The inverse title equation

The End (Part 1).

That’s the title of my show this year.

Many people have asked my if it is part of a Brendon Burns-esque trilogy (including Brendon himself at a gig in Manchester).

And, while I could do (part 2) next year, that really wasn’t the intention. The show is about the time my wife rang an ambulance because she thought I was having a heart attack and the scare it gave me when I faced “The End” of my life.

I added the (part 1) as a bit of a joke.

Because I thought The End was a shit title.

To have such a definitive title, you really need something to lift it a bit, otherwise the show itself sounds incredibly depressing. I certainly wouldn’t go and see it. And I wrote the bastard.

It did inform the writing of the show however, because we have to decide the titles in February or March when there really isn’t a lot of the show written yet. It is just an idea of what we want to talk about, a few ideas for routines on a scrap of paper or an occasionally-added-to word document. So the show is really about how my health scare BECAME “The End” of “part 1” of my life. (If that doesn’t come across in the show I have failed quite badly)

Which leads me to what I have called the “inverse title equation”. A very scientific means of measuring how much fun the performer will be having and therefore ultimately how much the ticket-buying customer will enjoy it at this years fringe.

A long, complicated title, chosen so early in the year will mean the comedian can ONLY talk about that in their now narrowed field of focus. For example Jimmy Two Breads and the Book of Rules about Fishing may sound like a great, intriguing title in February, but after trying to work up jokes based solely on that for 6 months, the Fringe performance you will see will be that of a twitching, self loathing character whose regret at their once artistic folly seeps from their every pore and you can see them just waiting to scream: “FUCK THE FISH! FUCK ALL THE FISH!”

Short titles, that’s the way to go. The best shows I have seen this fringe have all had short titles, thus proving my theory correct. Stewart Lee – Vegetable Stew, Sarah Millican – Chatterbox, Carey Marx – Scoundrel, Chris Ramsey – Aggrophobic. The logic is proved.