list.co.uk/festival Cabaret Bar | F E S T I VA L F E AT U R E S
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see Eddie Pepitone. As with this year, The Stand regularly houses Daniel Kitson when he fancies dipping his toes back into stand-up, while Bridget Christie walked away with the Edinburgh Comedy Award after performing a lunchtime show there in 2013. But for many comedians, the Pleasance Courtyard Cabaret Bar has a very particular allure in August. First used as a comedy space in 1985, getting a slot there in the 1990s appeared to be the gateway to a Perrier Award nomination. Frank Skinner, Jenny Eclair and Harry Hill all won awards for shows in that room, while Al Murray performed there during his spectacular early run of Pub Landlord happy hours (Nick Helm admitted that being led up on to the Cabaret Bar stage as a callow youth for ritual humiliation and a big hug from Murray helped shape his own brand of hands-on and in-your-face comedy).
‘I fi rst played the Cabaret Bar in 1991 when I won the Perrier,’ recalls Skinner. ‘It was
smaller then – like doing a gig in a lift – and air conditioning was still on the Pleasance’s to- do list. In those days the winning show would be interrupted near the end when the entire panel of judges turned up and handed over the trophy. They also gave me champagne and fl owers. That was the standard package, and alcoholic winners like me had to make-do and mend.’ In more recent times, Nish Kumar and Alex Edelman received main-award nominations for Cabaret Bar shows, while it was also the venue for 2017’s joint-winning show from John Robins. ‘When I was offered it for The Darkness of Robins, it was a complete no- brainer,’ he admits. ‘It was absolutely perfect for the show I was performing. It’s big enough to really throw lines out there and feel the laugh hit back, but small enough for the sweat and spit to fl y off into the front rows, which, believe it or not, is a good thing.’ >>
Clockwise from left: John Robins, Al Murray, Jenny Eclair, Alun Cochrane, Glenn Moore 14–26 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 13