Comedy, Reviews and Miles Fielder

Joost Swarte: Is That All There Is?

Compendium of the Dutch cartoonist’s satirical alternative comics

3 Feb 2012

Apparently so. Or almost so. Is That All There Is? collects virtually all of the Dutch cartoonist’s alternative comics from way back in 1972 to the present day, translates them into English and assembles them, under Swarte’s own supervision, in this…

Danny Pensive’s Map of Britain

Wonderfully odd character comedy

15 Aug 2011

This character comedy is so assured, odd and sweet, that you can easily see the self-styled Sunderland simpleton becoming the next score keeper on Shooting Stars. During his whistle-stop recollection of a three-year trip around Britain, Pensive…

Chris Coxen’s Space Clone Audition

Accomplished character-based comedy show

14 Aug 2011

Framing his sketch show as a competition in which the audience decides which of Coxen’s four characters will be cloned to populate outer space seems unnecessary. This US comic’s creations - sleazy lounge lizard, deluded motivational speaker, shy weather…

Hal Sparks - Evolution Overdrive

Impressive delivery with theme of humankind’s ongoing evolution

8 Aug 2011

Humankind’s ongoing evolution from apes is the buff American stand-up’s central thesis. En route to his conclusion that only the reintroduction of dinosaurs into the food chain will save us, Sparks blasts the crowd with a string of more commonplace…

Pete Firman: Jiggery Pokery

Magic routines with an enjoyable line in potty-mouthed sarcasm

8 Aug 2011

This comic magician takes his tricks seriously. From the opening escape out of a locked box through various sleight-of-hand illusions to the climactic guillotining of an audience member, Firman proves himself to be a very capable conjurer. But he also…

Bridget Christie

Slapdash slapstick sloppy stand-up

7 Aug 2011

The wife, mum and stand-up is back at the Fringe with a new show based on her Catholic upbringing. The fact that Bridget Christie is not at all sure doing an hour about religion is a good idea is completely in keeping with her happily shambolic…

SG Browne - Breathers: A Zombie's Lament

Cinematic satirical debut novel already in film development

11 Feb 2011

As openings go, this one is an attention-grabber. Imagine you’ve just woken up to discover your parents’ corpses have been put in the fridge freezer, only to realise that you, their 21-year-old son, stuck them there. And all because you are a newly…

Sammy J

Transgressive flights of fancy

25 Aug 2010

Exceedingly likeable and not above telling traditional jokes and singing conventional songs, this gangly Melbourne comic’s true talent lies in his transgressive flights of fancy. J’s opening routine concerning a ‘double cock con’ he was part of at a…

Addy van der Borgh

Thoroughly engaging show themed around language

23 Aug 2010

Given his frequent recourse to mirthful actorly pronouncements – ‘forsooth!’ and the like – Van der Borgh must have been a thespian in a previous life. That, along with his merrily clownish countenance, serves him well in a thoroughly engaging show…

Strong and Wrong

Lame sketches fall an awful long way short of the music

23 Aug 2010

This lively duo come across like a pair of children’s TV entertainers who can certainly hold a tune. The handful of comic songs employing guitar, ukulele and banjo that punctuate their quick-fire sketch show are punchy and well-performed. It’s a shame…

Andi Osho

Serious stuff, but Osho’s funny with it

23 Aug 2010

The recollection of being subjected to racist abuse as a kid inspired this East End of London stand-up to explore her Nigerian roots and appraise the state of Britain’s dysfunctional multi-culture society. Serious stuff, but Osho’s funny with it…

Robert White

Get him on Shooting Stars

18 Aug 2010

There are plenty of Fringe comics whose schtick is being gloriously unhinged, but there aren’t many who appear to be genuinely out of control. This baby-faced comedian with a bleached Tintin kiss-curl definitely falls into the latter category. Throwing…

The Gold Rush

Both versions of the Chaplin classic with lots of features

17 Aug 2010

Given that The Gold Rush was his most ambitious production, and that it was the film he wanted to be remembered for, it’s unsurprising that Chaplin should have returned to it 17 years after he made it in 1925 to re-edit, score and add narration.

