Dispelling a Myth...

Ok ladies and gents, here we have an exclusive. It's not often that Off the Cuff breaks news, but here we go. For the last two weeks of the festival several people have been under the impression that Off the Cuff's very own Pete Armstrong and one of our group's favourite comedians, Alex Horne, are the same person. We now finally have the proof that THIS IS NOT TRUE.

Are you ready? Then scroll down...










These two photos were taken at Alex's excellent show, Odds, which a few of us Cuffers saw today at the Pleasance Courtyard.

Alex, I just wanted to say thank you, firstly for interrupting your own show to bring Pete up on stage; and secondly for not throwing me out/punching me/destroying my camera when I rudely took two photos without your permission. You are a true gent!

Also, if Pete is ever ill, would you be interested in taking his place?!

Yours cheekily,

Stu

Winners 23, 24, 25 and 26!

Another four winners for you ladies and gents, after the completion of our penultimate show!

Please say hello to Fiona from Edinburgh (pictured with Dougie);


Kieran from Bracknell (pictured with Tom);


Melanie from West Lothian (the Best Lothian, apparently);


And Syrie from Melbourne (pictured with Ania)! Congratulations to them all!

Our last show is tomorrow: be there!

The end is in sight.

Hello all! Pete Strong here (not to be confused with Pete Armstrong). I'm the one that looks like this:

I've been up in Edinburgh for a week and a couple of days. I can't really believe that soon we'll be starting to wind down and getting ready to go. Personally I'm looking forward to my nine and a half hour bus journey (!) but I am really starting to get into the swing of the festival now and part of me wishes the festival was continuing.

People have been very friendly and enthusiastic and our audiences have been mostly brilliant so far. Everyone has gotten involved and played along. I have a day off today but feel like I should be out flyering. Not doing anything related to the show just for one day feels wrong. We really have lived and breathed Bingo. Which really is as hard as it sounds.

Over and out. And keep coming to our last five shows!

Winner No.22

Our list of international winners of 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' grows as Rosie from Sydney joins our ranks! Congratulations on your new official Off the Cuff Juvenile Mischief Kit! Here she is pictured with tonight's host, Dougie.

tonight's host, Dougie.

Winner No.21

Our 21st winner is Vladimir from Ealing! Is that his real name and real place of residence? You decide! Congratulations on your new Off the Cuff Gamblers' Starter Kit: a Tony Bennett CD to get you in the Vegas mood, a calculator to work out your odds and an IOU for £300*. Here's Vlad the Winpaler pictured with tonight's host, Pete**!

* Off the Cuff does not honour IOUs. This element of the prize is a joke. Off the Cuff does not have £300; and even if it did, it would spend it on bingo balls, hilarious prizes for our lovely winners and a spare sparkly tiger-print jacket so we can finally wash the one pictured above.

** Pete Armstrong is not Alex Horne, Phil Kay or the second burglar from Home Alone. But he will impersonate them at your event for a nominal fee.

Winners No.17, 18, 19 & 20!

Apologies for the delay in uploading our winners, everybody! So here's four in a row!

Firstly here's Mandy, who won our Off the Cuff Scottish experience: a tin of Scotch broth, a wee Irn Bru and a Michelle McManus CD! Here she is pictured with our host, Simon:Then we have the winner of our Off the Cuff Viva la Revolucion starter kit: a Che Guevara sweatband and a brick (Off the Cuff does not condone violent political action of any sort)! Here's our winner pictured with Tom:


Then we have Mark from Manchester, who won the Off the Cuff Ultimate Pampering Kit: a John Barrowman CD and a Vera Wang Princess make-up case! Here he is pictured with our host, Lloyd:


And lastly here's Andrew from Minnesota, who won the Off the Cuff Mick Jagger Kit: a Marianne Faithful CD and a Mars bar! He's pictured here with our host, Ania. Congratulations to you all!

People...

They're a strange bunch aren't they? Edinburgh is a currently a hive of activity and there's a lot of them about. People, I mean. I've now been out flyering for 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' for 17 of the last 18 days and you quickly learn to read people as they approach you. Do they want a flyer? Are they refusing all flyers without looking at them? Are they on the phone, eating some food and probably don't want a piece of card stuck in their face? It's tricky.

