Comedy

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Maeve Higgins

She could talk all day and keep you smiling

12 Aug 2010

I’d love Maeve Higgins to be my best friend. And it’s not just due to the whimsical stories and wonderful asides, she’d knit you a nice scarf too. On stage though, she can stumble with silences not so much awkward as unnecessary. She could talk all day…

Bec Hill

An endearing quirkiness

12 Aug 2010

Stand-up doesn’t get more mixed bag than this. In this show from the perky Aussie about the downsides of growing up, there are a couple of gags that shouldn’t have even reached the strangled-at-birth stage. Yet, there’s an endearing quirkiness about…

The List take Jonny Sweet, John-Luke Roberts and Alex Horne to the beach

The Invisible Dot comedians' collective hit the Edinburgh seaside

11 Aug 2010

The Invisible Dot comedians’ collective is planning to make a song and dance at the seaside this Fringe. But before that, they’re just content to make sandcastles. Niki Boyle takes a bus trip to Portobello beach with Alex Horne, Jonny Sweet and…

Tim FitzHigham

Irrepressible, energetic and nutty self portraits

11 Aug 2010

Tim FitzHigham is a sparkling 5 star performer. With the many aquatic capers under his belt, the Ark at the Pleasance, is indeed the perfectly conceived venue for his non stop, irrepressible, energetic and nutty self portraits that form the core of his…

Jason Cook

Well-crafted, life-affirming stuff

11 Aug 2010

It’s a cliché that comedians just want to be loved, but Jason Cook tries awfully hard to endear himself. Welcoming the audience into The End (Part 1), he lightly teases a few individuals, joshes with a reviewer he recognises and seeks advice and…

Jarred Christmas

Personal set from personable stand-up

11 Aug 2010

With a surname like Christmas, it’s a no-brainer that this Kiwi had to grow up defending himself. And defend himself he does, about his penchant for dance, Michael Jackson fandom and less-than-svelte physique. The jokes come quickly and easily, and…

Arj Barker

Disappointing gaggery from much-hyped actor

11 Aug 2010

At the top of the show, Arj Barker promises fresh material, points out the contemporary fashion for honesty and vulnerability in comedy, and (whether fairly or not) has drawn a sell-out crowd due to being Dave from Flight of the Conchords. Sounds good…

Bridget Christie

Dabbling around the unhinged fringes of stand-up

11 Aug 2010

Bridget Christie openly admits that her act may not be the most commercially viable around. But you can’t help but feel the Fringe would be a bit more interesting if other performers were willing to forsake financial security and the welfare of a…

George Ryegold

A gloriously bleak worldview

11 Aug 2010

They say that doctors have the blackest sense of humour; something to do with all those birth, death and boils in their everyday lives. Comic Toby Williams’ creation Dr George Ryegold epitomises that sentiment. A vision in corduroy, he grumbles to a…

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…

Stuart Goldsmith

On the road to proper glory

11 Aug 2010

Goldsmith insists he’s a Reasonable Man and his blokish bonhomie certainly doesn’t appear to mask a ghastly individual. Standing out from the crowd is his chief concern here as he recalls being a failed goth in white trainers, a street performer who…

New Art Club

Original, charming and very funny

11 Aug 2010

A best-of compilation from the comedy dance duo (who can actually dance) in which Tom Roden and Pete Shenton replay their best bits. Loyal fans and Johnny-come-latelys get to see minimalist experimental pieces, clever wordy numbers and downright silly…

Sam Simmons

Somewhat lacklustre

11 Aug 2010

Some show titles require little comment when they are so horribly apt. For an hour which bounds around at breakneck speeds, as Simmons contemplates the things he loves and hates in life, its heart and soul is somewhat lacklustre. Taking part in a…

Jo Caulfield

Trademark snarky wit

11 Aug 2010

Jo Caulfield wants everyone prepared for life’s realities, even if that means shattering a few illusions. Her husband’s been edged out of this routine by her friends (and strangers mistaken for friends), but her trademark snarky wit remains, finding…

Dave Hill

Navigates a fine path between the crass and the classy

11 Aug 2010

US comic Hill adopts a shy frat boy persona to chronicle the wide-eyed travels of an unsuccessful rock band of thirtysomethings in Japan. Endearingly conveying the marvel of garage band ambition, Hill’s relentless desire to rock provides a solid basis…

Jack Whitehall

Lacking real substance

11 Aug 2010

Having Robert Pattinson as a classmate has left Jack Whitehall with a chip on his shoulder, though you don’t feel the 22-year-old comic has real enthusiasm for bashing the Twilight star. Similarly, with jokes on swimming lessons and the vagaries of…

