Greetings from Edinburgh, where a cheeky tour guide makes art history hilarious

Rebecca Rosman/NPR

Growing up, I had a knack for getting distracted on school field trips to museums and art galleries.

Could I be blamed?

Teachers marched us through halls of what felt like the same Baroque painting over and over. Endless soft bodies painted against pale blue skies, their stories offered up with little explanation.

It didn’t feel like any of it was meant to be fun.

Then I discovered Coco, the self-described “time-traveling tart.”

The brainchild and alter ego of comedian Max Norman, Coco — 6 foot 7 without heels — leads interactive and (mostly) factual tours through galleries in London and beyond.

During the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last month, she made her way to the National Galleries of Scotland for what was billed as a “cheeky romp” uncovering the “gossip, glamour and glorious absurdity hiding behind the art.”

Gloriously absurd it was.

Coco had us curtsy before paintings of kings and queens of Great Britain’s past, then treated us to lessons about the indulgences and insecurities that made them feel all too human.

We played dead on the floor in a lesson about the fall of the Jacobites in 18th century Scotland (let’s just say swords are no match for guns).

Then we all eagerly galloped like horses from one gallery room to the next. I do not remember why — which may have been the point.

Norman created Coco as “revenge” on his artist mother, who used to drag him through art galleries across London.

For anyone who spent their own childhood staring blankly at an Old Master while waiting for someone (anyone!) to make it interesting, Coco feels less like revenge — and more like justice.

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