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The Crucifixion of Simon Munnery

by Brodie Smithers
23 January 2012 18 Comments

Edinburgh Festival's Late 'n' Live show turns 25 years old this year. To mark the occasion, here is my first hand account of what happens when below par comedians get thrown into 'The Bear Pit' of stand up...

This year sees the 25th anniversary of Late ‘n’ Live, the anarchic late night/early morning Edinburgh Festival show. Or ‘The Bear Pit’ as it is more fittingly known.  Three comedians, one compere and a room full of drunken hecklers going at it gloves off between the witching hours of 1am and 5am for three weeks. Most British comedians have been through this particular mill including Tommy Tiernan, Jason Byrne, Daniel Kitson, Johnny Vegas, Jenny Éclair, Dara O’Briain, Russell Brand and errr….Russell Howard.

All have their own mental scars to share. Johnny Vegas put it “Doing Late ‘n’ Live is the performing equivalent of self-harm.” And he’s not wrong. Its sink or swim and the best not only survive but turn the tide. The weak however, are dispatched with horrifying efficiency.

Simon Munnery was describing the worst gig of his life during an interview on Radio 4 recently. Unsurprisingly he cited Late ‘n’ Live in Edinburgh in August 2002, when he had attempted to abbreviate his League of Tedium show to fit in with the fast and furious stand-up crowd. A decision that he got so wrong, it very nearly led to his crucifixion. How do I know? Because it was me and my mob that led the pitch-forking of him that night.

It had been a long summer working on a river in the Scottish Borders. Standing knee deep in water hitting things with a hammer and being bitten by midges. Heading up to Edinburgh with our wages we crashed out in the flat of a horrified bloke called Neil that one of us knew. We were rarely sober, rarely clean but did have four magic press passes for the festival that we’d blagged off a woman we knew. This kept Neil happy for about five days until suggested that we have a final night out before he “really needed some peace to get on with his studies”.

The tension began to rise. “Tell us a joke that’s funny you cunt!” came the first offering from our party.

The inevitable and highly predictable hose up culminated in us blagging our way into Late ‘n’ Live and we headed up the steps onto the balcony just as Munnery was taking the stage. We could only catch glimpses of his avant-garde show through the impenetrable crowd of bodies in front of us as he pirouetted around the stage shaking a tinsel wand and making weak jokes.  The tension began to rise. “Tell us a joke that’s funny you cunt!” came the first offering from our party. Chuckles across the still largely quiet room. “You’re doing visual comedy and I can’t see! You  cunt!”  More mirth and a few claps. A clearly perturbed Munnery started a monologue about what Jesus was thinking about on the cross. “You’re not funny and you’re a cunt!”  came the immediate response from my group of balcony-based art & culture critics.  Worryingly the 500 or so punters in there with us started to agree. Throaty heckles and boo-ing rose like a dirty great wave across the room. “Crucify him!” came the call. At which point all hell broke loose. The room erupted into a ferocious explosion of expletives and thrown stuff. Munnery immediately made his excuses and ran off stage, only to then foolishly attempt to return. At which point the whole crowd started chanting “Cunt! Cunt! Cunt!” and screaming threats. Sensibly he sought refuge in the wings.

Order was then restored when genial compere Jason Byrne (or was it Ed?) came out and started telling passive jokes about how hilly Edinburgh was or something. Unfortunately one of our lot hadn’t noticed the quietness in the room and still unable to see properly forced his way through the crowd to the front of the balcony before unleashing a hugely primal and very loud “Cuuuuuuuuuunt!” at the bemused Irishman. Cool as ever, he turned and remarked “One of Simon Munnerys fans still here then?” This humiliation neatly sounded the bell on our night of drinking and hate and also Simon Munnerys Late ‘n’ Live hell.

Unlike Munnery, late ‘n’ Live survived and goes from strength to strength. With the introduction of live streaming it can now be enjoyed out of the confines of the physical bear pit. But it’s still as fierce as ever. Just ask Jenny Éclair who once remarked “I don’t know why I did Late ’n’ Live. There was no polite ignoring of the act, I mean, it was full on ‘fuck off’, ‘get off’, ‘fuck off’.  I would more or less break out into a sprint from the wings to the microphone because, if I didn’t get that microphone within point three seconds, they would start.”  Or if you were Simon Munnery, it would be point one of a second and quite right too. Long Live Late ‘n’ Live.

It’s High Time Pigeons Learnt Some Bloody Manners

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image descriptionCOMMENTS

cliff vicious 8:10 am, 23-Jan-2012

You sound like a witty cunt. Ever thought about getting interested in football supporting

Craig 9:44 am, 23-Jan-2012

What exactly is the point of this article? Once upon a time, you were drunk and said cunt a lot. The end. This is piss-poor from an otherwise excellent site. Simon Munnery is one of the finest comedians in the country.

Brodie Smithers 10:01 am, 23-Jan-2012

Craig - The point of this article is that Simon Munnery cited it as the worst gig of his life and that Late n Live in 25 years old. It's a celebration of that, cheer up. Simon Munnery can be very funny in the right context but this wasn't it.

Robert 11:00 am, 23-Jan-2012

Christ, you and your 'mob' sound like a right bunch of bores.