Nick Mohammed

Fantastically irritating and inappropriate

11 Aug 2010

The memory tricks which Mohammed plays at the end of this show would be worth the entrance fee alone, but by then, he’s already charmed our socks half-off with his fantastically irritating and inappropriate creation, Mr Swallow. He’s clearly too…

Rob Rouse

Spinning the mundane into the finest yarn

11 Aug 2010

So, what have you been up to? A half-decent comedian should be able to cobble together an entertaining answer to this simple premise and Rouse doesn’t disappoint. Without high concept, gimmick or whimsy, he relates incidents from his recent move to the…

Lee Nelson

If his game is satire he keeps it well hidden

11 Aug 2010

Simon Brodkin seems to have carved a niche for himself as mouthy chav Lee Nelson, and what’s not to love about him shouting, swearing and crotch-grabbing? The mind boggles. If you’re prone to a boggling mind, or are hot on sentence conjugation, this one…

Roaring Boys

Enjoyable, surreal character comedians

11 Aug 2010

Armed with a synthesiser, a clutch of angry power ballads, and a hidden weapon (their French song about racist and homophobic grandparents gets the biggest laughs), Danny and Jonny are determined to blow up the studios of The One Show. Ludicrous, slick…

Mike Wozniak

A frustrated and edgy figure

11 Aug 2010

The moustachioed Portsmouth-Pole has been working on producing another Wozniak with his wife, but a month away at The Stand isn’t helping. Wozniak cuts a frustrated and edgy figure as he returns with Egg and Spoon, a far sharper set than his 2009 affair…

Maff Brown

You probably had to be there

11 Aug 2010

Some funny things have happened to Maff Brown. Funny, that is, in the way that you probably had to be there to appreciate fully; like his dad Lesal reacting to being widowed by moving to Korea and Skyping 23-year-old Ukrainian girls. Thinking his…

Nathan Caton

Tackles issues of race with refreshing ease and sensitivity

11 Aug 2010

After Breakfast at Stephanie’s, you’ll have got to know the whole Caton family. Nathan Caton is perfectly endearing, and his observations on family life are at once sharp and accessible: that unabashedly racist or generally ‘un-PC’ geriatric relative…

Andrew Bird

Like being beaten with a roll of toilet paper

11 Aug 2010

‘I have nothing for you,’ states Bird at the opening of his act, in disappointingly prophetic fashion. The next hour drags on with reasons why he isn’t a ‘lad’ and the funny things his wife says. Like being beaten with a roll of toilet paper, Bird is…

Beta Males’ Picnic

Preoccupation with death and sexual deviance

11 Aug 2010

The Picnic’s preoccupation with death and sexual deviance has finally reached a logical conclusion: the extinction of the human race. Their post-apocalyptic sketch bunker houses mutant abominations, infanticidal robots and (naturally) a sinister…

Smith and Smith

Dry self-deprecation and an irreverent take on immortality

11 Aug 2010

Some flimsy premises provide the platform for two men named Smith to come together. James W Smith talks of life and its problems (mainly children) in dry self-deprecation, though the pathos rarely pays off. Daniel Smith does, however, seem more at ease…

Unshakeable

Paul Betney jokingly describes his life with Parkinson's

11 Aug 2010

Paul Betney lived with undiagnosed Parkinson’s disease for 18 years before finally finding medication that helps suppress his uncontrollable shaking. With the aid of video clips, slide shows and jokes, he talks about his life pre- and post-medication.

Damion Larkin

Cuddly Loser has the feel of being hurriedly chucked-together

11 Aug 2010

Full of confidence, presumably from his years at the coalface of stockbroking, Larkin’s story of being a Cuddly Loser has the feel of being hurriedly chucked-together and in dire need of narrative moulding. Still, for a fiver, you’ll get to hear one of…

Five ways to ensure you survive this year's festival

Moira's five ways to ensure you survive the festival

'Falkirk's hardest woman' hands out tips on surviving the Fringe

10 Aug 2010

Being on tour can be a stressful business, what with staying away from home, forgetting your lines onstage and, erm, setting off the fire alarm in the venue. Scotland’s newest stage superstar, Moira, shares her tips on how to survive a fortnight at the…

Stephen Carlin - The Podium of Unconditional Surrender

Airdrie wag refuses to get tough

10 Aug 2010

Stephen Carlin doesn’t really have a thing, in that way that comedians do: no identifying features. In his comedy, not facially. Facially he’s easy to spot: good-looking, with the sort of dastardly moustache that you rather suspect is going to turn out…

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.

