Here are two COMEDY shows for you to see in Edinburgh!
1. Healing +
This show is a mix of stand-up, theatre, storytelling, and improv. Come help comedian Mike Lemme move out of his apartment. We don't want to give too much away, but you'll definitely enjoy the show if you ever had to deal with roommates and gatekeepers. No heavy lifting required.
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Perfect if you like storytelling comedians like Mike Birbiglia, Hasan Minhaj, and Neal Brennan (you can check them out on Netflix! Hopefully, I’ll be there soon!)
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Can’t decide between seeing stand-up or theatre? This show is a mix of both! It’s stand-up, storytelling, improv, and theatre all in one show. Something for everybody, as long as they’re 18+. Adult humor mixed with heartfelt storytelling.
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Relatable themes: trying to achieve goals, balancing work and personal life, annoying flatmates (roommates in the US!), performance anxiety, being 30 and not owning anything besides a bed, being 30 and proud you at least own a bed
SHOW DETAILS
Healing+
Showtime: 4:15PM (16:15)
Venue #152: Paradise in Augustine's - The Snug
Address: Augustines - 41 George IV Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1EL
Performances: August 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
No shows August 14, 21
Total number of performances: 21
Venue Capacity: 30 seats
*This button will take you to the official edfringe.com ticketing site.*
2. Bathroom of a Bar on Bleecker:
Emil Ferzola stars in this new tragedy/dark comedy about the final episode of America's #1 comedy podcast. Written and directed by Mike Lemme.
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Perfect if you like absurd independent theatre/satire, dark comedies, Christopher Nolan movies, love or hate podcasts, enjoy walking into something you think is one thing and being happily surprised it’s completely different
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I wrote the show with Denzel Washington in mind, but Emil Ferzola got the part instead š.
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Relatable themes: conspiracy theories, false prophets, mental health, the dangers of podcasting and social media, the emotional and physical stress that comes from needing to find a toilet immediately
SHOW DETAILS
Bathroom of a Bar on Bleecker
Showtime: 9:30PM (21:30)
Venue #29: Paradise in The Vault - The Annexe
Address: The Vault - 11 Merchant Street Edinburgh EH1 2QD
Performances: August 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
No shows August 14, 21, 28
Total number of performances: 20
Venue Capacity: 45 seats
*This button will take you to the official edfringe.com ticketing site.*
EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL 2022
MOST RECENT UPDATE!
WATCH THE LATEST POST FROM MIKE LEMME
Broadway World
“It is wonderful when a show can be funny, contemplative, and raw all at the same time, and Lemme has captured all of the above perfectly.”
Washington Square News
ā"Lemme turns his personal experiences — the struggle of dating in your 20’s, New York City apartment living and mental illness — into warm, lighthearted comedy. The show weaves multiple stories into a cohesive narrative, addressing difficult and occasionally dark topics with sincerity and hope."
Evan Ginzburg, Associate Producer of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler
"When a comedian can not only make you laugh but touch you deeply with his honesty and pain, you know you're watching someone very special. Highest recommendation to Mike Lemme."
Theatre Is Easy
"Mike Lemme finds wry humor in his dysfunctional family and his struggles in New York City, soliciting much laughter from the audience and proving himself to be a comedian of significant talent."
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Ed Fringe 2022
What Is Edinburgh Fringe Festival?
~ Mike Lemme, Comedian at EdFringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest arts festival. The official name is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe sometimes called edfringe.
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For the month of August, people from all over the world come to Edinburgh to see thousands of shows inside hundreds of venues. From stand-up comedy in attics to cabaret in a massive circus tent, at any hour of the day or night, you will discover a show you love from a performer or group you never heard of. You will have a fantastic time at this fringe festival in Scotland.
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This year the event will take place from 05 to 29 August 2022 – for the magical 75th anniversary!
When does EdFringe take place in 2022?
Where does it take place?
180 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QS, United Kingdom
One time was all I needed to have a life-changing experience. As a stand-up comedian, getting to perform every single night and getting paid to do so has been a dream of mine for years and the Edinburgh festival turned that dream into a reality, at least for the month of August 2019.
