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It is our final week here and Edinburgh is cram jammed | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
It is our final week here and Edinburgh is as Mary Berry would say | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
in between swearing, with musicians, comics and dancer, like Robert who | :00:22. | :00:34. | |
is doing his sexual charged version of Oedipus Rex. | :00:35. | :00:35. | |
APPLAUSE. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | :00:36. | :01:48. | |
Ladies and gentlemen, if you can still hear me put your hands | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
together for the Japan Marvellous Drummers. | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
APPLAUSE Thank you Japan Marvellous Drummers | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
from me, old English lady, you can see them at assembly square until | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
Monday. . Welcome to the last edition of Edinburgh Nights the | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
Fiesta is far from over. So please welcome our first guest, star of | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
stage and screen, and the man only ever a vowel away from Simon Cowell, | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
it is Simon Callow. APPLAUSE | :02:23. | :02:38. | |
What a joy. Indeed. What a joy to sit next to you you evergreen sprite | :02:39. | :02:46. | |
of the stage. Thank you. Your show is called Juvenal. Juvenalia. It is | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
based on the 57 AD poet Juvenal. An unusual starting point perhaps fors | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
a fringe show? It is basically 2,000-year-old stand up comedy. A | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
lot of stand up comedy feels as if it is 2,000 years old. My own | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
included! It is an amazing book. The 16 satires, he was a very angry | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
white middle lass man, who just attacked everything that he came | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
across, and, but brilliantly, funnily, outrageously, very | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
politically incorrectly, but you open that book and you recognise | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
that man immediately, there are plenty of him round. You have said | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
he was a is sort of Alf Garnett figure. His whole society was | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
changing round him and he felt frightened and threatened and his | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
way back at it was comedy, and it was savage comedy, and that is, you | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
know, that has been what stand up comics have done forever. We have a | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
clip here, let us take a look at you. Posthumous. Posthumous. Ho, ho, | :03:49. | :03:59. | |
ho. Are you really taking a wife? You used to be sane enough. What | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
fury has got into you? What snake has stung you? Why you endure such | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
Bishop tyranny when rope is available by the fathom. All those | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
dizzying top floor windows are open for you, there are bridges before | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
you to jump from. If none of these exits take your fancy, wouldn't it | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
be better to sleep with a pretty boy? | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
APPLAUSE Now, you first performed that 40 years | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
ago? Yes, that is right. 1976, at the Bush theatre in London, and it | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
was a rip roaring success, and had garlands thrown at it. Everyone said | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
this is grated, how wonderful, we did it here and the many people were | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
kind enough to say nice thing and one or two people said unpleasant | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
things about it. People who write for famous newspapers, and, and I | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
was amaidsed. They seemed to be suggesting that I was endorsing what | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
Juvenal was saying, instead of what, I mean I think I we all understand | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
actors do, which is to play a character who says things that... | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
You would think critics would have got used to that Not apparently yet. | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
You think that is due to the fact the climate has changed and people | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
are worried some of the things you say are potentially homophobic? I | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
think that is the anxiety. This is what happened with Alf Garnett, he | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
used to spout racist thoughts and the idea was, by him and the writer, | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
that the audience would go that is so terrible, but in fact a lot of | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
them said right on, we agree with you. That was the problem with Alf | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
Garnett. It is the problem with Juvenal. But that is in the nature | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
of that comedy. Be Fair play to you for bringing it back. It is | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
important to sort of dust it down and refresh it for modern times. | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
Yes, and also, it has to be said he was one of the greatest writers on | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
antic #2i, and a lot of what he said -- antiquity, somewhere inside that | :06:07. | :06:08. | |
mess was a vulnerable human being, you can see that clearly from the | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
book, and I think from the show, but also he articulated some of the | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
great thoughts about life, that Roman, lived by, and a lot of | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
British people live by until recently. Famous things about a | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
healthy mind and body. Britain's circuses Who will keep guard over | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
the guards themselves? That is another of his famous sayings. These | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
phrases were, you know, on everyone's lips for centuries. You | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
have a slight love affair with Edinburgh, how many, is it rude to | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
inquire when your debut performance was? 1973 so 41 year, I did my very | :06:46. | :06:52. | |
