“Time is the most precious commodity you have at Fringe, and you take all opportunities to find audience; so when you give up an hour and the audience is small you feel responsible for the hour you took.”

WHO: Vix Leyton

WHAT: “The Comedy Arcade: competitive anecdotes game. Vix Leyton holds a bingo ball of surprise subjects and invites four different comics every night to spar with never-before-told stories, from the hilarious to the scandalous, to win points awarded by host and audience. ‘Lives up to its billing likening it to a fabulous dinner party. Punters feel they are among spontaneously funny friends rather than hearing well-rehearsed professional anecdotes. We know these stories – and this particular alchemy – will not be repeated again’ **** (Steve Bennett, Chortle.co.uk).”

WHERE: Laughing Horse @ Bar 50 – The Alcove (Venue 151) 

WHEN: 21:45 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Unbelievably this is my fourth Edinburgh Fringe as a performer. The first year was the infamous one after Covid; I did a week’s run on Free Fringe with Alex Petty and because of the lack of shows available, my little podcast live show sold out ahead of time every night – I was dazzled by it, but warned by everyone that it was a highly unusual year and would never be that effortless again. My God, were they right. I took it back a year later with Comedy Arcade and my first effort at a solo show Work in Progress and the pressure and volume and noise was like nothing I’ve ever known. It was one of the most intense months of my life. I was lucky enough to be living with Jordan Gray on her unreal trajectory from small shipping container to the biggest room The Assembly had – having a front row seat to the Urban Legend success everyone dreams of was a privilege and a learning curve but it’s also pretty grounding. When you’re coming in with the best thing about your day being a can of free Red Bull it was a real test of resilience but one of the beauties of fringe is how you are rooting for eachother – when you know people have grafted hard, a win for them is a win for everyone, and her success buoyed me up and made me work harder.

Running a panel show as well as a solo show is a different kind of pressure; not only are you desperately trying to hustle an audience for yourself, you’re also desperately keen to ensure an audience for the acts you’ve booked to make it worth their time. Time is the most precious commodity you have at Fringe, and you take all opportunities to find audience; so when you give up an hour and the audience is small you feel responsible for the hour you took. I felt it hardest last year. I was lucky enough to be with the iconic Stand, an unbelievable milestone and I was so proud to be there, it’s a proper institution; unfortunately Fringe has got away from the New Town a bit, and it was so challenging to even find people to flyer. I harboured the notion from two relatively successful central venue years that the concept was strong enough that the audience would come – and it was the kind of nightmare you think about every night before you go to sleep for the rest of your life to do my first room where the audience matched the size of the panel. It was a suckerpunch, but the show goes on – I offered to buy everyone in the audience a drink, gave out Green room pringles and we had a brilliant time. Funny enough, I got a tweet from someone who was in the room in response to one of my promo posts who had been there and heartily recommended it. That made it worth it – a year later – that we did our best and it was enough.

I’ve learned so much about myself over the years, it’s unrivalled for upping your game – doing that many gigs and being a comedian full time for a month when you’re typically balancing a day job is a huge luxury and the best possible training camp. It’s also incredible to be treated as a peer by some of my favourite comedians; every stand up is a comrade, even the world famous veterans – and some of the most reassurance and best advice of my life has come from moments snatched, at bars and on benches around Edinburgh. I was hugely touched by the amount of comedians who were going through the mill themselves and still showed up to see my show if there was someone important in or if I was low.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Lessons; this might be a counter to all other advice that comics give but I would advise new comedians to remember it is supposed to be fun and getting to be creative is a massive privilege to savour; last year I knuckled down and treated it like a job – I had 2 shows a day that meant being in my venue from 12.30 to 5.30. I woke up, reviewed my notes from the day before over breakfast and feedback, got ready and went to the venue – came out of my solo show and ran straight into the admin for the panel show. I spent so much time in The Stand green room that it started to feel a bit like a prison, and I even did two weekends at local clubs on top of my show schedule and the spots I was taking for promo to try to pay off the fringe debt. As a result, I missed seeing friends, seeing shows and feeling part of something – it was a lonely grind. I got great reviews for the solo show and really great rooms but I came back not sure stand up was for me. It has taken me most of the year to re-find the joy in it so my biggest piece of advice is enjoy it. Steal moments of silliness, get a ticket for something random, take in a late night show on a day you are tired. It is incredibly energising to be with other people. And don’t be afraid to be honest with them on a bad day, you need to hear the highs and the lows and you don’t know who else might need to hear it because they’re too nervous of failing to be honest themselves.

