Every year the festival offers some of the weirdest and most obscure
events, from theatre in the backseat of a car to performances in
toilets, or indeed on a traffic reservation in the middle of Queen
Street.
If there were an award for sheer endurance and inventiveness, it would
go to if.comedy Panel Prize winner Mark Watson for his durational
performances. Without a doubt one of the most original and spontaneous show
on the Fringe, Mark Watson’s 24 hour show has become an institution,
and those that were there to experience it first hand will tell you
what an exceptional journey it was. 2007’s Jamboree To Save The
Planet saw hundreds of people drawn into mass activities, following
Mark Watson on his trail around Edinburgh City.
Beginning at the Fringe Office, the show trailed down to the Stand
where it competed with a rival show, stretched the bones of its
audience members, and encountered a random phonecall from a
contortionist wanting to be in show. The rubber man arrived
absolutely hammered and proceeded to talk the arse off a donkey, at
which point the audience lost its patience and heckled ‘Bend! Bend!
Bend!’ At this the man thought it appropriate to strip off to his
underwear… now, for an upperbody contortionist y-fronts, we’re sure,
are quite unnecessary.
Leaving the Stand at 7am seventy people went off to plant trees with
some thirty off on a mission to organise nacho’s for the famished
hordes upon their return. A highlight of the marathon was when the
audience piled into the XFM studio to record a song for climate
change. Going on the theory that playing the song live uses up less
carbon than playing a cd, thirty people sang their hearts out and
broadcast a live session of Mark Watson and Friends definitive cover
of Walk This Way by Run DMC and Aerosmith.
By lunchtime on day two, tired and bleary eyed, the show found itself
in Csoco marquee and then on to Watson’s book launch at the Book
Festival, where the whole audience accompanied him to the literary
debut of last year’s show. Orchestrated by Corry Shaw who had
organized the different venues, a surprise awaited in the Meadows… A
homemade mountain biking course of planks in various seesaw
arrangements became the site of a biking competition where members of
the audience competed with the likes of Tim Minchin and Adam Hills.
Trying to get Richard Dawkins to come on the show provided a running
gag, after spending the whole day trying to contact him, members of
the audience facebooking him, texting him, Watson’s mobile would
occasionally buzz… ‘This will be Dawkins!…its not Dawkins.’ The
discovery that infamous evolutionary scientist was not in fact in
Edinburgh, proved no obstacle as attentions turned to Olympic swimmer
Ian Thorpe, who was apparently about to arrive on a train from Glasgow
to promote his new range of swimwear.
Teams were scrambled to find the most interesting piece of rubbish,
the youngest member of the audience at 14 years old leading one team
discovered a wooden cot, and the other team led by the eldest member
of the audience returning with a door and some gay porn. A plan
formulated, the audience turned to decorating the door and fashioned
it into a sign to greet the Olympic swimmer when he arrived at
Edinburgh’s Waverley Station.
If you’ve done one of Mark Watson’s marathon gigs before, you will
understand how compelling the event becomes, and how it is almost
impossible to leave no matter how tired you become. With people
visiting throughout the night and into the next day including fellow
comics Josie long and Lawrence Leung, the audience become the show,
and carry the momentum with suggestions, ideas, food runs and
expeditions.
Following a oatcake eating competition at the 23rd hour the event was
capped off in style and a star-studded Stars In Your Eyes finale,
provided courtesy of special guest, Matthew Kelly and contestants
Brendon Burns and Andy Zaltzman. Survivors will testify, that 2007’s
Jamboree was one of the most unique and certainly one of the most
enduringly sociable things that could happen to you on the Fringe.