A man of many parts, Bruce Fummey started down the road of comedy and after dinner speaking through proposing toasts at Burns Suppers. A highly amusing stand-up comic, he also takes gigs as a toastmaster, compere and after dinner speaker. He also offers training in public speaking. He has a physics degree and started his working life as a teacher of Physics and Maths, which he says is a bit like doing stand-up comedy, but slipping in a bit of education when the kids aren’t looking. Oh, and whenever there’s a ceilidh in the offing, Fummey will be there to play jazz trumpet.
He hails from Perth, Scotland (remember to pronounce it ‘Pairth’ when speaking to a native!) and is a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe. The world’s numerous fringe festivals keep many entertainers on the road for several months of each year, and while that can be tiring it must also be stimulating. Certainly Fummey was wide awake and perky, ready with a comeback each time an audience member threw in a comment. As he tried to describe the location of his hometown, someone called out that it was ‘near Dundee’, to which Fummey responded ‘Yes, we can smell Dundee when the wind’s right’! There were many Scots in the audience and not a few English, and Fummey reminded us from the start that we Poms were in for a verbal thrashing. The Australian government also copped its fair share: Tony Abbott, Fummey says, must live in fear of Afro-Celtic hordes coming to Australia by the boatload since learning of his arrival.
Here he was referring to his own mixed ancestry. It made for a lot of flak in his school years, he says, but ‘It was worse for the homosexual Jewish Pakistani kid next door!’ Nevertheless, he reminded us, ‘We are all descended from apes in the African savannah’. A sobering thought.
Make no mistake, Fummey knows his history. Starting with the 12th century Scots kings, he touched briefly on each dynasty with amusing asides as appropriate, as well as many laughs about the doings of various historical characters. (Robert the Bruce’s inspiring spider, for instance, is now apparently making a fortune on the self-help speakers’ circuit.) Fummey works his way forward in time, laying emphasis on Scotland’s occasional struggles with the English. His rousing rendition of Burns’s Scots whae hae must make Scottish hearts beat faster, but he ends with a quip about reciting it in school and accidentally stabbing another student. Fummey likes to think of James VI of Scotland’s taking the throne of England as James I as ‘Scotland: 6, England 1’!
An unashamed Scots nationalist, Fummey was disappointed by last year’s ‘No’ vote in the independence referendum. ‘We are God’s chosen people,’ he quips. ‘We like to think of ourselves as Jews on a budget!’
A History of Scotland is an incredibly funny show. I wish Perth, Australia could see more offerings by this thoughtful, very professional comedian from Perth, Scotland.
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Bruce Fummey’s A History of Scotland
Casa Mondo, The Pleasure Gardens
Fringe World, Perth
www.fringeworld.com.au
2-5 February
