I may have made a big error.
Edinburgh is always a mistake on some level. You go up there with your very first solo show to play at The Pleasance Fucking Miles Away or the Guilded Balloon Asbestos Cupboard and realise that, instead of getting a four part Radio 4 series based on your theme of only falling in love with people who have the same name as characters from Mr. Benn, you have spent £8000 on being ignored except for one 17 year old who wrote on igotafreeticketthatididn'tfuckingdeserve.com that you are "a cunt". Luckily, I'm too jaded and cynical to ever fall for that sort of thing so I pretty much have to make my own mistakes and I definitely think I've make a doozie.
Stupidly, I said out loud that I thought I'd go Vegan for the whole of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Now, yes, you're right. I am bound to fail but I also think that I might as well try something new while I'm up there. It's not like I can do anything else that's healthy. The gym is a place that only egotistical, competitive look-at-me's go to and I'm going to get enough of that while I'm there and I can't give up booze. Ever tried talking to a comedian sober? Christ. What? A three-star review, you say? Read like a five? Yes, Frisky & Mannish have done well quickly. Of course, you deserve it more than them. You're writing a book? I have to go.
With that in mind, turning vegan for four weeks seems the only option. It's probably something I should be looking into anyway. I'm fairly confident there's a lot of ethical dairy farming in Britain but there's a lot of horrible things happening to cattle and chickens too. I sometimes don't know where my dairy stuff comes from so, hey, why not go without for a while and see what happens. Any help or advice would be gratefully received.
Robin Ince and I did our penultimate preview of Pointless Anger, Righteous Ire last night and I enjoyed it immensely. What an absolute treat to be doing a load of material I don't normally do, improvising with the audience and working with Robin. He is so much one of the very, very best stand-ups we have and he just gets better. Never tell him this. If he knows, he will become happy, content and shit. We have one more preview at the Roundhouse in Camden tomorrow night. Please come along. Book your tickets now. Last night's show was very well subscribed. Then we're both off to Edinburgh and our first show is at 2pm on the 7th at the GRV, Guthrie Street. To say the least, I'm excited.
Also, I'm in a musical. Don't forget that, OK? I'm in a fucking musical.
On Twitter, please use #pointlessanger or #guttedmusical
www.guttedthemusical.com
www.michaellegge.info
9 comments:
Hooray for veganism! One of the best things you can do is get a copy of the 'Animal Free Shopper' from the Vegan Society. In fact, I'll give you my copy when I see you in Edinburgh. Absolutely invaluable to someone starting out as a vegan and wondering what the hell they can eat. I hope you enjoy the four weeks and decide to carry on!
Oh yeah, and good luck with the comedy and musical things you're doing as well...
Fiona x
http://www.vegansociety.com/
http://www.crueltyfree.org.uk/edinburgh/
That's really lovely of you, Fiona. Thank you!
What will you do the next time you're feeling poorly and wanting to watch Bagpuss with your cup/fork combination set, hmm? ;)
That aside, hope it goes well for you if you decide to stick with it :)
Congratulations!
You're right there are loads of ethical problems with the dairy industry I was a vegetarian for 17 years because i thought animals dying for my food was wrong. Then i stopped to consider all the animals that died for my dairy produce (not to mention beng treated pretty horribly while they are alive) dairy cows are on average killed at 5yrs old since they could live to 25 they all die babies since they stop being productive. male chicks who are no use as laying hens are killed when they are still all yellow and fluffy sometimes by being crushed alive. oh and the baby cows who are taken from there mothers and killed after 24hrs- apparenently the mother cows cry for thei9r calves at night.
i am not sure there can be such a thing as ethical dairy as it just wouldn't compete commercially- but maybe if you got yourself a cow in your back garden...
on the upside here are some things i have learnt as a vegan...
pink panther biscuits and bourbons are vegan!
peanut butter and jam sandwiches are vegan!
most dark chocolate (the posh ones) are vegan!
there is a vegan cupcake stall in greenwich market in london.
and so much more! enjoy reading the labels and that feeling of happiness knowing you are living up to your values!
love becky x
Bourbons are vegan? Thank fuck! Becky, you're brilliant.
oh and here's another thing you don't have to learn from bitter experience: soy milk curdles in coffee (unless you steam it and who can be arsed to do that?) but oat, rice or nut milk works just fine.
have fun in edinburgh!
Becky x
I've been pondering veganism for a little while. I dont like having to turn a blind eye to where the eggs / milk / cheese has been sourced from.
I am also aware that i am a lazy vegetarian. I barely ever have a meal that isnt in someway cheese based. I am completely addicted to the stuff and i hate that.
Best of luck with it. I think you are incredibly strong for making that decission. I am still wavering
Jamie Kilstein managed to successfully guilt me into veganism a few weeks ago, and I'm actually finding it far easier than I expected to, so here's hoping you do too :)The things that have kept me going so far are swedish glace ice cream and plamil dairy free chocolate... but that probably says more about me than about being vegan. Vegan cheese is also surprisingly good, but better melted in my opinion. Good for toasties/pizzas and that sort of thing.
Anyway, I can't really offer any helpful advice as I'm pretty new to all this myself but good luck with it and I hope you have a great Edinburgh. From the preview I saw, Gutted is fantastic, and anything involving an angry Robin Ince (tautology?) has to be good.
Amy. x
Also, to Becky- bourbons being vegan has pretty much made my day! Thanks for that :D
Exceptionally late to the party but for some Edinburgh tips from a persob of the non-dairy persuasion:
Jordan Valley Wholefoods (opposite the Festival Theatre) has lots of lovely flapjacks and cakes and things.
The vegan thali in Kalpna (just up the road, again, still near Pleasance and Gilded Balloon) is better than the dairy veggie one.
Over Bruntsfield Road way, the Chocolate Tree cafe has some incredibly, incredibly good vegan chocolate cakes, and their chocolate bars (which you can also get in Jordan Valley) are incredible. Local chocolate business FTW!
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