EDINBURGH has always been a special place for me. I got together with my girlfriend here (aaah!) and had my first reviews here (both aaah! and aargh!).
Quite how long I've been coming here was brought home to me a couple of days ago during my show.
I was chatting to an elderly gentleman in the audience who I would describe as "kindly" if that didn't make him sound both fictional and slightly cree
py, when he revealed that he had seen me in my first-ever show here, as a student in 1998. I have to admit that it threw me for a moment. In some ways I'm a Fringe veteran, on the other hand I'm doing my first solo show this year. It's quite confusing.
The first three times I came to the Fringe were with student sketch shows. I did the usual student things: wacky stunts on the Royal Mile; sleeping seven or eight to a room that should only have held two; and going to lots of house parties that had various themes but should all have been called "losing the deposit" parties. I had a great time and an awful time simultaneously: the elation of good shows and reviews, the despair of bad shows and reviews, all topped off with an absurd mix of adrenaline and exhaustion. I was hooked.
In the next few years my perception of the Fringe changed. I began to see it's not just a massive party, it's also a very serious business. I'm not sure the reality has changed since my first visit, I'm just more aware of it.
It was only this year that I felt ready to do a whole hour of stand-up on my own. So far I'm really enjoying it, and the audiences seem to be too. However, it really does feel as though I'm a novice again. I hope I'll still be here in ten years' time. I might even see that kindly man again. Although by then we'll probably all have robots to do the shows for us. I mean, ten years? That's ages!
Matt Green - Grow Up Green is at the Pleasance Dome until 24 August, today 7pm. 