Local heroes

International diversity is a huge part of what makes the Edinburgh Fringe so unique. But with the Pleasance, Assembly, Gilded Balloon and Underbelly launching their combined brochure in London this year, one might be forgiven for wondering if the festival truly cares about showcasing Scottish talent.

That might seem ridiculous given the Government-backed Made In Scotland strand of music, theatre and dance, as well as Daniel Sloss performing 30 shows at the 1,200-seater Edinburgh Conference Centre – not to mention the Fringe-within-a-Fringe of the Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn.u

Yet Scottish comedians remain overlooked by the media and Fringe audiences, reckons Jo Caulfield. The English stand-up, of Irish parentage and born in Wales, tours across the UK and moved to Edinburgh three years ago. She swiftly established the popular storytelling night, The Speakeasy, and the panel show and podcast The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected, both featuring a significant number of Scottish acts.

“Everyone's struggling for any kind of Fringe press and there are tonnes of comics that go unnoticed,” she reflects. “But what I find funny is audiences that go a whole month without seeing a Scottish comedian. As visitors, you would think it's logical to see people from the country you're visiting, more so than coming all the way from London to see Richard Herring.”

The Good, The Bad... is about to follow The Speakeasy onto the airwaves, with a series commissioned by BBC Radio Scotland. So Caulfield and producer Richard Melvin will be scouring the Fringe for new talent to feature, with an emphasis on acts from Scotland. “It's exciting,” she says. “We've got people in already who we know are brilliant but some new blood keeps everyone on their toes and gives you a better product as well.” As well as performers, “we're looking for writers – people who can put the lines in for guests who perhaps aren't quite as good in that department”.

She cites Gareth Waugh and Robin Grainger as local acts who rose to the challenge of The Good, The Bad's live shows, “from really putting the work in, it's very gratifying when you see people getting better before your eyes”. The pair are appearing in Game of Loners, a triple-hander with Gareth Mutch at the Beehive, with Waugh also delivering a work-in-progress, Absolutely Nothing, and, cheeringly, appearing in Scottish showcases at the Gilded Balloon and Underbelly.

For the Scottish press, it's all too easy to focus on the unfamiliar performers who are here for only three weeks, and remain slightly blasé about those you can see all year. Yet some Scottish acts have built up such a head of steam over the last 12 months that they can't be dismissed.

By any measure, Gary Little has had a cracking year, following up a support slot for US heavyweight Bill Burr by scooping best headliner and best show at the inaugural Scottish Comedy Awards. However, back at the Fringe for the first time since 2009, he has to build enough momentum from the festival to raise his profile. Despite topping the bill at some of the most established clubs in the UK, including The Stand and The Glee Club, he still struggles to get bookings elsewhere, fighting an uphill battle without a London-based agent.

“You phone up venues and the fuckers just don't get back to you,” he laments. “I'm too old to keep travelling down for 10-minute spots. So I'm just hoping to do a good show at the Fringe, get some nice quotes for a future poster and then maybe I can get more gigs out of it, a wee tour perhaps.”

For Caulfield, putting Scottish voices on Radio 4 with The Speakeasy was logical while they were recording at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. But it was also important “because unfortunately, everybody on it sounds like me. I don't think that they're deliberately overlooking those with regional accents but a lot of people at the BBC are middle-class and from the south, so they tend to gravitate towards people like themselves. So we featured Gareth Waugh, who'd never done that kind of radio before, Keir McAllister and Janey Godley, who was fantastic. People like Gary Little and Janey, their style is very earthy and powerful. When Janey does The Speakeasy, audiences are absolutely mesmerised by her.”

The independence debate ought to shine a “spotlight” on Scottish comics, she suggests. It's certainly an opportunity, agrees Mark Nelson, who believes that any stand-up from north of the border who ducks the issue is failing as a comic. “I'd like to think they'd mention it a wee bit,” he says, “because it's such a massive thing that's happening for the country, certainly in my lifetime. They have to make at least passing reference.”

Nelson recently recorded stand-up and sketches with Susan Calman for that other huge event in the Caledonian calendar, the Commonwealth Games (as part of the BBC Scotland television show Don't Drop The Baton), though he naturally followed the work and started gigging outside of Scotland as soon as he became a full-time comic.

He doesn't accept that Scottish comedians are ignored at the festival and maintains that talent will always rise to the top, regardless of accent. “I've heard Scottish comics claiming that they don't get a fair deal but it's small-mindedness, it's got nothing to do with where you're from. If you're good, you won't get overlooked. Look at Susan [Calman], she's Scottish but is always a big feature at the Fringe and always gets great write-ups.”

According to one of the nation's most promising newcomers, Susie McCabe, Scottish acts can't take audiences for granted and need to work harder, as the diversity of the Fringe means they're “up against guys telling jokes and juggling knives”. But “there is a certain snobbery within the comedy world that 'aye, they'll just be too Scottish'. You never hear anyone say Josh Widdicombe's too Devon or John Bishop too Scouse.”

She's embarking on her first full run at the festival to make herself “a better comic”, and her material reflects where she comes from, but she's striving “to make it as generic as possible, not parochial. Because audiences at the Fringe are spoilt, they can see anything they want, whenever they want."

Still, “they need to know that the Scottish scene is actually in a really healthy state. It's healthier now than when I started three years ago and everyone seems to be busy. I just want a couple of good reviews that can put me on the map outside Scotland, evidence to show that I've got something.”