Karen Koren: Sir Chris: Get on your bike for Fringe

By KAREN KOREN
Published on 09/08/2012 14:53

TEAM GB are up and running, that is Team Gilded Balloon, not Team GB who are winning medals at the Olympics and have been doing surprisingly well, which is great for the UK.

We have had a great first week and, let’s face it, we would be mad to say that the Olympics have not hit us, especially in the first weekend, but we are now forging ahead and the reviews are coming in.

A week on, the Olympics end this weekend and we still have another two and a bit to go. We expect it to be a bumper last two and a bit weeks.

We have been getting lots of five and four-star reviews, the staff are running about in their pink T-shirts branded “Balloon Staff” for boys, “Gilded Staff” for the girls – my little joke.

It’s hard enough for some boys to wear pink T-shirts at the best of times, but to be called Balloon to boot shows their metal.

I think we have some of the nicest staff at the Fringe.

They smile and enthuse to the ticket buying public and generally enjoy being part of it all.

The other day there was, what they call an “Industry Lunch”, the Fosters Comedy Awards Lunch, with all the comedy promoters and venue managers involved in promoting Comedy at the Fringe.

Nica Burns, who runs the competition and who is a stalwart of the Festival and a huge supporter of the Fringe and comedy, challenged Sir Chris Hoy to bring the comedy loving public back to Edinburgh, once the Olympics is over.

So I now support that challenge and say, Sir Chris, after the most successful Olympics this century, come to Edinburgh, your home town, collect your Freedom of the City and enjoy a jolly good laugh at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe.