After selling only one ticket to his gig at the Edinburgh Fringe, most comedians might have invited the “audience” for a pint instead.
But not Robin Grainger, from Portsoy, who instead struggled through his entire show, tailoring it to “Mike from Leicester”.
And now thanks to a post on social media from Mike, who was the entire audience, Robin has become an overnight success.
The gig on Friday night was attended by Mike Cass – a content director for Virgin Radio.
I saw @RobinGrainger on Friday night, the only person in the audience. He made me laugh so hard, I loved it. I go and see @des_clarke today and one of his guests was Robin telling the story of his only audience member. I feel I should start the #RobibGraingerAppreciationSociety https://t.co/VRJTlmCvVO
— Mike Cass (@MikeCassRadio) August 7, 2022
He tweeted: “I saw Robin Grainger on Friday night, the only person in the audience.
“He made me laugh so hard, I loved it. I go and see Des Clarke today and one of his guests was Robin telling the story of his only audience member.
“I feel I should start the #RobinGraingerAppreciationSociety.”
Following the tweet, Robin started to sell many more tickets.
My phone blew up all day yesterday.
Overwhelmed messages of support from loved ones, audience members & the comedy industry. Thank you all so much & thanks to Kate Copstick. ❤️
Yesterdays show was a few people shy of a sell out.
6.40pm @StandComedyClubhttps://t.co/TBkKqyu7jH https://t.co/uXulOKSro4
— Robin Grainger (@RobinGrainger) August 7, 2022
On Twitter, he said: “My phone blew up all day yesterday. Overwhelmed messages of support from loved ones, audience members & the comedy industry.
“Thank you all so much and thanks to Kate Copstick (of The Herald).
“Yesterday’s show was a few people shy of a sell out.”
Robin is playing at the Stand Comedy Club until August 28.
One ticket sale
He told the BBC: “I had been busy doing guest spots, exit flyering, the things you do during the day at the Fringe, and hadn’t checked ticket sales.
“I’m an optimistic guy, it was the first Friday – everyone was tweeting about busy audiences. I thought it would be fine.
“My lovely tech operator Eric came to give me my two-minute warning and I asked how is was looking, and he winced.
“He said ‘There’s one’.”
Robin moved to Edinburgh 10 years ago to “make a go” of comedy, he said he went through “every emotion in the space of two minutes”.
But then he went on stage to speak to the solitary man in the audience.
His name was Mike, from Leicester, and he said he would stay if Robin wanted to do the show.
Robin said: “I thought, he had paid his ticket and I’ve got a microphone and an ego, so I went for it.
“I did different stuff – it was a lot more convivial than my normal show. I did a lot of adlibs, I wrote a lot of it there on the stage. I tried to tailor it to Mike, really. And he was really laughing.
“Afterwards, I was outside a bit flustered and he came out and he was crying, laughing, and he gave me a hug and he said that was brilliant.”
His show page reads: “After his highly acclaimed debut show in 2019, star of The Comedy Underground on BBC Scotland, Robin Grainger is back with more hilarious observations as he tries to put an end to putting things off.”
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