Five Minutes at Monkey Barrel, and the Pre-Festival Sets that Shape the Fringe

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Much like how Shakespeare tested his now-revered material in Shoreditch, a Fringe comedian must win the chuckles of city locals before the infamous Edinburgh Fringe festival in August. They may find themselves nervously flipping through their joke-filled notebooks in the infamous maroon waiting room of The Monkey Barrel, one of Edinburgh’s most electric comedy clubs.

Here, where every wall is covered with Fringe posters and every lampshade has silly vintage tassels, a comedian must survive a basement full of 30 people judging their material. Gareth Waugh, a Fringe comedian and regular host at the Monkey Barrel, knows this audition all too well.

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‘It’s always super nerve-wracking the first time you test material,’ Waugh tells me in the venue’s lobby under dimmed red lights. ‘I’ve been doing it 14 years now, and every time I’m still very scared.’

He tells me this in the intermission between the two Top Banana shows of the night – a show, he says, that is apparently perfect for these test runs.

‘The audience is usually 20-30 people. If the joke works when the room’s that small, then it’s going to work anywhere.’

At Top Banana, the weekly Wednesday show at Monkey Barrel, sets are shorter, lasting around five to ten minutes. They allow the perfect time for cramming in as many test jokes as possible.

However, at the Best of Fringe shows on Thursday, sets run longer at around 30 minutes. That’s about half of what a set at the Fringe turns out to be.

‘You could practice, like, a full half of your show,’ he says. ‘You have more freedom to do a bit more.’

The length of sets isn’t the only component that works in a Fringe comedian’s favour at Monkey Barrel. Many audiences outside of Edinburgh may think that Scottish comedy equates to Scottish audiences. However, rather than agreeing on a Scottish circuit, Waugh believes in a broader UK circuit that includes people of all different backgrounds in comedy and culture.

‘That’s the best part about gigging in Edinburgh,’ he says. ‘If your jokes work here, they work everywhere.’ At the Top Banana show that evening, I counted only three Scottish audience members. The rest were travellers from Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, and more. Much of the night’s crowdwork was built around the cultural diversity the venue brought in. This, to Waugh, is exactly the venue’s strength.

‘It is the best place to start up in comedy,’ Waugh says. ‘Because everybody is from everywhere!’

In this way, Monkey Barrel shows act like microdoses of the Fringe all year-round. With international comics and tourists passing by throughout all seasons, the eclectic scene makes Edinburgh stand out as one of the best places to start up in comedy.

Despite its simple, tight, classroom-like layout, the venue pushes the bounds of experimental comedy. Waugh mentioned his inclusion of projectors in his own set – something that would be impossible at a simple five-minute set elsewhere.

The venue establishes itself as a supportive starting point for those with unconventional comedy sets, like those similar to Frankie Monroe, the comedic alter ego of comedian Joe Kent-Walters, who won best newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

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When I ask Waugh which similar Fringe newcomer that audiences should keep an eye on this August, his answer is immediate: Kate Hammer, a comedian and writer hailing from Canada. After sleeping amongst cattle on a small goat farm in Ontario throughout her youth, she moved to Montreal, then ultimately Glasgow in hopes of writing for television. Now, she splits time between writing in Glasgow and hosting weekend Monkey Barrel shows in Edinburgh.

‘This is where the comedy that I love comes from!’ she tells me after declaring how she knew she’d always wanted to be in the United Kingdom. She likes a challenge. She argues that ‘North American audiences are so much more ready to laugh,’ whereas people from the UK are ‘already so funny that the bar is higher.’ That being said, she is not offended when a local doesn’t crack a smile at a bit she’s been working on for months.

‘There’s no such thing as bad audiences, just different audiences.’

Hammer remembers her first set at Monkey Barrel: a slot at the Free for All show on Tuesdays around four years ago, with a terrifying time limit.

‘I have never liked five minutes,’ she laughs. She likes to introduce herself and play with energy before getting into her bits. She got a lift all the way from Glasgow and, waiting in that same Monkey Barrel lobby, she was nervous. Of course, she went first.

After this debut, she was asked to perform for Top Banana. Then, for weekend shows with longer sets. Soon, she became one of the venue’s most beloved hosts. Now, she is excited to be hosting her debut Fringe show at the venue that she deems her ‘dream venue.’

‘The lineups are always good, the vibes are always good… This is where I want to be.’ It would be hard to not be as excited as she is; she’s got her dream director, a show she’s really proud of, and her beloved Monkey Barrel stage.

When asked why the venue is so special to her, she recounts her history as a minority in comedy. Especially as a queer comedian, Hammer understands there’s never enough queer comedians.

‘There are lots of queer people who are interested in comedy, but a lack of space and safety for these people to thrive in comedy.’

Monkey Barrel’s strength lies in its encouragement of marginalised comedians to both find their voice and use it unapologetically. Hammer credits the venue’s supportive environment for allowing queer comedians and other marginalised performers to test material without worrying about being ‘too bizarre, too sexy, too anything.’ She says this sense of camaraderie and support is why she calls the Barrel home.

Still, only one question was burning on my mind: especially with her Fringe debut just around the corner, how does she know when her jokes are ready?

To Hammer, if it’s working 90 percent of the time, then it’s ready. But sometimes some audiences simply enjoy things differently.

‘It’s more about the energy. If I am having fun telling the joke, then I’m giving my audience the chance to join in and have fun with me!’

What is certain is that, four years ago, Kate Hammer stepped onstage at Monkey Barrel for five nervous minutes. This August, she’ll spend the entire Fringe performing her debut solo show on the same stage she now calls her dream venue.

All the while, another comedian will wait for the chance of their own five-minute set, ready to test their own Fringe jokes for the first time and hoping for laughs in all the right places.

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Both Gareth Waugh and Kate Hammer’s Fringe shows have preview shows ahead of their main runs.

Gareth Waugh: Is Pepsi OK? at Monkey Barrel Comedy Club, 3rd till 6th August, and 7th August till the end of the Fringe

Kate Hammer: Government Approved Comedian at Monkey Barrel Comedy Club, 3rd till 6th August, and 7th August till the end of the Fringe

Photo credit: Chris Dudley (Kate Hammer) and Daryll Buchanan (Gareth Waugh)