first job as an actor in this city, on the very stage I am working on at | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
this moment. The actual same venue The exact same venue and stage, but | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
in those days it was a, the international festival, it was a | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
play from the 15th century called The Three Estates. Every great | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
Scottish actor testify day was in it. People like Roddy McMillan, | :07:11. | :07:18. | |
Fulton McKay, John Grieve. Edith McArthur, all of them were in. It | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
was a member of something called the Young Lyceum Company we were a human | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
soundtrack, we lay there on the steps and went "Aye" and "No". That | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
is what a lot of Scots will be doing soon? Exactly. No don't know as far | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
as I know. So, why do you keep coming back? What is the attraction | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
of this city? Well, the location, the buildings, the feeling of the | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
city, incredible, and, I mean, I will come back for that alone, the | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
festival is something else. When came in 73 when Edinburgh was awe | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
much dour place than it is now, where it was, out of the festival | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
time it was almost impossible to find a restaurant on a Sunday, that | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
would accept your business. Accepting everybody else's business! | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
But, and, but the festival itself was suddenly, this party, this huge | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
party, It was, I must say the international festival more than the | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
Fringe. The Fringe was just growing then, but there was a fantastic | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
feeling of the city was alive and swarming, with artists of one kind | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
or another. Sometimes actors, singer, conductor, poets, it was | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
fantastic. Now you have I suppose, to add to that you have stand ups, | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
jugglers fire breather, and drummers. It's a carnival. It's a | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
great cultural carnival. To which you add in spades. Have to say the | :08:54. | :09:02. | |
gallant festival is still, juvenile nailia transfers to St James's | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
theatre London. As the festival enters its final week only one week | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
travels faster than a five-star review, that is a one star review. | :09:11. | :09:18. | |
Mark Watson has been looking at what it means for performers to have | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
success or failure. So we are almost at the end of the | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
fringe. It is time for performers to weigh up how successful their shows | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
have been. How do you measure success in Edinburgh? For a stand up | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
winning the Fosters Edinburgh comedy award is a good indicator you have | :09:40. | :09:47. | |
had a good year. Adam is back for the first time since winning You | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
have allowed me to play with you until it is time to go home. How did | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
taking home the big prize affect him? From that moment of being in | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
the room and being on a list, you feel you have gone up a level. And | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
then to win it is like OK, right, then it is not ever going to be the | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
same again. If there is one thing that is guaranteed to relax me at | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
the end of a long hard hour of comedy, it's a barely lessered | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
sketch with myself and a complete stranger in a makeshift shower | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
surrounded by electricity. This year's nominees will find out | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
tomorrow who is about to be catapulted to fame. So good luck to | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
all of them. But awards aren't everything. | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
Delighting the audience is what really matters here. This is | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
Kayleigh which puts a modern spin on the traditional Scottish dance | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
party. It has been packing in the punter, including me. | :10:48. | :11:05. | |
Wrong way! Then of course there is the dreaded reviews. Well, it is | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
important to remember that good write ups aren't everything. The | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
critics don't all get it right. The worst show at the fringe is a | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
showcase for those who have received one star notices. It reminds some of | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
the biggest names have attracted harsh criticism here I did a gig at | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
Broadmoor maximum security hospital, this is a true story of a gig that | :11:31. | :11:38. | |
went tits up. One man said your sanity brother means nothing to me, | :11:39. | :11:45. | |
nothing to me. Now that is a very tricky gig. That was pretty good it | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
going to show it is not about who takes home the biggest rewards, it | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
is about the awed wren who take a punt on a new show. Is struggling | :11:57. | :12:03. | |
performer today could turn out to be a superstar of tomorrow. | :12:04. | :12:10. | |
Cheers mate. -- audience. Well, my money is on | :12:11. | :12:18. | |
man on plinth in gas mask. Mark's own five-star show continues until | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
Sunday. My next guest has starred in TV comedies such as The Thick Of It | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
and outnumbered. She has been going it alone in her one woman play | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
written by Mark Ravenhill called Product. Please welcome the | :12:36. | :12:43. | |
magnificent Olivia Poulet. Now, Product, which I saw is | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
beautifully written and brilliantly performed by your good self, I have | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
to say. For those who have not seen it yet, can you take us through the | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
