EdFringe Talk: Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe

Posted in EdFestivals 2023, Written Interviews by

“Producer and punters I think share one basic problem. The Fringe is really big! Maybe 3500 plus shows this year. So, producers need to discover how to get their shows noticed and punters need to discover how to notice the best shows. It’s a very big festival!”

WHO: Mervyn Stutter

WHAT: “It’s like the Royal Variety Show of the Fringe. Mervyn and his team carefully research the Fringe and bring you live extracts from seven top shows in a packed 90-minute lunchtime extravaganza. Every day there is a different selection. Pick the ones you like and then go and see them. Simple! Brilliant! There’s comedy, theatre, cabaret, music, dance, circus and the indefinable. Daily line-ups at http://www.mervspotfringe.com. ‘A vibrant, stimulating showcase of talent’ (Scotsman). ‘Excellent, really, really good!’ (Observer). Celebrating its 30th year!”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance One (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 12:40 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

No – I’ve been performing on the Fringe for 35 consecutive years now! It is of course the largest Arts Festival in the world and unique in that anyone can attend and perform if they can get a room – and have a suitable budget!

This is what makes the Fringe so exciting. The bigger venues do invite shows onto their menus, but mostly the Fringe is open to anyone – especially now on the Free Fringe.

Producer and punters I think share one basic problem. The Fringe is really big! Maybe 3500 plus shows this year. So, producers need to discover how to get their shows noticed and punters need to discover how to notice the best shows. It’s a very big festival!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I have been learning Fringe lessons since I started back in 1987 – and still learning. From 1987, I was doing my solo comedy and song shows each year. The PR decisions were so different then. There was no internet and no mobile phones. So it was the very basic stuff of festivals – poster and flyers and a lot of energy chatting with people.

Even in my first five years of solo shows, ticket pricing was key. I always felt it best to keep prices very reasonable – low even – to encourage people in. And when I started Pick of the Fringe in 1992, keeping tickets prices low was even more necessary. Firstly, to establish a new show and secondly to provide a good crowd every day to reassure invited guest shows that this showcase was really worth it for them.

The main thing to learn is “Keep up!” The Fringe changed enormously with the tech revolution. And continues to change. Over the years we’ve seen mobiles, emails, texts, WhatsApp, WhatsApp groups (That’s a good one for teams like ours) Pre-booking tickets and now through major ecological concerns the ubiquitous Fringe flyer is fading out. So “flyering” may soon be “Hello. Want to see a good show? Here’s my QR code.”

Tell us about your show.

Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe (So named because others started setting up shows using Pick of the Fringe and I had to add my name so my audiences knew which was hosted by me) is a daily 90 minute showcase of Fringe talent. Every show that is invited to appear has been reviewed by my team to ensure that only the best shows are selected. It’s a guarantee I’ve given my audiences since I started back in 1992.

From the very first year I’ve always had a team of researchers so audiences can trust the quality of the work we showcase. The seven guests shows each day – and every day there’s different shows – will do a 5 minute piece and then a short interview with me to bring out more details to excite the audience to go and buy tickets! There’s always a wide selection of Fringe acts to be seen each day – theatre, comedy, music, dance, cabaret, circus – the lot really.

Pick of the Fringe does not premier or carry on after the festival. It’s essentially a “service” within each year’s Fringe helping people navigate the 3500 or so shows to find what they like and having seen a trailer to then go and buy tickets.

But there can be a significant post Fringe effect from my Spirit of the Fringe Award though – for
to leave Edinburgh with an award is always useful publicity. One winner, a playwright, told me that my award opened up Fringe festivals around the world for him.

Whether any of these now famous award winners felt the same, I don’t know. But I did give Spirit of the Fringe Awards to The League of Gentlemen, Ed Byrne, Tim Vine, Omid Djalili, Arthur Smith, Henning Wehn, Jess Robinson, Dave Johns, Ross Noble, Phil Nichol, Cal McCrystal, Fascinating Aida, Showstoppers – The Musical, Ben Hart, Jo Caulfield and Jim Tavare.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

As my show is there to help my audiences choose what to see then ideally, I’d like them to see shows they like from my Pick of the Fringe. And they do. And because it really works for them, audiences will come back two or three times a week because every day there’s a different selection of shows from right across the Fringe.

It’s a great way for acts to meet new audiences and for audiences to meet new acts. And has been for the last 30 years!

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