And then there are celebs. To flyer or not to flyer?! I've personally flyered Mark Watson (got his name wrong), Paul Zenon (had a nice chat with him about living in Brighton) and the lead singer from Franz Ferdinand, who I saw perform at Stewart Lee's Silver Stewbilee gig the night before. Cuffer Adam Lindsay has just come into the C-Venues computer rooms and told me off for not knowing the name of the lead singer from Franz Ferdinand. It's Alex Kapranos if you want to know! I know that Cuffers have also flyered Stewart Lee, Daniel Kitson and I'm sure some other legends too.

So there's a little taste of our day-to-day lives here in Edinburgh. We're all having a smashing time and you should come and see our show! I'll be posting another bingo winner here very soon. Stu, over and out. Bye!

Winner No.16

George from London became our 16th (has it really been that many?!) Cuff bingo winner tonight. Congratulations on his official Off the Cuff whole-day-of-meals-in-a-tin prize! Here he is pictured with tonight's host, Simon.

Winner No.15

Becky was our lucky winner at Cuff bingo last night. She won the official Off the Cuff World War Two Nostalgia kit: a tin of lunch tongue, a Glenn Miller CD and a tube of Steradent! Congratulations to Becky. Here she is pictured with last night's host, Pete!

Winner No.14

Sorry for the delay in posting blog-fans! Erin won Cuff bingo two nights ago. Here she is pictured with our host, Tom. She picked up a Peter Andre CD and a six-pack... of Iron Bru. Congratulations!

Winner No.13

Mimi became our 13th winner of our Edinburgh Fringe run when she matched three numbers on the first three balls(!). She is now the proud owner of a Tony Bennett CD! Congratulations to you, Mimi! Here she is pictured with last night's host, Stu.

Winner No.12

Fiona became our 12th winner tonight playing 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff'. She won a day's worth of canned meals: breakfast, lunch AND dinner! Lucky girl, eh?! Congratulations to her! Here she is pictured with our TWO hosts, that's right, two: Dougie and Stu!

New player to enter...

Good evening comedy lovers. It's me, Pete Armstrong. I know you've all been waiting for me to turn up but now I'm here in Edinburgh to administer the funnies. I'm even gigging on my first night here. Aren't I, and you, lucky?

There I am, above all these words. Look out for my face.

Not to be confused with this guy.


...which happens a lot.

See you tonight, petal x

Winner No.11

Tracy won last night's 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' mystery prize. Congratulations on her new Lee Mead CD and two tickets to see... 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' next week! Here she is pictured with last night's host, me (Stu)!

Winner No.10

Charlotte from London becomes our 10th winner of the run. She's won herself a CD by every young woman's favourite artist: Engelbert Humperdinck! Here she is pictured with tonight's host, Tom. Congratulations to her!

Video Blog 2

Winner No.9

Our latest 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' winner, ladies and gentlemen. Say hello to Carine, who won tonight's mystery prize: the official Off the Cuff Christmas experience: a copy of Neil Diamond's 'Cherry, Cherry Christmas' on CD and a boot-shaped Yule-time mug! Here she is pictured with tonight's host, Dougie.

And some sad news: the first two Cuffers have departed Edinburgh to return to their day jobs and normal lives. A very sad and teary goodbye to Rosie and Mike: guys, you were superb and we'll miss you! Perhaps you may hear from them on this blog very soon...

Winner No.8

Have we really reached winner 8 already?! Time flies when you're having 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff'-related fun! Thanks to each and every one of our great audience who came along this evening. And here's one of them, Greg, who won the bingo game outside of normal play with his excellent suggestion for a blues song about the Care Bears. Congratulations Greg on your Off the Cuff Air Guitar Experience: 'Status Quo: In Search of the Fourth Chord' on CD and two plectrums! Here he is pictured with tonight's host, Mike.

Winner No.7

Sophie becomes our 7th winner playing 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff'. She won the official Off the Cuff Elvis makeover kit: some Brylcreem, a comb and some blue suede shoes! Congratulations to her! Here she is pictured with tonight's host, Ania.

Winner No.6

Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Winner No.6! In all the commotion of awarding her the night's exciting mystery prize, we did not get her name. Our sincere apologies Winner No.6, please let us know who you are and where you're from and we will update the blog accordingly!

