I got home last night. Now that’s a loooong drive. It is 2,434 miles from Edmonton to New York, but I drove more than that. I drove out of my way a few times. I drove back up to Saskatoon, visited that Spam Museum, and went a little out of my way to see Shamoken, PA. I saw a sign for that town and I had to see it with my own eyes. My grandparents on my Dad’s side were from there, and I have heard about for years and I figured this was my chance. I don’t think the tanning salon was there when they were around.
Okay, as I promised, I will give some last words on the Fringe. First of all, will I tour next year? No. I may venture out to do some theaters and trade shows throughout North America, and currently I have lined up doing Rebel Without a Nicheat Venture Theatre in De Pere, Wisconsin in March. Then again, Mike Eserkaln may replace me with a Venezuelan actor. It’s happened before 
.
Why won’t I do the Fringe next year? I’m pursuing other avenues of my career. Will I ever tour the Fringe again? Hmmm. That’s my official answer. Hmmm. There it was again. Will I do any Fringes next year? Possibly. I put my bid in for the Frigid, right here in New York, and I may do Hooray in Ottawa in ‘08. That’s all.
How was my Fringe experience this year? Great! Business was up for me in a big way. I did significantly more business in Winnipeg, a bit more in Saskatoon (remember – I actually did pretty well there last year) and in Edmonton… Holy shit. Edmonton I did over twice of the box office I did last year. Ticket prices were a tad higher, and I did cancel one show last year, but still it’s impressive. Which brings me to this question:
Why did Hooray for Speech Therapy do better than Rebel Without a Niche? Well, first of all, Hooray didn’t open in Toronto like Rebel, and it ended up getting a four-star review in the Free Press, based on a performance in Winnipeg. It got a pan from my friend at the CBC, but more people were reading the Free Press. That helps. People even in Edmonton were doing web searches and reading reviews from festivals past. I wish people would go by word-of-mouth, etc., but that is the way it is, sadly.
Second of all, Hooray had a niche market. I had speech therapists and people who had been through speech therapy going to the show. That’s actually a decent-sized market, and it got people into the door and created word-of-mouth. You can’t get any word-of-mouth going if you’re not getting anyone in the door. So I had an audience from the get-go. I didn’t have that with Rebel, which was more of a broad comedy.
Thirdly, I had media support this time around. As I said, reviews helped. A few people did trash me, but they didn’t come off very well and I think many people noticed that. I received the best reviews I have ever gotten, and I think I deserved it. And TELEVISION. In Edmonton I was on the prime time news where they did a whole segment on me. This helped me greatly. I followed it up with another television appearance and a CBC radio interview that was broadcast throughout Alberta (although it was broadcast at the very end of the festival). This was because of the speech therapy angle. I didn’t get any of those opportunities last year.
Anyway… I do feel that different people get difference experiences from doing the Fringe, and for some of us it gears us up for the next phase in our careers. I’ve done three Fringe tours now. I admire anyone who does it.
Right now the Vancouver Fringe is going on, and the big controversy is the Encore Series, which is a series of hit shows that the festival is running against their usual Fringe shows. Performers are upset because this could take box office away from them, and I agree – they should have programmed this special series after the Fringe was over. Well, I’ve been giving this advice, so I will go public with it. Here goes: If you want to stop the Encore Series, then contact the performers who are involved with it, state your case, and ask them to drop out. If they do, the Encore Series is over. I think right now every tactic except that is being employed. So that’s my advice.
I met a lot of performers who were distraught and upset over the reviews they got. I have advice for that as well. First of all, as performers, don’t base your self-worth on reviews. A guy in Orlando, upon meeting me for the first time, whipped out a piece of paper and read a review of his show to me so that I would apparently know that he was legitimate. That really wasn’t necessary and I kind of felt sorry for him. Don’t think that other shows aren’t any good because a reviewer panned it. It’s no fun to read in a newspaper that you suck, but if you are doing a show, then there is a 90% chance that someone will pan you. That’s just the way it is. Man up. God knows I have to on occasion. Keep working on your show and listen to the audience. If they like what you’re doing, then you know you’re doing something right.
