Or: GRIM TALES OF BRITAIN!

This year’s remaining gig list may not be extensive, but I can tell you that Brother Bernard is absolutely somersetting with glee about two Tales of Britain shows lined up for later in the summer. 

Thirdly, we’re headed back to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in seven or eight or possibly even five years, with a special hour of unique folktales at the Outhouse at teatime, 3:30pm, on Sunday 24 August as part of the Free Fringe. The last time I played with the Free Fringe, I got three audience members, but did get to perform in the same pub where Billy Connolly started out, so nil desperandum.

But firstly, unwarranted latin quotes do actually provide a suitable link to the theme of our most exciting news – Grim Tales of Britain will be performed at the Crafty Café in Droitwich at 3pm on Saturday 7th June, as part of the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival! 

From our very first ever blog post about the Tales of Britain project, the inspiration of Rik Mayall, that shameless and peerless storyteller who kept us wrapt with both Jackanory appearances and above all, in Channel 4’s Grim Tales at the turn of the 1990s. As the official Blackadder chroniclers and BBC’s own The Rik obituarist, the idea of not being part of this brand new funky way to remember the King of Bogey-Wiping was a real bummer to me, so I’m chuffed as frickety to be able to provide a splash of the Grim Tales magic to the festivities. And for free, to boot! 

I sadly won’t have a sentient (and fussy) long-legged chair to sit on, but I may muss up my hear and I may wear a dressing gown instead of the usual cloak… but above all, of course, I will be carefully selecting my three or four folktales from around the British Isles to most perfectly echo the sheer bravado nastiness of Rik’s performances of German folklore in my own hour of street-side noise. The nastier and dafter the better… You won’t want to miss this show!

Oh, I missed out secondly, didn’t I? Well I may or may not do a similarly shouty al fresco T.O.B. show in Ludlow on the same day as my author’s event at 5pm on Sunday 17th August at Ludlow Castle Bookshop, ‘From Blackadder to Betelgeuse’, running through some of the ultra-rare comedy material I have amassed in my 18 years or so as a comedy historian! Maybe meet you by the cannon? Or meet Brother Bernard, that is. Ahem.

Any more for any more? Nominate a pub within pilgrimage route, and maybe you can have Tales of Britain in your own neck of the woods!

BTW We have had to move the URL http://www.TalesofBritain.com to a new landing page… Yes, we do need a whole new site…