‘Wholesome Prison Blues’ is a show created by a collective of comedians who have performed at various Scottish prisons since November last year. The six acts, Jack Traynor, Paddy Linton, David ‘Tattoo Dave’ McKinlay, Amanda Hursy, Eddy Mackenzie, and Mikey Motion bring their show to the Fringe to give us a glimpse into life in the big house, and the material that goes down a storm there. We chatted to Tattoo Dave about the show’s inception, how one goes about arranging gig in a prison, and how the last year has changed his perspective on the Scottish prison system.
Can you tell us a bit about ‘Wholesome Prison Blues’?
The idea for ‘Wholesome Prison Blues came to us on the first day of the Fringe last year. Myself, Jack Traynor, and Paddy Linton were driving back to Glasgow. We’ve had a very eventful day, and we start talking about a girl who had half an audience leave halfway through her set, which can happen at the Fringe obviously. Jack pipes up in the backseat that we should be able to lock the door on these cunts until we can finish our set. Without a word of a lie Johnny Cash’s famous San Quentin famous prison song came on the car stereo, and Paddy says, ‘There’s your ultimate captive audience’ So, we joked about doing one stand-up gig at a prison, and how cool that would be and over the Fringe the idea just kept ticking over in my head. So I reached out to a few people I knew within the Scottish Prison Service. I got a couple of emails and from that I guessed at the email addresses for the higher ups, the governors and the deputy governors too. I sent off something like 300 emails. Most bounced back, but some of the prisons did get back to us and here we are, you almost a year later. We’ve done 22 prison gigs now and we’ve got a bunch more booked and somehow ended up with a full run at the Fringe.
How did you finalise your lineup as there are six comedians in the show?
Myself, Jack Traynor, and Paddy Linton me met up after the Fringe and we kind of had an idea abut who we wanted. We thought the show would work with five people, and we went away and drew up lists to see if any names marched. And basically, the other three names were Eddy Mackenzie, Amanda Hursy, and Mikey Motion, and because we came up with the same three people, we went, ‘Fuck it, we’ll do it with six instead of five. So it was basically trying to work out comedians that we knew would be relatable to the people that we’re performing to; maybe people that don’t do the most highbrow comedy because it would go over people’s heads at the best venues let alone in a prison capacity. The six of us have very different styles and really complement each other as well, which I think’s important for any group show, but particularly for what we are doing with ‘Wholesome Prison Blues’.
Once the prisons responded how did you go about arranging the gigs? Presumably there were fairly stringent checks in place before you were allowed to perform?
It does vary from prison to prison. Generally we just have to give our names and dates of birth to the regular prisons. They’ll go off and just do a quick security check and run our names against everybody in the prison as well, to make sure there’s not a conflict of interest. We’ve not had any yet but you never know. Shotts Prison is a long-term security prison, for people who are serving 10 or more years. So we had to give them a wee bit more information for that because it’s a higher security prison, and HMP Addiewell, as that’s a private prison there are more stringent checks for there as well. But basically they just want to know we’re not nutters or arseholes.
How has the response been from from the prisoners themselves? I suspect in some cases they’ll be better behaved than a rowdy Saturday night crowd at the Fringe.
100%! So the good thing about these show is if we can go in and make a group of sober guys laugh on a Monday morning then a Saturday night at the Fringe, at the Stand, or wherever you’re going to be, is not intimidating at all! The reception varies from prison to prison. Initially, we wanted to play to as many people as possible, but in a prison setting that’s going to involve bringing in residents from different wings. There’s also a lot more social dynamics going on in prison. We found that if we can make one wing laugh, the other wing’s not going to laugh at that bit. It kind of goes backwards and forwards? So when one side of the room’s laughing, the other isn’t. So we’re now playing to smaller groups. So instead of playing to 90 or a hundred people, we’re playing to anywhere between 30 to 50. Which is easier for the prisons to manage but also easier for us to connect with an audience from the same living part of the prison. All the guys are really appreciative, although it’s hard to tell sometimes during the gig, because again, social dynamics! You can see people in their wee pockets and you can work out after a few minutes who the top dog is. If you can make him laugh, every guy in his group will laugh. Or sometimes the guys don’t want to laugh in case it gets them into trouble later on. So again, sometimes you get guys that are just happy to be out their cells. They’re not there to laugh, so they’ll sit with their arms crossed and just slouch in their chair, you’ll get no reaction for them. However, we always make a point at the end of every gig of standing at the back as the guys are going out back to their wing, just thanking them for their time. And pretty much to a man they thank us, say it’s brilliant, and ask us when we’re coming back. So although they maybe don’t show it on the outside, when you speak to them afterwards, they’re really into it and they weren’t more of the same, which is good and it’s quite refreshing as well.