Richard Sander 2:39 pm, 23-Jan-2012

I used to write Fringe reviews for my local radio station during the first few years of late and live. Heckling was regarded as part of the show and a comedian with the skills to handle it, came out with the respect of the audience. For the past few years, the piss-poor wankers charging a fortune are allowed to get away with mediocre material, safe in the knowledge that hecklers will be asked to leave or will loose the "heckle deposit" charged by some venues. Robert, the real bores are many of the acts. Craig, in the right circumstances, heckling sorts out the wheat from the chaff. Lots of locals - who have kept the ticket sales buoyant in recent years - have become reluctant to risk spending upwards of £15 on an hour-long set of shite. I applaud Brodie and his mates for making sure that one less cunt is able to get away with rubbish material. Bring back the heckler!

Chris 2:45 pm, 23-Jan-2012

But it isn't a celebration of that at all, Brodie. It's you celebrating yourself and your mates. Celebrating yourselves for being bullies.

Lee Monade 2:47 pm, 23-Jan-2012

Simon Munnery is brilliant. He has to deal with pricks every time he performs - every comedy audience has them. The real achievement of this night sounds like it was the biggest assembly of comedy audience pricks.

Brodie Smithers 2:51 pm, 23-Jan-2012

Chris - We were drunk baying monkeys for sure. But that's the whole point of Late n live. It's why it's on between 1 and 5am and has such a fierce reputation. Lee - You summed it up perfectly and indeed the point of the article.

Lavender 4:46 pm, 23-Jan-2012

Late n Live was totally, totally the wrong audience for Simon Munnery. Hats off to him for even trying. I saw him use a cut down version of The League for the first couple of Now Show programmes (I was at the recordings) and it really didn't work there either. Different audience to Late n live, granted... He's probably my favourite ever stand-up. The League shows were amazing, as were Buckethead and the Edinburgh AGMs. He can destroy a heckler at a hundred yards, but he needs full length shows to hit his stride, he's not a short-set kinda comedian, which is possibly why he's never gained the mass popularity of his peers. Not sure I'd be proud of shouting a heckle as banal as Cunt! Cunt! Cunt! though...

Varkko 7:11 pm, 23-Jan-2012

I only want to hear a heckler if he's witty, but maybe that's just a Scouse thing. Hurling obscenities is not witty. I dont see why comedians should waste good put-downs and comebacks on hecklers who are pissed and rowdy and too lazy (or thick) to try and outdo the comedian at his own game. Bring something to the table or shut the fuck up. A good heckle works because it is funnier than the material coming from the 'expert' up front. Now i'm not denying that the word cunt can be used to great comedic effect, but if this article is accurate, this wasn't one of those times. Maybe what should be celebrated is the fact that Munnery didn't find a blunt object and wrap it around the head of one of your 'mob'.

Varkko 7:12 pm, 23-Jan-2012

Cunt.

Brodie Smithers 7:25 pm, 23-Jan-2012

Varkko - shouting cunt was funnier than the material on offer. That was the point. Maybe you missed that? Is that a scouse thing too?

Richard Sander 9:43 pm, 23-Jan-2012

if more comedians brought "something to the table,"then perhaps there would be less heckling. I can draw a direct correlation between the decline in heckling and the rise in crap comedians who wouldn't have lasted more than a couple of shows back in the 80s. There are places with a far more ferocious audience reputation than Edinburgh. In fact, look no further than Glasgow. Whether you like them or not, Frankie Boyle and Kevin Bridges are two of the most successful comedians of the past few years. And guess where they are from? Could it be that the heckling helped them polish their respective acts?

Richard Sander 9:51 pm, 23-Jan-2012

By the way, on the subject of bullies, Mark Lamarr got his comeuppance at Late And Live in the early nineties. He challenged the heckler to a fight, but the guy just sat on the stage before diving into the audience. I think the greasy lover stuck to humiliating people on TV after that.

Chris 11:32 pm, 23-Jan-2012

Brodie - seriously, you've written a review celebrating you and your mates. No one's impressed. Now you're telling us we're wrong. We're not wrong. Munnery is one of the finest comedians ever to perform. But even if he weren't (and he doesn't need us to defend him), it wouldn't make this a good piece of writing. Cos it isn't. It's piss poor, smug, self-centred showing off, submitted under the pretence of writing about the demise of an institution that very much plays second fiddle in the piece to how brilliant you and your mates are at shouting 'cunt'.

Brodie Smithers 12:21 am, 24-Jan-2012

Chris - I get it, you love Simon Munnery and are upset he got called a cunt 10 years ago. Truth is he stood in front of a drunk comedy crows and waved a piece of tinsel, then got shouted off because it was shit. By the way, what's this 'we' business?

John 5:25 pm, 27-Jan-2012

This is a horrible article about a wonderful stand-up. "Unlike Munnery, Late 'n' Live survived"; nope, he's survived and embodies everything good comedy is about. Late 'n' Live seems to be what bad comedy is all about. The idea that you can call Munnery a "below-par comedian" is absolutely astonishing. The fact that Stewart Lee champions him so vehemently is incredibly important. You don't understand comedy, you seem to be a foul man, and audiences of people like you ruin many a good comedy night.

Brodie Smithers 5:41 pm, 27-Jan-2012

Don't take my word for it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bclh2/Late_n_Live_Guide_to_Comedy_Episode_1/

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