The country’s top comedians have rallied around an actor who burst into tears when only one fan turned up to her one-woman show at Edinburgh Fringe.
She tweeted: “There was one person in my audience today when I performed my one woman play, ‘Sunsets’ at #edfringe. It’s fine, isn’t it? It’s fine…?”
Fellow Fringe act Sophie Craig later revealed she was the single audience member as Ms Grier completed the show anyway.
She replied: “I was that one person in the lovely @georgie_grier audience. We had a lovely hug at the end and she was so professional and brave and she gave me everything. You should be so proud angel! Thank YOU! Now go get em girl.”
It came after some of the world’s top comics rushed to build her confidence by up reciting anecdotes of how they went through testing circumstances when they were starting out.
Flight of the Conchords star Jermaine Clement recalled his early gigs, replying: “First trip overseas Bret and I played a show to 1 in Vancouver.
“Didn’t find out till the end that they’d left during the show. We based a scene in our tv show on it. Years later we did pretty much the same show at the Hollywood Bowl to around 18,000 people.”
Dara O’Brien consoled her by replying: “We’ve ALL done it. Soon, you’ll dine out on this anecdote.
“More than once I had to buy my audience a drink, as a thank you for being the only ones there. Best thing though, it’s all stage time, and the show will get better every single time, ready for the big crowds later!”
❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/PoWZYE78FV
— Jason Manford (@JasonManford) August 3, 2023
Jason Manford sent her a personal video message and said: “It’s absolutely normal ... for one person to rock up to your show, especially at the beginning of Edinburgh, and also for you to be a bit upset or annoyed or p***** off about it. That’s totally fine as well.”
Recalling his first Edinburgh shows in 2004, he added: “It was such a slog and I was out in the rain and I was flyering and people weren’t coming”.
The stand-up giant added: “I got total impostor syndrome. How much is this costing me? What am I doing here? Look at all these amazing people how embarrassing that no-one is turning up.
“But you’re on the path... tomorrow will be better and next week will be better...so just enjoy yourself, if you can”.
West End and soap icon Claire Sweeney rushed to Georgie’s side, replying: “Stay strong, I know you are brilliant.”
Among the other public figures to reply to Ms Grier was Member of the House of Lords Daniel Finkelstein and astronomer and television presenter Mark Thompson.
Mr Thompson said: “I’ve seen amazing shows with really poor audience numbers.
“Just because there was just one audience member doesn’t mean your show isn’t awesome. believe in yourself but maybe it’s the poster/marketing?”
Lord Finkelstein said: “I went to Norwich to give a speech and it took me 4hrs of travel.There were only 2 people there.
“One of them was the person who invited me. I asked the other person to join the cause I was there to support. He said he would, but it might interfere with the terms of his parole.”