sort of rough story. It a satire about a, the movie industry, | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
basically. It a producing pitching a ghastly film project to a star let | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
about a girl who falls in love with a suicide bomber. It is an | :13:06. | :13:14. | |
extraordinary take on racism, and Islamophobia but Hollywood's desire | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
to sexualise women. You are doing one person shows, it is a very | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
specific discipline, is it not, extremely focussed. Yes. You are the | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
old hand at this, what do you think of the unique acts you need to | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
command an audience? The great thing is you know you have a story to | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
tell, you have to just lock that story in. And everybody wants to | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
hear stories, without exception, so it is about creating the | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
relationship with them, now, I haven't seen Olivia's play, but do | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
you talk directly to audience. No, we have done it so it as if... I | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
haven't got an actress in the room. I would be odd having someone 50 | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
minutes of silence. So we have an empty chair on the front row, that | :14:04. | :14:13. | |
is her. That is a big difference. If you are talking to people directly | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
and looking them in the eye, you are in a very old relationship | :14:19. | :14:18. | |
and looking them in the eye, you are in a with the audience. If you are | :14:19. | :14:25. | |
in an enclosed world with the so-called fourth wall, you are in | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
another kind of world. That is also wonderful. It is slightly different. | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
I don't think you have to have that particular energy that you need to | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
relate to an audience. It is a nice refracted way of doing it. You are | :14:39. | :14:47. | |
used to doing collaborative work. Some of it is Impreza -- improvised. | :14:48. | :14:55. | |
Let's take a look at you in action. For the other lady in your life? It | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
was in my desk drawer. I thought I would say before something special. | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
To like losing your virginity. If your penis could talk it would say, | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
I'm lonely, where is everybody. Let me out of this coughing! | :15:10. | :15:16. | |
-- coughing. How many times have you been to Edinburgh? Three. I have | :15:17. | :15:27. | |
done bits and pieces of Edinburgh. 2005, 2006 and this year. Why do it? | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
Sometimes people do not need to do it but they feel compelled. I think | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
this one was about the play. Somebody had said to me a few months | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
ago randomly that I should do a one-woman show. This came up and I | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
thought the script was incredible. It was out of my comfort done. Give | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
it a bash. Do you always feel the need to push yourself in a | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
masochistic way? I have really loved it. Now I have got into the swing of | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
it. As Simon says, it is an extra ordinary, totally unique | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
experience. -- extraordinary. You also write as well. What are you | :16:10. | :16:17. | |
currently scribing? Quite a lot of scribing. Mannix riding. I have | :16:18. | :16:24. | |
written a feature film about four girls that rolled across the | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
Atlantic. Which is a true story? Yes, it is based on a true story. | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
Another film project that we are working on is about a girl who is a | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
stalker and her half sister, a funeral addict. She goes to other | :16:41. | :16:56. | |
people's funeral? Yes, she feels it gives her a purpose. These are real, | :16:57. | :16:58. | |
these people. people's funeral? Yes, she feels it | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
gives her a purpose. There is a funeral is anonymous. You comfort | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
people. And feel you are important. Exactly. How long can you write for | :17:09. | :17:16. | |
before the need to show off comes out? Yes, well I write with people. | :17:17. | :17:26. | |
I can kind of be a child with them! I am really looking over both of | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
them are working side by acting and writing, so I get to do two things | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
are really enjoy. It is a great show. Possibly going to London? Yes, | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
we're going to do it at the Arcola next year. | :17:45. | :17:51. | |
And Product has extended its run and is at Assembly until Sunday. | :17:52. | :17:53. | |
Now continuing our theme of success at this year's festival, | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
Loretta Maine's a gal who's got something to sing about. | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
# going to the Edinburgh fringe. # I've written down my deepest | :18:04. | :18:14. | |
thoughts, music just for you. # it is going to be so much fun. | :18:15. | :18:22. | |
# would unfurl -- wonderful Edinburgh? | :18:23. | :18:33. | |
# I love you Edinburgh. It is not going quite how I planned | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
but we are only one weekend. I have played to crowds of two. | :18:39. | :18:45. | |
# who knew living your dreams would be so much fun? | :18:46. | :18:53. | |
# thank you, Edinburgh. Watch people stamp upon your face. | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
# I love you Edinburgh. Someone come and see my show! Thank | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
you! I think I'm going to make it. | :19:03. | :19:14. | |
23 days and no one has died. # at least you remember me next | :19:15. | :19:24. | |
time. Goodbye, Edinburgh. # come November, I'll start thinking | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
about Edinburgh. # the abusive partner, I adore. # | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
I'll keep coming back for more. # it will be different next year, I | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
sure. # cos I love you Edinburgh. # #. | :19:40. | :19:48. | |
Strong Independent Women at Assembly till Sunday, | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
My final guest tonight is an actor, comedian and writer, Omid Djalili! | :19:54. | :20:18. | |
