David Quirk - Shaking Hands With Danger
Dear Sir or Madam,My name is David Quirk and I'm a stand-up comedian. For the last 2 years I've been working on a live show I called "Shaking Hands with Danger". I think it's the first show I've truly worked hard on and it means a lot to me. It's about the time I was on a plane with Slash and to a more major extent about the time I cheated on my girlfriend in Finland and how I had to tell my girlfriend about it. I'm proud of the show, but not the content.
It was performed at the Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne Comedy Festivals. It won the Comedians’ Choice award at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and was nominated for Best of the Fest in Sydney. Now I want to take it to the biggest comedy festival in the world, the Edinburgh Fringe, July 31-Aug 26
As in the above video I won't go into any detail about money; I can tell you that in Adelaide no one came to see the show, really, and that left me with a good debt. The run in Melbourne went very well but money made from that basically went to paying off the Adelaide run. Sydney doesn't count because it was only 4 nights and it’s more or less impossible to make any money there. That's boring, but I'm just trying to illustrate how I'm not rich. I assume that might be implied by the fact I’m doing a Pozible but you never know...
One of the good venues at the Edinburgh Fringe festival offered me a good slot, well, not even, it was only because another very good act dropped out at the last minute that I got this opportunity (it’s hard to get, especially as an Australian) but I thought that I really have a good show for once and I should seize this opportunity.
Edinburgh can financially cripple even the local acts, so adding flights and accommodation can make it rather ridiculous. Flights, accommodation, food, marketing, publicity and festival registration can make this whole experience cost around $15,000. I am only asking for a headstart of $5,000, and I'm prepared to work hard to cover the rest myself.
Why do it? Good question. I've avoided going for years, but now is the time because I have a show ready to go, that has won awards, and that I believe deserves to be amongst all the other great shows there.
Thanks for reading and Godspeed you!
I will post whatever you want as my status on my Facebook page
- Shaking Hands with Danger Official Condom - One signed copy of my Best of CD
- A personalised, hand-written vegan recipe sent in the post - One signed copy of my Best of CD
- I will read up on your favourite topic and attempt a conversation with you about it on Skype - One signed copy of my Best of CD
- I will come to your house and do a kick-flip (Melbourne only or London/Edinburgh post July 21st). I get 3 attempts. - One signed copy of my Best of CD
- I will go to the cinema with you to see the film of your choice (Melbourne only or London/Edinburgh post July 21st) - One signed copy of my Best of CD
- Get your friends together and I will come to your house and perform 5 mins of stand-up. No heckling. (Melbourne only or London/Edinburgh post July 21st) - One signed copy of my Best of CD
- I will cook you dinner* in your home followed by a 10 min stand-up performance. Heckle as much as you like, you've paid $1000 (any Oz city (but not Perth) or London/Edinburgh post July 21st) - One signed copy of my Best of CD *please note it will be vegan as this is something I am currently trying.
- I will come to your workplace and set up a kissing booth- where I will spend an hour kissing all the staff. No tongues. - One copy for the organiser of my Best of CD
- Fly you and 3 friends to the Gold Coast to do all the major amusement parks with me in a day (Australia only) - (1 night's accommodation, park entries and travel covered) - This will be after I get back from the UK, your choice as to when in the summer (Nov 2013-Jan 2014) - One signed copy of my Best of CD (and 3 for your friends)
Join me in Edinburgh! - 1 return ticket from Australia, a week's accommodation (can't guarantee it will be 5 star), a ticket to the live show, a FREE venue pass so you can check out all the shows you'd like AND get you in to the members' bars to meet more famous comedians than me. I'll probably buy you a beer and some haggis. It’ll be wild - I'm not able to arrange visas, food or transfers etc. I wouldn't trust me to, to be honest - Oh and a signed copy of my Best of CD