Mike Lemme, Stand-Up Comedian at The Fringe
Healing + Trailer
Mike Lemme
A former intern for Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon, Lemme has also warmed-up studio audiences for ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ and had a short story published in The New York Times.
THE 2019 EDFRINGE
My Experience
Even though I’ve only been to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe once, one time was all I needed to have a life-changing experience. As a stand-up comedian, getting to perform every single night and getting paid to do so has been a dream of mine for years and the Edinburgh festival turned that dream into a reality, at least for the month of August 2019.
During the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe, I produced a showcase show with two other American comedians. We “sold out” our show almost every night of the festival, a nearly impossible feat since many acts perform to single-digit audiences because there is so much competition.
One of the pros and cons of participating in the largest arts festival in the world is being one show amongst thousands.
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Whether you are a performer or a potential audience member, as soon as you step foot into the city in August, you will immediately receive a flyer to attend someone’s show and another flyer from a different performer immediately after that.
Our show itself was a bit messy, but thanks to creative marketing and making our show “pay what you want”, myself, Jeanne Whitney, and Carter Morgan were able to fill most of the seats for our 24 performances of ‘1 Chick, 2 Dicks, 3 Americans Get Too Personal,’ a stand-up/storytelling show about revealing too much personal information about ourselves.
Our show took place inside Just the Tonic’s perfectly titled venue “The Caves”, a cavernous theatre above a popular bar just off Cowgate and only a three-minute walk from the Royal Mile, the epicentre of this beautiful fringe festival in Scotland.
We strategically called the show 1 Chick, 2 Dicks, 3 Americans Get Too Personal, because we knew having the number one in our show title would get us listed earlier in the massive programme and on the edfringe app. I believe the earlier you are listed in the programme, the more people will see the name of your show and the description. I don’t know how true this is, but I think it’s better to be listed on the first page of all the comedy shows than on page 27.
Our show ended up being the first one listed in the comedy section of the printed programme, but having the show on the edfringe app and making every performance “pay what you want” helped us out even more. “Pay what you want” means anyone, who reserved a ticket to our show, got in for free. As a result, anyone looking for a free comedy show at 10:50 PM could look at the edfringe app and our show would be the first one to pop up, because of our number 1.
Thankfully, our title and making the performances pay what we want to allow us the luxury of not having to worry about getting anyone’s attention. We barely handed out flyers and we were still able to pack the house every night. I’m not sure I’ll be as lucky in 2022!
There are two ways to put on a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. One, have people buy tickets or two, let people attend for free and hope they donate some money at the end. Whichever avenue you decide to take, you’ll have to start by submitting your show to a production company that has dealt with all the local venues.
These production companies either require you to rent the space in each venue for your given time slot or if you agree to let the audience in for free, you can have the space for free. The latter is a much, much, much, cheaper way of doing things, but applying to these production companies who offer the venues for free can be more competitive than applying to the ones that make you rent the space.
During the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019, we ended up renting our venue and giving away free tickets (pay what you want). Since our show was a bit messy, we didn’t make as much money in donations as we could have if the show was fantastic. If someone enjoys a pay what you want show, they might end up donating more money than what the ticket price would have cost for a ticket.
As a result of all three of us being new to the fringe and performing in Scotland, we still ended up losing money on renting the venue despite the massive success of our marketing.
For 2022, I’ll be making my debut as a solo performer, as well as, bringing a new play I’m writing and directing for an incredible actor named Emil Ferzola. That’s right, I’m bringing two shows to the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with less help than I had in 2019. I have no idea what will happen!
The show with Emil, Bathroom of a Bar on Bleecker, will be taking place at The Annexe, a 45 seat theatre managed by Paradise Greene, a production company that requires performers to rent the venue for their time slot. I decided to put on this show with Paradise Greene for a few reasons.