So, a writer now? Yes, I know. Do you feel incredibly posh? I do, | :20:19. | :20:30. | |
actually. It is something I have always wanted to do. I cannot | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
believe it is happening. I wanted to do it here because Edinburgh | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
audiences really take me for what I am. They do not see ethnic. They | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
just see not English. Which always helps! This was your first gig where | :20:47. | :20:53. | |
you were not heckled. Use more adverts! I have heard of a heckle. | :20:54. | :21:02. | |
There was a book event above a pub. I think the writer got the most | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
weird heckle ever. Someone said at the back, they used to be a pool | :21:08. | :21:14. | |
table in here. Which is less of a heckle, more of a wistful reminder | :21:15. | :21:22. | |
of a happier time. Your book is littered with Churchill quotes, | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
which fascinates me. There is one I particularly enjoyed, which is that | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
success is failure after failure, with no loss of enthusiasm? That is | :21:32. | :21:38. | |
the Edinburgh Festival. You and I have been coming for about 20 years. | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
25, how dare you! I was a child when this began. At the end of the day I | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
called the book hopeful because of that. You need hope. A lot of people | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
do not like people who are too hopeful because they think they are | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
to head in the clouds. They say you do not fully acknowledge the pain | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
and suffering. You need to acknowledge the pain and suffering. | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
Without hope you want to commit suicide. You need hope. It was based | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
on my stand-up. I used to do a joke about my name. My name in Japan may | :22:15. | :22:28. | |
-- means hope. I think it is a very important message for all the | :22:29. | :22:31. | |
performers out there to remain hopeful. The Churchill stuff is | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
interesting not only because he is an extremely hopeful icon who led | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
the nation through troubled times, but also because he is | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
quintessentially British. There is that odd juxtaposition in your book | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
about how it feels to feel British and Iranian. The to -- two | :22:48. | :22:55. | |
coexisting. Has always been difficult for me. I did the Royal | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
variety performance a few years ago. It was very tough because my British | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
side genuinely loves the British Royal family but my Iranian side | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
hates me for it. I met Prince Charles. And I said to him, it was | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
lovely to perform for you, you dirty imperialist pig! I used to do jokes | :23:14. | :23:21. | |
about this. Spare a thought for my cousin in America who is half | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
American, have Iranian, he spends most of his waking hours trying to | :23:26. | :23:33. | |
invade himself. I feel it is very important to see a Middle Eastern | :23:34. | :23:35. | |
person who is very British. The first show I ever did was called | :23:36. | :23:44. | |
short fat kid Barb on's son. Inside me there is a tall thin high | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
cheekbones ponds screaming to get out. I think it is a very important | :23:48. | :23:57. | |
journey for people to see. Edinburgh, you have rehearsed a lot | :23:58. | :24:05. | |
of these... I love the descriptions of your family. The way that you | :24:06. | :24:08. | |
were brought up. It was not like anything I have ever read. It was | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
like an Iranian hospital full of men in pyjamas weeping. Which is rare! | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
Whenever you come out of the toilet you literally have to step over men | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
in pyjamas. It was a guest house, basically. We had Iranians coming | :24:24. | :24:33. | |
over. My father and mother were multitaskers. My mother was a | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
nurse. My father was a translator and an entertainer. It was the first | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
time I saw stand-up comedy because they believed humour would help | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
people to heal better. There is a joke in Iranian where the world -- | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
the word exit is the same word for testicles. We would often joke, | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
would you like your eggs scrambled, poached or fondled! Does that | :24:57. | :25:07. | |
account for why there was a riot when they showed the Great British | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
Bake Off to! From that of bringing, you hit Hollywood. This is you in | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
the film the mummy. One of the peaks of Hollywood fame. | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
You telling me this filthy godless son of a pig knows where to find the | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
city of the dead? Yes. And if you cut him down he will give you... | :25:30. | :25:30. | |
10%. 50%. 40. 25. Deal. All stars of the screen and yet you | :25:31. | :25:56. | |
come back to Edinburgh. Presumably you have too much money and you want | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
to lose all of it. Why do you come back? There is no financial reason | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
to come here. Is it the love of the city and the love of the work that | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
brings you back? The love of the city and them. It is that audience | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
that we love. APPLAUSE. Specifically Middle | :26:19. | :26:26. | |
Scotland and Middle England and comfortable shoes and light rain | :26:27. | :26:27. | |
were. Well, Omid's memoir Hopeful, | :26:28. | :26:28. | |
is published on August 28. Thanks to all my guests - | :26:29. | :26:30. | |
Omid Djalili, That's just about it from | :26:31. | :26:32. | |
Edinburgh Nights this year. But dry your eyes, there's more | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
comedy, music and me in Edinburgh Later, which you can see exclusively | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
online at bbc.co.uk/Edinburgh And you can catch up with all | :26:44. | :26:45. | |
of our Edinburgh Festival coverage We leave you here | :26:46. | :26:54. | |
on BBC Two with the heavenly voices of the Tshwane Gospel Choir who are | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
playing at Assembly till Monday. | :26:59. | :27:02. |