No.6, as she's affectionately known, won the Off the Cuff Totally Tropical Experience! Here she is pictured with our host, Stu: that's me! Congratulations!

Winner No.5

Simeon from North Lincolnshire becomes our 5th winner playing 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' at the Edinburgh Fringe. Congratulations on your new CD, 'A Cherry, Cherry Christmas' by Neil Diamond, which I'm sure will become the pride of your collection! Here's Simeon pictured with tonight's host, Mike.

Winner No.4

Please say hello to this evening's winner, Victoria! After a hotly contested bingo card call with another audience member, Victoria became the proud owner of the adult board game, 'Foolin' Around'! Victoria, please let us know where you're from by emailing sjduggan@gmail.com: and if you take any photos of you and your friends playing Foolin' Around, don't send them to us! Here's Victoria with tonight's host, me (Stu)!

Winner No.3

The lovely Chris from Hull becomes our third winner playing improvised bingo! Chris won a travel mug donated to us by a Worthing policeman (true story!) AND an official Off the Cuff t-shirt. Here she is pictured with tonight's host, Tom.

If you're in Edinburgh and spot anyone wearing the 'Eyes Down...' bingo t-shirt, ask them if they're in Off the Cuff. If they're not that means they're a bingo winner! If you fancy taking a photo of them we'd love to see it. Just email it to sjduggan@gmail.com

Great show tonight: I'm off to the bar!

Stu

Winner No.2

Chris from Edinburgh was our second lucky winner in last night's 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' show. As well as his amazing 'Understanding Childbirth' DVD, Chris also won an Off the Cuff 'Eyes Down...' t-shirt. Here he is with our host, Dougie.

Exciting news: Cuff on BBC 5 Live!

Our very own Simon Plotkin will be talking about our show on BBC Radio 5 Live tomorrow morning (Friday 6th August) at 8:15am. Don't forget to listen!

PS: I've done a few updates now, including photos and videos, so don't forget to scroll down and catch up on the latest Cuff news!

Some flyering fun on The Royal Mile and outside C-Venues on Chambers Street...

Winner No.1!

Ladies and gentlemen, please say hello to our very first winner, Carys from Tunbridge Wells! Here she is with the night's host, Simon. As well as her fabulous mystery prize, Carys also won an official Off the Cuff 'Eyes Down...' t-shirt. You can be a winner too: just come and play 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' this Edinburgh Fringe!

Show No. 1

Eyes down ladies and gents...

Welcome to the blog of 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff': an improvised comedy show which is part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010.

If you're reading this, you're in the best place to watch Off the Cuff's maiden Edinburgh journey unfold. I'll be your guide, I'm Stu. That's me in the photo above (as if you hadn't already guessed).

While this is not my first trip to the wonderful city of Edinburgh, this will be my first experience of the Festival, which I think makes this blog extra special.As I put the finishing touches to this opening gambit, I'm sitting on a train taking me from London to Edinburgh, with my fellow Cuffer Ania. In a few short hours we will join Cuff's First Wave: Simon, Tom, Dougie, Mike S, Laila and Calum. And reinforcements will follow. Petes of the Armstrong and Strong variety will join Lloyd, Mike H and Rosie to complete our line-up of talented performers later this month. Tomorrow night we open with our first show of the run. I can hardly wait!

"But what is 'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff'?" I hear you ask. You can find all the answers here, while general information on Off the Cuff is located here.

We're doing 26 shows in 26 nights. And no one show will be the same! Everything you see on our stage is fuelled by your suggestions and the bingo balls decide what games we'll play, meaning it's the most improvised show you'll ever see.

In the meantime, I'll be updating this blog every day. You'll be able to see videos of myself and the rest of Cuff as we enjoy all that Edinburgh has to offer, as well as photos, including the lucky winners of each night's Mystery Prize!

It only remains for me to quickly thank everyone who has worked (and will work!) so hard to get us to the Festival this year. Cuffers and non-Cuffers alike, you've been superb! May Jiggins, god of the Scots bless each and every one of you.

Tune in tomorrow to see how we're getting on in the build-up to opening night!

Coming soon...

'Bingo! It's Off the Cuff' goes live tomorrow (3rd August)!