Dara O Briain told her: “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.”
Some of the UK’s best-known comedians have offered their support to an actress after just one person turned up to watch her performance at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Georgie Grier had shared a photo of her crying, and wrote: “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…?”
Her emotive message led to words of comfort from celebrities, who said they had experienced the same early on in their careers.
Dara O Briain replied: “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.”
And striking an upbeat note, the former Mock The Week presenter said that spending time on stage will help the show improve even more – “ready for the big crowds later”.
Jason Manford also offered words of encouragement – 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.”
Manford revealed that, when he performed at the Fringe in 2004 and 2005, “it was such a slog and I was out in the rain and I was flyering and people weren’t coming”.
The comedian added: “I got total impostor syndrome. How much is this costing me? What am I doing here?”
He went on to reassure Ms Grier that “tomorrow will be better and next week will be better…so just enjoy yourself, if you can”.
Ms Grier has thanked those who reached out to offer their support – and said her play, which is about romcoms and families, is on every day until 27 August.
The 76th Edinburgh Fringe officially begins today – and the celebration of art, culture and comedy will see hundreds of thousands of people descend on the Scottish capital this month.
Last year, around two million tickets were sold.
