Fringe Diary – Days 10 & 11: Pushing Past the Point
- Michael Porter
- Aug 12
- 2 min read
Day 10 and Day 11 are coming in as a double bill, because I’m tired. Not “ooh, I didn’t get my eight hours” tired — Fringe tired. The kind that seeps into your bones and makes your body whisper “go home” every time you pass a taxi rank.
Every year is exhausting, but this year… this year I’ve got something to fight for. And that changes everything. I’m pushing hard, and I will push hard right up until the final night. Actually, scratch that — longer than that. PBH ends on the 24th, but I’m still doing shows on the 25th of August. No rest, no switch-off. This is a business, and I’m treating it like one.
The Mission
What I'mbuilding here is the best comedy club in Edinburgh. No gatekeeping, no pandering, no bending over backwards to please the loudest minority. At The Comedy Cellar, you can say what the fuck you want to say. We’re not about labels, politics — we’re about comedy. And audiences are hungry for that.
You can feel it. People are fed up with the divides, fed up with walking on eggshells. They want a room where they can laugh without a filter, and that’s why this club is taking shape the way it is. That’s why it’s going to keep taking shape long after the Fringe lights go out.
I’m working hard now so I can work differently later. The aim is to cement the club’s legacy — so that one day, I can step back and make passive income from a place that runs itself, without me doing stand-up seven days a week. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always be working hard, but it’ll be the kind of hard that builds something bigger than me.
Day 10
Andy Gleeks and Kurt Sterling smashed it. Another full house. I keep saying I don’t want to say “sold out” because it makes me sound cocky — but here we are again. If you weren’t in the room, you missed out.
We run in the moment. No theme nights. No box-ticking. Just what’s funny, right now, in this room. It’s brave, it’s messy, and it’s real.
Day 11
Tonight? Possibly the best paying audience of the Fringe so far. By a country mile.
The line-up was killer: Iain Christopher, Ryan Wingfield, Efde & Efde (yes, still spelling it right), and Kiyanosh Sahebi.
Efde & Efde were the best I’ve seen them since they landed. Special. Unique. They’re going somewhere, and hopefully they’ll take us all along for the ride
Beyond the Fringe
I’ve already sold tickets for The Best of Irish (25th - 31st August
), sold a stag do for November, and a party in December is already booked up. Tickets are flying. Why would I stop now?
The Comedy Cellar isn’t just a pop-up Fringe success — it’s the foundation of something bigger. And I’m going to keep pushing until it’s unshakable.
If you want safe, go somewhere else. If you want real, you know where to find us.
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