Officially endorsed by the estate of Terry Pratchett, Marc Burrows’s comedic lecture and celebration of 40 years of Discworld is being held at the Gilded Balloon Teviot at the Edinburgh Festival this year.
Marc Burrows is a writer, comedian, and musician. He has written for The Guardian, New Statesman, Big Issue, and Independent on culture and social issues. His Edinburgh Fringe shows include “The Ten Best Songs of All Time” and “Mind Your Head.” His second book, “The London Boys: David Bowie, Marc Bolan, and the 60s Teenage Dream,” was published in 2022 to critical acclaim. It is currently in the starting development stages for a feature-length documentary.
Outside of writing and comedy, Marc is a member of the cult punk band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. The band has performed at festivals such as Download, Glastonbury, Bestival, and Latitude, and they have toured the UK and US.
Marc’s The Magic of Terry Pratchett is 60 minutes long, runs until the 28th and is suitable for ages eight and up. The show will incorporate elements from Rob Wilkins’ official biography, “Terry Pratchett: A Life in Footnotes” (a Sunday Times bestseller), and licensed media.
Each performance will be followed by a bonus interactive show, “The Magic of Terry Pratchett: The Footnotes,” which will feature a Q&A session, readings from rare Pratchett works, and interviews with special guests, including friends, colleagues, and Discworld fans.
That’s the pitch. When Team Edinburgh Reviews was offered a chance to talk to Marc, Girdy, one of those Discworld fans, said yes!
Do people need to know much about Discworld to enjoy the show?
No, absolutely not. It’s something I’ve been really keen on from the word go – it had to be accessible to non-fans. If you’re a huge fan then there’s some stuff you’ll get more from, but I think it really works even if you’ve never heard of Terry Pratchett. It’s the story of an interesting life. My hope it that you’ll be inspired to pick up a book, though!
Is there anything about Good Omens in it?
It gets a namecheck, for sure, but I don’t dwell on it. Terry was absurdly prolific; Good Omens was one of FIVE Pratchett novels published in 1990 alone! I made a specific decision that if I went too deep on the books (which I did in my biography, on which the show is based) I’d have to miss a lot of other stuff out. Everyone has a favourite book, and Terry wrote 59 of them! Although if you come to the bonus “The Magic of Terry Pratchett: The Footnotes” show, which is a fan-focussed bonus show happening after the main one every night and ask me about Good Omens then, I’ll go on and on at length!
Why did you decide to take the lecture to Edinburgh?
It wasn’t really written to be a “lecture”, although “comic lecture” does sum it up quite nicely, with the emphasis really on the “comic” part. I’ve also heard it described as a “talk”, which honestly, I sort-of hate because in my head it’s first and foremost a stand-up comedy show, and I’ve worked hard to make sure it earns it place in the comedy part of the Fringe programme. The Edinburgh Fringe is where comedy shows go to thrive. I love doing the Fringe, and to be honest it never occurred to me not to take this show up. Where else can I do a show like this, night-after-night, and know that there’ll be an audience to see it? Fringe audiences will take chances, they’ll engage with ideas. It’s the perfect setting.
If you had to guess what Terry Pratchett would make of the fact people were hosting lectures about him during the Festival?
Publicly, he’d be a little withering and probably call me a nerd, privately he’d be overjoyed at being celebrated. Again though, it’s not just billed as a “lecture”, it’s a “comic lecture”, which is just another way of saying “stand-up comedy show”. Writing comedy was something he (and I) took very seriously, and I think he’d be thrilled that people were celebrating his work on that level.
Have you been to any of the Edinburgh Festivals before? What does that mean for The Magic of Terry Pratchett in 2023?
I’ve been going to the Fringe since 2006, and I did my very first ever stand up performance there in 2008. I was in my first full-run compilation show in 2009, did my first solo show in 2011 and have been back regularly ever since. The Magic of Terry Pratchett will be my fifth solo show, and the tenth Fringe show I’ve been involved with. The show was written very much with a Fringe comedy audience in mind.
You’re in the Gilded Balloon Teviot, a pretty prestigious venue. Does that influence you, your mindset or the show at all?
Only in that I knew it had to be good. That doing the Gilded Balloon (the Dining Room, no less, which holds 120 people) would come with a certain weight of expectation. My previous solo shows have all been free/pay what you want, and in serviceable but less prestigious spaces, like Three Sisters or the Pear Tree. I worked hard on them, and they meant a great to me at the time, but with the best will in the world they weren’t hugely anticipated. People took chances on them, went in with no real expectations and then got to be pleasantly surprised. That’s a much easier platform to score a win from. The Gilded Balloon is different – people have paid good money to see what they expect to be a premium product, and I have had to make sure that the show delivers on that. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on a show before, or performed so many previews. It’s why I decided to do a much more low key stand up show as well, Marc Burrows in the Glom of Nit, which is at the City Cafe at 11.15pm as part of the Laughing Horse Free Festival, so I could blow off steam and do a performance every day that had less riding on it.
Have you researched anything to do nearby the Gilded Ballon, like a good pub or restaurant to hit up for dinner afterwards?
I’ve been up enough times to know where the parties are! Although it’s been a few years (my last show was in 2018), so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s changed. I’ve got my favourites though – curry in the Mosque Kitchen, pints at Bannerman’s, soaking up the atmosphere in the Bristo Square and the Pleasance Courtyard. All the good stuff.
Is there anything that’s not The Magic of Terry Pratchett that’s happening in Edinburgh that you’re looking forward to?
Andrew O’Neill’s new show, Geburah. I always love Andrew’s stuff. I think they’re one of the funniest comics working in the UK right now. Mark Thomas is really on form, and I’m looking forward to seeing that. Other faves: Stuart Goldsmith, Vix Leyton, Sooz Kempner. There’s also some American high school students doing a production of Terry’s Wyrd Sisters, so I absolutely have to catch that!
The Magic of Terry Pratchett will be performed at 5.30pm in Gilded Balloon Teviot (Dining Room) from 2nd – 28th August (not 14th).
And it wouldn’t be Terry Pratchett without footnotes, would it? A separate interactive show will follow each performance, ‘The Magic of Terry Pratchett: The Footnotes’, featuring a Q&A, readings from rare Pratchett work and interviews with special guests, including friends and colleagues of Sir Terry and Discworld fans from across the Fringe and beyond.
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