The material you’ll be doing at the Fringe will be some you perform at the the prisons, with some observations that come out of the gigs themselves?
We’ve had very interesting interactions not just with the residents, but the staff as well – the security staff, the governors, and the actual prison officers. We wanted to show the public the material that works in the prisons – the prison bankers – but we also want to talk about what it’s like to go into a prison, and and we really want to highlight the great work the Scottish Prison Service does as well. They do a lot of training, which I had no idea about, to my to my eternal shame. I didn’t realise prison was more about rehabilitation than punishment. You know, the punishment for these guys is being in prison but the time spent in prison is about rehabilitation. It’s helping them overcome things like addiction problems. It’s also about providing further training and education as well, to make sure that people are in a better position when they leave prison than when the went in. I really didn’t know any of this before we started this project and, we’re quite keen to air that as well. We do highlight that, you know, prison doesn’t necessarily need to be a totally negative experience. And certainly, in the prisons as well, we all are trying to just brighten up the guys’ day for an hour or so.
You’ll have a busy Fringe as you’ll also continue doing gigs at HMP Edinburgh throughout August.
I think we’re doing a full week in there, which will be the middle week of the Fringe. So we will be doing ‘Wholesome Prison Blues’ collectively, but also we’ll be taking in other acts as well that we’re working with over the Fringe, just to give a bit of variety to the people we’re working with at HMP Edinburgh. They’re quite keen to do a ‘mini-Fringe’, if you like. So they’re looking for more than just us, because although we change material, it’s probably better for them to have different acts and more exposure to different kinds of human, I suppose.
And besides both the prison gigs and the Fringe shows, as individuals can we expect to see you popping up elsewhere during the Fringe?
100%! I’m doing a couple of split bills with Stuart Campbell, ‘The Sauchiehall Comedy Club presents: The Leopard Prince & The Leopard Prints’ and it’s on Saturday 5th and Friday 18th at 9:10pm. Jack Traynor is doing a split full run with Daniel Petrie, who is the most recent Leicester Mercury Prize winner. Eddy Mackenzie’s got a full run at the Stand with Liam Farrelly. Mikey Motion’s doing his own show, that’s every Saturday. Paddy Linton’s doing a split bill with Ian Pringle and James McLuskey, and Amanda’s doing a split bill with Graham Mackie. We’ve loads going on and we’re doing other compilation shows as well. So it’s always realise the thought on the horse and pleasant blues. So as well as ‘Wholesome Prison Blues’, we’ve got full runs of individual shows and split bills as well. I’m so excited just now, but I know I’m gonna hate myself!
What for you are the best and worst things about the Fringe?
The best thing about the Fringe is the vast number of acts on show, and not just comedy, you can go and see burlesques or you can see a magic show, or go and see a play. But really, it’s just the variety of acts that are on. The worst thing is maybe the amount of people! Just because a 10-minute journey during the Fringe can take you 20 to 25 minutes. But that’s the only thing. I mean, you obviously need to embrace the crowds because hopefully they’re going to come and see us as well. So although I’m saying that’s a bad thing, that’s also the reason we’re there. We need people to be there and to enjoy the experience.
Apart from yourselves that are there any other acts at the fringe that you would recommend that audiences see? Maybe maybe some that deserve a bit more of a crowd than than they might normally get?
I know Kathleen Hughes, she’s got a show coming up as well. I’ve been gigging with her on and off for the past year, and her stuff just gets tighter and tighter all the time, which is amazing. Brian Kavanagh as well. He’s doing a few shows Boteco Do Brasil. Brian’s the next one to watch, along with Jack Traynor and Eddy Mackenzie in the Scottish community. I would recommend going to see Kathleen and Brian, for sure.
‘Wholesome Prison Blues’ runs from Thu 3 to Sun 27 Aug 2023 (except Wed 9, 16, and 23) at Just the Tonic at The Grassmarket Centre at 18:00