. She’s also the kind of comedian who sells lots of tickets, so you might want to buy in advance.
Hubert Mayr is another former housemate of mine doing a show this year. His is called Mr Uniworse and plots the course of his life against the course of the only Austrian more famous than him…Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hubert is an exceptional joke writer with a particularly dark view of the world, which makes him even funnier. He’s on at the quite jarring time of 11am at Brass Monkey. If you like perfectly written jokes and general (but very funny) malaise, he is a must see.
Then just loads of others. Sarah Roberts is one of my favourite comics, and she’s doing her debut Silkworm at George Square: The Box 10.35 every night. I’ve annoyingly not been able to see it yet, so I’m going to sprint over after my show finishes one night to catch it. If you see a sweaty man in her audience, panting like a dog, it could be me. It could also just be a pervert. I also was lucky enough to catch an early preview of Alex Kitson’s show Must I Paint You a Picture? and thought it was excellent. I’m very excited to see the final show. That’s on at 10.55 every night at Hoots@Potterrow, The Wee Yurt – which I think is an actual yurt, so that’s fun. Then, obviously, Mat Ewins. You probably know about Mat but if you don’t then be kind to yourself and see his show. It will be, almost certainly, the best thing you see.
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