Comedy, Issue 662

House Cabaret

Getting up close and personal has never been easier with a personalised performance from your house. Host your very own cabaret at your own venue with your own friends. For one night only, a small troupe of dedicated cabaret artists arrives at your…

Comedians you might know from TV at the Fringe 2010

Five faces from the telly making a beeline for the stage

Alex Zane He’s the cheeky wee chappie from Rude Tube and a man described as a saviour to sensitive lads everywhere. Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug (not 16), 10pm, £10–£10.50 (£8.50–£9). Previews until 6 Aug, £5. Norman Lovett There will be…

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz star in Knight and Day

‘I’m the guy!’ smirks madcap assassin Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) to mousey June Havens (Cameron Diaz) as he kidnaps her at gunpoint from a Boston cafe. Sadly, on the evidence of James Mangold’s pumped-up spy thriller, Cruise has little to be so cocky about…

Quartet of notable U.S. comics stand-up for America

Jennifer Coolidge, Bo Burnham, Caroline Rhea and Charlyne Yi hit Fringe 2010

Jennifer Coolidge is having trouble describing her own stand-up show. She asks a friend who is within shouting distance for help. ‘Michael?’ she calls, in a sugary purr. ‘I have Scotland on the line. What’s my show like?’ After a pause an answer booms…

Fringe 2010 cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever

Smoke & Mirrors, Alan Cumming and The Crack

From pared down to jazz-hands up, this year’s variety and cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever. Anna Millar meets the makers to find out why we just can’t get enough It’s a certain man who can shimmy from club door whore to straight-talking…

Fringe show Willy Wonka Explained tracks down the original Veruca Salt

Matthew Hardy and Julie Dawn bring a pinch of Salt to Edinburgh

Everyone reaches a low point in their lives, when it feels natural to seek solace in objects that remind us of happier, perhaps more innocent times. When Matthew Hardy was dumped by two girlfriends (years and continents apart), he couldn’t stop sticking…

Toby Williams brings Dr George Ryegold back to Fringe

Applying surgery to a subtle character creation

For someone who has suffered crippling stage fright, it seems extraordinary that we have even heard of Dr George Ryegold. Having heard from his agent that a parting of the ways might have to come, Toby Williams (the actor behind the maverick medic) told…

Kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley at this year's Fringe

The Glasgow comedy queen Jane Godley answer 5 questions

Glasgow comedy queen Janey Godley has pushed all her blue material aside to team up with daughter Ashley Storrie for their kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley. She tells us why we should go along. Give five reasons why people should come and see…

Tuck into the Fringe - five shows you can watch while you eat

See it all without missing a meal

We have compiled a list of shows that you can watch while also being served some delicious shows. Don't miss your dinner without also seeing a show!

Five new faces in British comedy to watch in Edinburgh

A quintet of bright and shiny debutants from the UK

Joe Rowntree Hindsight is a great thing, but who knows where this guy would be now had his planned collaboration with Laura Solon in 2005 arrived in Edinburgh. She only went and won the Perrier on her tod and half a decade later, he’s making his…

Addy Van Der Borgh brings Advanced Mumbo Jumbo to Fringe

Five words and their more honest definitions

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ is not strictly true, especially in a fight, but there is some truth in it. Words, as we know, can be very powerful, especially when put together in the right order. Here are five words and their more honest and thus…

Five of the best improvised comedy shows at the Fringe 2010

Edinburgh shows making it up as they go along

The Noise Next Door Five slightly posh Brighton-based blokes don shirts and colourful ties before transforming your daft ideas into blindingly witty songs and sketches. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug (not 11, 18), 7pm, £11–£12 (£9.50–£11).

Lady Carol - Malady

We asked the singing, ukelele playing, dark-humorist five questions

This ukelele lady has an inky-black sense of humour, and can turn the sweetest of love songs into a creepy stalker anthem. Just, please, keep her away from bright light and cakes. Five words you’d use to describe your show Sad songs, silly…

Vladimir McTavish - The Idiot's Guide to Whisky

The first in a series of whiteboard show introductions

In the first of a regular festival series we’ve asked a comedian to draw the essence of his or her festival show on our List festival wipeboard. This summer Vladimir McTavish is teaching the world about whisky. Well, kinda. In a show originally called…

Holly Burn back at Fringe with 'renegade' character-sketch show

Living and Dying follows site-specific show of 2009

For her previous Fringe shows, Holly Burn has tunnelled into the mind of the Angel of the North and invited people into the flat she was living in last August for a site-specific experience, which our reviewer described as ‘torturously exasperating but…

Meow Meow – Feline Intimate

The post modern showgirl delivers a unique type of cabaret

With more purr than a panther, divine diva Meow Meow slinks back to this year’s Fringe with her unique brand of kamikaze cabaret kitsch. With sell-out shows around the world and the likes of David Bowie on her fan list, Meow Meow’s hypnotic performance…

Lucy Porter to do a one night only show in Glasgow

Worth a trip to the West Coast as Ms. Porter skips out on Fringe Festival

The Fringe is having to do without lil Lucy for this year, but she clearly can’t keep away from this part of the globe as she pops up for one night only. Her bloke will be here for the month, though, all dressed up and with somewhere to go as Jeremy…

Camille O’Sullivan – Chameleon

Dramatic re-imagining of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and David Bowie

Not for nothing has this Irish charmer’s raunchy raw set and dramatic performances led to sell-out shows since she first took to the Fringe in 2004. Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Radiohead and David Bowie are all dramatically re-imagined here in showstopping…

Lady Carol – Malady

Comedy singer returns to festival after sell-out shows in Sydney

With her dark vocals and unimaginable covers this intoxicating comedy singer returns to the festival following a sell-out show in Sydney. Expect possibly some of the most enjoyable renditions of Love is a Battlefield and Running up that Hill and you…

Jim Jefferies brings new show Alcoholocaust to Edinburgh Fringe

Having moved to sunny California, Jim Jefferies is basking in his stand-up success. But the Aussie comic tells Julian Hall that all he fears is becoming boring

Ventriloquist Nina Conti brings new show to Fringe

Talk to the Hand brings chat-show format to puppetry

Once a reluctant ventriloquist, Nina Conti is now exploring the possibilities of the form. Brian Donaldson hears about weird gigs and strange road trips

Sketch team Delete the Banjax return after success of 2009

Word-of-mouth comedy hit of 2009 return for more

‘We came up with a bit of a reputation and it just went off!’ recalls Sam Champion, in a pub similar to the Free Fringe Royal Mile watering hole where Delete the Banjax established themselves last year. ‘We loved doing the Free Fringe and agreed with…

Kevin Eldon prepares for some Titting About at the Fringe

Ubiquitous comic brings strong views and extra pants to Edinburgh

With strong views on the comedy scene, Kevin Eldon arrives in Edinburgh as something of a national institution. But he tells Julian Hall that he’ll still need an extra pair of pants

Des Bishop tells his father's near miss story at Fringe 2010

Irish-American comic presents My Dad Was Nearly James Bond

Des Bishop has wanted to tell his father’s story for a long time. The former model and actor, who had bit parts in Zulu and Day of the Triffids, narrowly lost out to George Lazenby for the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. After…

Master of brutal deadpan Arj Barker returns to Fringe

US comic backs recent Flight of the Conchords role with Edinburgh show

This will be San Francisco comedian Arj Barker’s first working visit to Edinburgh in a decade, and he promises to pull out the stops for an audience which might only recently have become familiar with his work. ‘The show covers a range of topics, from…