Two Episodes of MASH

Offbeat charm and wit

10 Aug 2010

There’s no denying the offbeat charm and wit of Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson, but this latest Fringe effort is given a fatal dead-leg by its uneven pacing and repetitious tone. Wilkinson plays the frustrated misfit and awkward loser to perfection…

Felix Dexter

Observational stand-up and nicely realised characters

10 Aug 2010

The veteran character comic introduces us to Julius the Nigerian, dispirited at the lack of romance in bump ‘n’ grind R&B, Harlesden wide boy Early D and posh Cotswold bigot Aubrey who ‘sees the point in the working class’. Though there’s nothing…

Geraldine Quinn

Flash your flesh, your cash and your camel toe

10 Aug 2010

In an era of ‘pop with no pants’, Geraldine Quinn explains how to be a singing sensation, even if you can’t sing: flash your flesh, your cash and your camel toe. Vivacious and confident, Quinn mercifully can hit a note, and her lyrics are wry and…

Jimeoin

Low-key observations about the little things

10 Aug 2010

An hour with Jimeoin is an hour of tickling, low-key observations about the little things, the sweet little interior monologue of a normal bloke negotiating everyday stuff, such as how to conserve energy opening the fridge, or the speed of a knife…

Ali Cook

Cook’s magic is both slick and sick

10 Aug 2010

As he promises from the outset, Cook’s magic is both slick and sick. Don’t go for the jokes, unless you like tired Jimmy Carr-style one-liners followed by a leer. But go to be dumbfounded by the mind-boggling illusion and seemingly future-active…

Comedy Bitch

Intelligent, surreal and original

10 Aug 2010

The terms ‘television’ and ‘Comedy Bitch’ are often uttered in the same breath and no wonder. Their pastiches of pop culture’s favourite genres - horror, espionage, period drama – are intelligent, surreal and original, and their nostalgic incidental…

Chris McCausland

McCausland meanders off on wildly varying tangents

10 Aug 2010

Opening with an incensed email criticising his show’s title – Emotional Retard – which he neatly defends, McCausland meanders off on wildly varying tangents. He’s at his best when philosophising over close relationships and some of his musings carry…

Kai Humphries

Desperately needs an injection of sharper gags

10 Aug 2010

There’s something about the Geordie accent (see Brummie and Somerset for details) that makes us want to laugh at rather than with anyone forced by nature to wield it. Humphries pretty much acknowledges this setback as he fails to overcome the hurdle in…

Comedy in the Dark

Well-known comics pitched out of their comfort zones

10 Aug 2010

Selling a show as ‘comedy in the dark’? Make sure the lights go out completely in the venue. It’s interesting to see well-known comics pitched out of their comfort zones (Shappi Khorsandi discovering how much of her routine was based on facial comedy…

Edward Aczel

Somehow incredibly funny without even trying

10 Aug 2010

Aczel’s latest show is a hi-energy romp packed with sharp one-liners. Only joking, it’s as low-key and anti-comedy as ever. Reading from his A4 notes, flicking through his badly presented flipchart and barely making eye contact, he reveals all the…

Giacinto Palmieri

This stilted performance was a pile of sweaty meatballs

10 Aug 2010

Due to Palmieri’s comically strong Italian accent and the manic whirring of several fans, it was hard to determine precisely how funny this gentle narrative about nationality and language was or wasn’t. Respect to the man for his charm, and attempting…

Celia Pacquola

A buoyant performance, surprising and cathartic

10 Aug 2010

If performing stand-up is flirting with humiliation, Celia Pacquola takes humiliation home to meet her mum: having never learned the piano, she ends Flying Solos by attempting a virtuoso piece. She prefaces the attempt by effusively recounting previous…

Noise Next Door

It’s very rare to see improv comedy so consistently hit the mark

10 Aug 2010

A compact stage benefits this quintet’s matey charm and it’s refreshing to see improv performed with such a professional lack of corpsing. Audience members are incorporated but not humiliated and there’s a great deal of fun to be had in spotting the…

Henning Wehn

German humour remains a joke in itself

10 Aug 2010

As long as German humour remains a joke in itself, Wehn’s enormously referential style is unlikely to change. It’s lucky he can still do it with the originality and talent it requires, with his outsider take on British culture spawning some…

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…

Dan Antopolski

Confidently entertaining

10 Aug 2010

It’s difficult for a comedian to both maintain a wide appeal and avoid falling into a safe and cliché-riddled set. Antopolski copes admirably with the mission, mixing gags (and there’s one to compete with last year’s ‘hedgehog’ phenomenon) with personal…

Alex Horne

Clever maths, quantum mechanics and pleasingly lo-fi graphics

10 Aug 2010

This is another of Horne’s endearingly geeky, PowerPoint-assisted shows. There’s some bamboozling clever maths, brief lessons in quantum mechanics and pleasingly lo-fi graphics as Horne outlines his bet with William Hill to achieve a hole in one at golf…

