Grant Stott is well known around the Edinburgh area. Initially as local radio presenter with his daily show on Forth One his interest in theatre landed him with a now established panto villain role at the Kings Theatre Edinburgh. Always part of a team though and particularly with Scots comic Andy Gray this is his first solo show. Acclaimed shows in 2014 (
All the elements of comedy and parody together and the audience lapped it up.
So Tales From Behind The Mic is generally a narrated piece linking outtakes, bloopers and interesting phone in's that Stott has gathered for this entertaining hour. His stage experience has brought confidence too though and he uses the whole stage to good effect to illustrate the many funny stories of his career so far. Judging by the welcoming cheers and nods in agreement the capacity audience knew what to expect and were big fans already but many laughs ensued through the stories and particularly the audio clips.
We hear of his life as PC Stott and teamed with PC Stitt, how he moonlighted as a club DJ then subsequently a radio DJ with overnight shows. How this developed as a daily host and the listeners who phone in before the lure of the stage brought him to successful panto seasons and Fringe shows. His timing is well honed on the stories as are his expressions and seamless audio inserts to illustrate the stories. So much really in a packed Fringe hour but delivered with pace and comic expertise.
The show closes with a live vocal over a video backdrop to a parody of Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life which became That’s Fife and originally written for the Radio Forth Awards about five years ago. It became a YouTube hit and a much requested song at his stage appearances and a fitting end to his debut solo Fringe show. Newly filmed with Fifers like Dougray Scott, Provost Jim Leishman, The Proclaimers, Ian Rankin and more this has all the elements of comedy and parody together and the audience lapped it up.