I’m not taking a solo show this year, I’m just hosting a panel on Laughing Horse free fringe for a couple of weeks and doing spots – I want to fall back in love with comedy again.

Tell us about your show.

The Comedy Arcade started out as a podcast during lockdown. I was consuming every comedy podcast I could find and as a result I came to know all my favourite stand up’s stock answers that you heard again and again because they were being asked the same questions. I wondered what it would like to throw complete curveballs and see who would be able to work with them. I put 30 varied and vague topics – from first dates to favourite facts – in a bingo ball and drew them at random to put to a panel of 4 comics. The results were always brilliant, and after a year of putting it out as a podcast, I decided to do it as a live show, adding a completely voluntary non-verbal audience participation element.

The quality of guest we’ve had on is unreal. I love having the opportunity to be the complete opposite of the traditional straight, white male panel and we have such a rich mix of established and up and coming comics alongside fun people from other walks of life – last year we had Sophie Aldred, Ace from Doctor Who, Jess Phillips MP, and the manager of my Stand building. It is controlled chaos, people are amazingly honest and it makes for a completely unique audience experience every night. The opening show this year on 14th has Mark Watson, Thom Tuck and Mitch Benn, completely free to walk in and see or bookable for £2.50 to guarantee a seat. I’m really proud of the line ups and I’m delighted to be back at Free Fringe, times are so tight at the moment for people and I want the show to be accessible to all.

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

It is really hard to do these lists of recommendations as I”m a massive comedy fan first and forever and I’m anxious about missing people. I’m going to focus on people who you might not know about yet in an effort to keep my list from War & Peace levels and give the attention to those who might most need it.

Hannah Platt and Kate Cheka are debuting this year, and their laugh hit rate and writing is so strong I am jealous. Kate recently came to do a WIP at my Sheffield night, which is a tricky audience, and she was so charismatic and funny she had the whole room hanging on every word.

It is brilliant to see the people behind some of the warmest, best nights in London for new material and supporting newer acts bringing shows – Queer Comedy Club and sofa SoFunny’s Leslie Gold will be well worth seeing; not only brilliant comics in their own right, but they add so much to grassroots comedy and we need more of them.

I have been lucky enough to see Leslie Ewing-Burgesse every year, and her comedy keeps going from strength to strength – it is whimsical and cool and you won’t see anything else like it. On the note of not seeing anything else like it, Frankie Munroe (Joe Kent Walters) is also a hot tip for this year – he works incredibly hard and is uniquely brilliant.

Rich Wilson is back this year after a year off and he’s one of my favourite comedians in the whole world – he has been a bit of a mentor for me since I started, and I have learned so much from him. He makes it all look so easy and you walk out of his shows feeling you’ve had a restorative hour in the pub with your most hilarious, outrageous mate. A masterclass.

For late night hang outs, Alternative Comedy Memorial Society really is the only place to be. It’s at Monkey Barrel and it’s the wildest compilation of the coolest names in alternative comedy alongside hidden gems. It’s also a long show so the best value in town – you can drop in and drop out, and it is a gorgeous refuge if you’re too buzzing to sleep and want to see friendly faces, however your day has gone. I’m actually married to the gig but that’s a long story for another time.

For pure fun, it has to be Ada Campe’s Big Duck Energy. I was lucky enough to see a WIP of it a few months ago and I can’t wait to see it again. I saw her show last year 3 times, it’s just joy – I wish I could bottle the feeling I came out with – she’s human sunshine and an absolute powerhouse of talent making comedy, cabaret and magic look absolutely effortless.

Liam Greenjacket is also doing a range of shows this year. He’s a bit of an icon around Edinburgh, with his trademark rainbow hat. He used to walk me to my show almost every day the year I did my first full run whilst flyering and his success rate is phenomenal. I have been lucky enough to work with him ever since. He’s a corner stone of the festival and everything that is good about it, he’s passionate about comedy, passionate about supporting the free fringe and he’s also very funny. Well worth checking out his productions.

And Sian Davies’ Best in Class is worth supporting – she’s a brilliant talent spotter as well as a brilliant stand up, and her showcases give a leg up to comedians whose voices need to be heard more in the mix. The alumni list is incredibly impressive and you’ll get to say you saw it there first.

I know as soon as I hit send I’m going to remember a thousand more.

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