The Edinburgh Festival is on, and the city is a zoo.

Those of you familiar with Trainspotting, the film, might remember the scene, partway through, which shows our gang sitting slumped at the bar in dim light, with a caption, "First day of the Edinburgh Festival." They are still, then after a moment, a cheesy bloke with a sun visor comes in and says, in American, "Excuse me, can I use your bathroom? (brief pause) Thank you!" Then he jogs off to the toilets; the four principals run after him and, sadly enough, beat him up for his wallet.

The festival I know has been unlike that—more like a constant party, the streets and squares filled with drunk people seemingly on their way somewhere, but not getting there very fast.

So far the best act I've seen (of just a few) was Reggie Watts, best known as leadman of Maktub, the Seattle-based ultra-smooth neo-soul band. Turns out he does comedy, too, and does the funniest beatboxing/live-looping set you're likely to see. Watts is a master of accents and funny voices, and to be honest, that's about where all the humor comes from in his set. He's a pasticheur extraordinaire, able to imitate the style of a sci-fi villian, or a director's commentary, at the drop of a hat. I laughed out loud; that's all.