One, I love the venue. I want ‘Bleecker’ to be seen in a traditional theatre space. Two, Paradise Greene opens their application process before many other production companies do. Three, hopefully having the show in a nice looking venue during a primetime hour (around 9 PM) will encourage more reviewers to attend the show, which could then potentially turn into more ticket sales, if the reviews are good. While the rental is quite expensive, it provides a level of control that is hard to find with production companies offering free venues. I like knowing that ‘Bleecker’ is definitely happening. It already has a great home and time slot that will put us in the perfect position to attract the most audience members.
I can’t afford to rent a venue for both shows, but fortunately, my solo show, Healing+, is much easier to produce so I’m waiting to submit that one to a production company that is offering free venues. I’m more willing to put this show up inside a small attic space at 2 pm than I would be for Bleecker because an attic at 2 pm actually fits the vibe of this show perfectly.
I know I’ll get a free venue for Healing+, but I have no idea when or where it’ll be. That’s not a risk I was willing to take on Bleecker, especially since I’m not in that show. I want to make sure Emil has an incredible experience at this festival by getting everything confirmed for him as soon as possible and letting him perform in a comfortable environment at a great time every night.
The plan is to make tickets for both shows pay what you want because I already found success doing that in 2019. Since I’m still trying to grow an audience in the UK (and, let’s be honest, in America too), I believe people are more willing to attend a show put on by a performer they’ve never heard of if they can get in for free. Hopefully, they enjoy the shows and sign up for my mailing list after. One of the reasons why I love the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is that the festival creates a meaningful bond between the audience and the performers since we are all experiencing this wonderful madness together.
I’m looking forward to tackling the unexpected challenges that will appear as we get closer to the festival, but more importantly, I’m looking forward to all the unexpected opportunities that could appear by bringing both of my new shows to this fringe festival in Scotland.
To me, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe represents hope. The Edinburgh Fringe represents the possibility of eventually making a living doing what I want to be doing. The Edinburgh Fringe represents how I want the other 11 months of the year to feel like.
See you in Edinburgh,
Mike
Come see Mike’s two new shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe:
‘Bathroom of a Bar on Bleecker’ inside The Annexe at Paradise Greene around 9 PM each night.
Healing+ at a venue TBA ( Hopefully a venue I am not renting! š)
Subscribe to my mailing list to find out when tickets go on sale!
*This button will take you to the official edfringe.com ticketing site.*
STAY TUNED ABOUT
OUR SHOW DETAILS
& VENUES.
NYC Comedian
Mike Lemme
Mike Lemme is a creator of experimental theater, who moonlights as a comedian, writer, director, and producer. In August 2022, Lemme will bring his two new plays, Healing+, for which he received a standing ovation for at the Kraine Theater in New York City, and Bathroom of a Bar on Bleecker, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. This will be Lemme’s second time at the Fringe but first as a solo performer, playwright, and director.
Known for putting on shows in unique locations, Lemme has previously sold-out shows inside tiny co-working spaces in London, Rome, and Austin, Texas, where he develops new material while sitting around a conference table with complete strangers. At the beginning of the pandemic, Mike turned his bedroom into a theater for his cult-classic zoom series, ‘Talking Privately.’ These zooms shows inspired Mike to continue to produce his own shows instead of trying the traditional approach of breaking into local comedy clubs.
A former intern for Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon, Lemme has also warmed-up studio audiences for ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ and had a short story published in The New York Times.
In 2016, Lemme self-funded a 15 night residency at the UNDER St. Marks Theater in New York City, which he turned into his first stand-up film, Help Wanted. The special show revolves around Lemme’s painful childhood in the suburbs and finding hope in New York City.
*This button will take you to the official edfringe.com ticketing site.*
Festival Performer
2019, 2022
2015, 2018, 2022
2021
2021
2019
2015
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Frigid New York
Elgin Fringe Festiva
FringeArts in Philadelphia
The Legendary St. Marks Comedy Festival
FringePVD in Providence, Rhode Island
Interesting Facts
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Gave a one-year notice for quitting job as a temp.
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First roommates in NYC were a married couple found on Craigslist.
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Performed stand-up naked a handful of times at ImprovBoston in mid-20’s.
*This button will take you to the official edfringe.com ticketing site.*