32 before 32 - See A Random Show in Edinburgh

My '32 Before 32' list is still looking rather empty and I've only got just over 3 months left but when we were up in Edinburgh at the start of August I actually managed to cross off something from it - 'Discover a random show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival'.

 

Andrew spotted this poster fluttering in the breeze on the side of a bus shelter near the Pleasance Dome; we like Andrew Maxwell and Marcus Brigstocke so we thought anything starring them would have to be fairly good.
 

 

 

 

So we trotted off to the Assembly box office, bought our tickets and walked round to the venue which happened to literally be 'a small box'. I reckon there was only about 30 or so punters and the place was packed.
 

 

 

  

It wasn't until we were stood in the queue that I thought perhaps I should actually Google what the show was about.

So a quick search revealed This Is Your Trial starred Tim Fitzhigham at the judge, Thom Tuck at the Clerk and a changing line-up of QC's each night to either defend or prosecute whoever was on trial.

And the show is very accurately named as audience members are picked at random and then after a few questions from the judge, the clerk invents a heinous crime they've committed. Things like 'attempting to smuggle an Englishman inside a Scottish name' (the guy was from Cambridge but was called Hamish) and 'wearing a hipster sweatshirt for no reason'.

We needn't have worried though, it was brilliant! One of the funniest shows we saw all week, with fabulous performances from the QC's that night.
 

 What made it so funny wasn't necessarily the performances though, it was more to do with the fact that it really seemed as if all the comedians there were just messing around and having a good laugh; like they were all mates playing around down the pub after hours.

Tim Fitzhigham and Thom Tuck made you cry with laughter all the time; I don't know how much they'd drunk before the show but most of the time they couldn't keep a straight face (Marcus Brigstocke though, was amazingly poker-faced during his spiel, not really sure how he managed that!).

All in all, I think that was a darn good 'random show' and if it's back next year, it's one we'll be booking as part of the grand masterplan!