A new documentary 'A1: The Long Road to Edinburgh', reveals the trials and tribulations of a stand-up comedian, preparing to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe for the very first time, and Mark Row began his year long journey with absolutely zero prior experience of performing stand-up.
In August 2017, local teacher and Fringe first-timer Mark Row arrived in Edinburgh to perform his show for the entire 25-night run. Just twelve months earlier he had never stepped on stage to perform stand-up at all.
"I had talked about being a stand up for quite some time, but I was quite scared of actually getting on stage. I thought it would be good to give myself a deadline to force myself into it and The Edinburgh Festival seemed like the perfect deadlin," Mark said.
Along the way, Row also met a host of comedians who were more than happy to share some advice and words of support.
The documentary features interviews with T.V regulars James Acaster (Mock the Week, Live At The Apollo), James Redmond (Hollyoaks and Casualty) and Ellie Gibson (Dara O'Briain's Go 8 Bit), along with 'Comedian's Comedian' Stu Goldsmith.
Mark explained: "I was lucky to be given the opportunity to speak to some of the best comedians in the business. I was initially worried that they might be dismissive about what I was attempting, but they were all quite encouraging... although they were very honest about exactly how difficult a task I was going to face."
Fortunately, he wasn't left to walk this 'long road' alone, with promoter Ben Robinson from MK comedy club 'The Comedy Cow' supporting him along the way, not only providing advice on how to get booked for gigs, but also inviting him to perform at their regular nights at The MK Dons Stadium.
They even staged a couple of gigs especially for him to test out his new material and ensure his show was ready to take to the festival.
The documentary is available on Vimeo on Demand now.
Check out the Facebook page facebook.com/markrowcomedy to see more details from the year long journey, and to get the latest updates on the film including the discount codes that the team are offering in the run up to this year's Edinburgh Festival.
TRAILER EMBED CODE: <iframe
src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/275417783" width="640" height="360"
frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>
