As August approaches, comedians everywhere are preparing to foray into the glorious chaos of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. According to the Fringe website, last year there were 2,871 shows across 273 venues. It’s an intimidating thought, from any perspective. But as a comedian or a group of comedians, how do you begin to make your show shine next to the 875 other shows listed as “comedy” at the Festival?

Well, first things first: you need good material. And good material is practised material, right? So you need to get yourself somewhere to practise.*

Some people don’t like new material nights. They say they can be sloppy and unfairly priced. It’s true – I have seen some new material nights that weren’t very funny – but this has actually tended to be from the bigger names. There can be a certain level of arrogance; an attitude of blaming the audience over the material. Unfortunately, this can be true of full price gigs too. Any comedy can be sloppy and unfairly priced, so I say why not see the acts at their rawest? When material is new and untested, the comedian is constantly on their toes, trying to do their best. Why not pay a reduced price to help create something marvellous? Why not go to a London basement or loft and see someone you’ve never seen before?

Last week, I went to “The Next Best Thing’s Comedy BarSkit” at The Slaughtered Lamb, Clerkenwell and “RH and Friends” at The Miller near London Bridge.

I’ve gone to the “Comedy BarSkit” three times now, and it has never disappointed me yet. Every month, it’s incredibly well curated, and the compère duo (The Next Best Thing, comprising of Katie Davison and Jay Bennett) are one of the most consistently funny double acts I have seen. The writing of their sketches is superb, and often more than a little dark, which allows them to show off some acting talent too. The guest acts are well curated, providing a rhythm of relentless amusement that actually deems an interval necessary. They are also often diverse, with “vanilla” stand-up, sketch comedy, and bizarre but beautiful character comedy all complimenting each other and never leaving the audience bored.**

This month’s line-up consisted of Adam Hess, James Ross, Lazy Susan and Matthew Crosby of Pappy’s. The Next Best Thing would also come on in between bits and continue to keep us amused, just in case you’re unfamiliar with what a compère is.

To begin with, I found Adam Hess a little off-putting. As a piece of paper shook in his hand, he told us that he had thrown out his entire set earlier that day and was trying all new material that night. He spoke breathlessly and with great speed, so that I thought he was very nervous. As his set went on, however, it slowly dawned on me (all too slowly, really) that this was the act: a nervous comedian selling his life down the line for the sake of laughter. While it was undeniably funny, I was more excited about what the set could have been; it was almost a commentary on how stand-up is approached in the “main stream”, but it never quite reached a satirical purpose. Perhaps it was too much to hope for in such a short set. Short set lengths seemed a bother James Ross, who overran. He was jovial and loud, in half a three-piece suit and tracksuit bottoms, and intent on breaking down his fourth wall, a device I have perhaps seen to many times. He ended strong, though with an incredibly funny list of ways to die, which ironically left me unable to breathe. Lazy Susan were charming but a little hap-hazard, although they did say that it was the first time any of the material had been performed. It was still funny, and even had a Les Dennis pun in there for those who enjoyed Morecambe & Wise. Matt Crosby gave a confident and polished performance – he was friendly and funny. He took us out on a quite horrifying (and distinctly unfunny) story, which I will save you from, but it was a telling sign of how the evening had gone that the audience were still all smiling afterwards.

Affordable and consistently a good time, The Comedy BarSkit is (currently) a monthly event that I would recommend to anyone who professes to like comedy.

I guess every improv comedy night can be classed as “New Material”, if you’re a pedant. But only people who haven’t done improv will claim that it takes little practise. The truth is on the contrary.

“RH & Friends” consisted of hosts and head-liners The RH Experience, who also did a good job of compère-ing and controlling the large audience.  The guests were The Pioneers and Mike Hutcherson & Constantine Pavlou.

The Pioneers performed a short Harold-esque piece around the word “Ham”. They were cut short; perhaps they had underestimated the time they had, perhaps they just wanted to practise the form despite their slot size. It meant that there was a very abrupt ending to the piece, and that a few of the starting monologues were discarded entirely. Nevertheless, they were an excellent act, who showed awareness and skill as they crafted a story that centred around two runaway aristocrats and the existential crises of a vegetarian Fish and Chip shop owner. I would happily have watched the piece  to its conclusion, and based on what I saw, I would go and see the Pioneers in their own show.

Mike & Constantine followed The Pioneers with what was the most surreal piece of the evening, which at an improv night, is saying something. We were told that it was the groups last show before Constantine left for Canada, so some savvy soul in the audience shouted “Toronto!” and we started at the top of the CN tower. A hallmark of improv is shoe-horning in exposition to set a scene and establish characters. Mike & Constantine did away with this by announcing out of character where the scene was, who they were, and when there was a scene change. I have to admit, I found this off-putting to begin with, but once you’re over it, it allows for a flow and efficiency in performance that might not otherwise be achieved by just two people. It was a very physical and enjoyable performance.

The room above The Miller was packed and uncomfortable, which is difficult in a different way to comfortable but empty. There was standing room only, with the acts lining the wall near the front, so they didn’t get stuck at the back. I mention this to show the strong following The RH Experience have. Quite popular on YouTube, they are wont to drawing a familiar crowd, who can be in on a number of jokes already. I have seen them perform three times over the last four years, and I did indeed see familiar faces in the crowd, but to the group’s credit, I never felt that I was left out of a joke or that they were using already-gained credit to sell a joke short. They were very funny, and had polished their routine considerably. The long-form they used, which they named “Stuck!”, was not one that I had seen before. It was a neat idea that The RH executed very well indeed. It has been a long time since watching a comedy performance has been akin to an abdominal workout, but watching one of the scenes (where an imperative was mixed up with a noun, in a classic farcical style) physically hurt, in the best way. If there is one thing I would say about the performance I saw, it was that the guitarist was not quite on form, but despite that, he still managed a shining moment of musical comedy. Their techie was outstanding, really, and he led the performers down paths that were excruciating for them, and excruciatingly funny for us. I went away very confident for their Edinburgh run – what I saw was great.

All of that, on top of the fact that the evening was free, can only lead me to recommend “RH & Friends” if you come across it. The acts are all worth looking out for.

So, cheap “new material” comedy nights:

Entertainment – 9 These two nights each left me unable to breathe due to laughter.

Effort – 8 Depends where you live, I suppose. If you’re in the area, Comedy BarSkit is often on an otherwise uninteresting Thursday. It doesn’t end very late. But who needs work on Friday, anyway? Hell, they might be in your local!

Expense – 9 These nights are a steal for what they are. Especially if they’re free.

Endurance – 6 At the end of the day, it’s a blog about Procrastination, and these’ll do you one night of forgetting about work.

EQUALS – 8 Go see these acts before it will actually hurt your wallet.

* Having said all that, I don’t know how many of the acts are actually planning on going to Edinburgh. Whatever, it was an atmospheric opener.

** Or in control.