Vladimir McTavish

Thoroughly entertaining crawl through the national beverage

16 Aug 2010

Given the liberal passing round of sample nips of the water of life, McTavish’s show is not, as suggested in its title of Whisky: An Idiot’s Guide, a sobering examination of Scotland’s top export. It is, however, a thoroughly entertaining crawl through…

Clever Peter

Generally very funny and always well-acted

16 Aug 2010

Blood is, no doubt, what fuels this comedy trio’s hyperactive sketch show as they sweat buckets throughout (not helped by the brightly-coloured jumpers), while the tears are those belonging to their laughing audience. So, in Blood, Sweat & Tears, some…

Joe Bor

An easy and relaxed way with the crowd

16 Aug 2010

Bor makes his Fringe debut with a show themed around embarrassment, but his collection of routines isn’t particularly harmonious and they vary greatly in quality, the weakest of them feeling like they’ve just been thrown into the mix. That said, Bor has…

Tom Williams

One wishes the humour was a bit sharper

16 Aug 2010

Williams got the inspiration for his multiple character-based comedy from watching court cases. Here, he’s been inspired by the tragic tale of a man who killed a teenage burglar, was tried for murder and found out a devastating secret about the dead…

Lee Kern opens with Filthy Raucous Soul Bitch

Promising debut from cheeky Londoner

12 Aug 2010

Inviting critics to the very first performance of his Fringe debut run, as opposed to giving himself time to ease in, could have gone either way for Lee Kern. On the one hand, he’s got a better chance of receiving a write-up, which becomes more…

Chris Corcoran

Corcoran makes his people sound rather lovely

11 Aug 2010

It’s not surprising that this young Welsh stand-up should have such a winning stage presence, given he was previously a kids entertainer on CBeebies. His second Fringe show (after a 2004 debut with Welsh Assembly) follows an illuminating tour of his…

Brendon Burns

Overly serious rants about killing paedophiles and getting religion

10 Aug 2010

Given that Burns yells from start to finish, why the loudmouth Aussie stand-up needs acoustic accompaniment is anyone’s guess. His guitarist mate’s presence also unbalances the show with an opening comic jam that forces Burns to rush the ending.

Adam Riches

Riches’ latest show is supremely daft

10 Aug 2010

Even by this crazy character comic’s standards, Riches’ latest show is supremely daft. A theme park inspired by Pierce Brosnan’s turn as a centaur in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is the lame excuse for a bolt through several silly…

David Strassman: Ventriloquism taken to a whole new level

Duality brilliantly wrong-foots audience and may blow minds

6 Aug 2010

American entertainer David Strassman continues to single-handedly revive and redefine the ancient art of ventriloquism for the 21st century with this hilarious mind-bending psychodrama which might have been written by Charlie Being John Malkovich…

Lars Husum - My Friend Jesus Christ

24 Jun 2010

(Portobello Books) Before authoring this, his first novel, Danish writer Lars Husum worked at filmmaker Lars von Trier’s Copenhagen production company Zentropa as a script doctor. It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that My Friend Jesus Christ has…

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Inspired take on the Dahl classic

16 Oct 2009

Wes Anderson’s animated adaptation of Roald Dahl’s much loved book is no straightforward children’s film. Wee ones might enjoy it to a degree, but they won’t get much of the typically arch humour and wanton eccentricities the filmmaker once again…

I Sell the Dead

The horror comedy comes to DVD

2 Oct 2009

First-time writer-director Glenn McQuaid does a pretty good job of invoking the spirit of the camp old Hammer chillers films with this low-budget comedy horror about a pair luckless bodysnatchers. Set in a mist-shrouded backwater of 19th century feckin…