Tom Craine

Achingly upper middle-class meanderings

10 Aug 2010

A small audience is always hard, but the achingly upper middle-class meanderings on offer here were never really going to lift the room. However, you have to admire the confidence of a man in his material when he repeatedly builds in spaces for audience…

Tony Law

Some laugh-worthy material

10 Aug 2010

Tony Law is by his own admission ‘loud and annoying’ and he has hit the nail on the head. The comic has some laugh-worthy material in his Brainporium, but it’s buried under the detritus of rambling, non-sequiturs and, at a particularly painful point…

Magnus Betnér

Cult comic in the making

9 Aug 2010

It’s a traditional stand-up tactic to ingratiate yourself upon an audience by finding a connection between yourself and someone in the crowd. Early on Magnus Betnér discovers that there are some fellow Swedes in the front row. This means about as much…

Jonny Sweet - Let's Just Have Some Fun

Derailing a show about a boat

9 Aug 2010

So how do you follow up a hugely silly but wildly successful PowerPoint-happy Fringe hit? You go a step further and make Let’s Just Have Some Fun (And Learn Something for Once), a freewheeling romp about awkward failure and a terribly helpful lecture…

Kevin Bridges

Rising star effortlessly wins over the home crowd

9 Aug 2010

Kevin Bridges’ rapid rise to superstardom appears to have surprised no one as much as Bridges himself. As he ambles onstage to excited chants of ‘Kevin! Kevin!’ there’s an air of bemusement to the youthful funnyman, as though he can’t quite believe that…

Richard Herring - Christ on a Bike

A disappointing retread of past glories

9 Aug 2010

With last year’s show, Hitler Moustache, Richard Herring created a genuinely moving and highly provocative tract about racism, identity and the power of iconography. On the back of an unseemly pre-festival row with The Guardian, he appeared to have his…

Reginald D Hunter - Trophy Nigga

Funny but familiar material

9 Aug 2010

While Reg D Hunter remains one of the most compelling presences on the UK comedy stage, it appears that he has become afflicted with Wil Hodgson syndrome. Like the pink-haired Care Bear-lovin’ former communist and wrester from Chippenham, Hunter was a…

Paul Foot - Ash in the Attic

"Comedy connoisseurs" only for divisive yet invigorating hour

9 Aug 2010

‘Not exactly Danny Bhoy, is it?’ An Irish woman presumably out for a rollicking night of mainstream stand-up comedy has chosen/been dragged along to a show in which a man with cream slacks, white slip-on shoes, plain shirt, 70s semi-kipper tie and hair…

Storm Large - Crazy Enough

A musical memoir with bawdy tales

9 Aug 2010

Storm Large is absolutely gorgeous, what with her mile-long legs, blonde locks and cherubic face. But I think she expects us to be shocked with all her talk about fisting. The American rock chick will learn that Fringe audiences have a high capacity for…

No Son of Mine

Family secrets uncovered amid a heap of gags

9 Aug 2010

For anyone who has been embarrassed by a parent or felt shame at their offspring, this is possibly not the show for you. Then again, those scenarios most likely cover everyone, and it would be a shame to miss out on such a pleasing mid-afternoon show.

Laura Solon: The Owl of Steven

A curious show about owls and oddballs

9 Aug 2010

It seems like a very long time ago since Laura Solon popped up to Edinburgh with a hastily rewritten show and astonished the comedy world by walking away with the last ever Perrier Award. Five years on and Solon is getting into her stride with narrative…

Ross Sutherland - The Three Stigmata of Pacman

Life’s daftness exposed via poetry and music

9 Aug 2010

Over the past few Fringes, Luke Wright has earned himself a reputation as the cutting thrust of performance poetry. Now two of his fellow Aisle 16 buddies are getting their taste of an Edinburgh ‘summer’. While Tim Clare takes us on a Death Drive at Zoo…

Paul Sinha - Extreme Anti-White Vitriol

Handling some hot political spuds

9 Aug 2010

This year Paul Sinha walks the tightrope of political comedy, and just about manages to keep his balance. There are enough outright jokes in this show to keep a bog-standard comedy club audience entertained, but they’re liberally spaced through a set…

Jeremy Lion

Soused kids entertainer goes green

9 Aug 2010

Ruddy-faced Jeremy Lion uses the fertile format of the children’s educational play to bind an alcoholic slapstick to lyrical ditties detailing the dangers of global warming. It’s a finely tailored package of physical, musical and cynical gags that’s at…

Ray Green

The 3D adventures of a two-bit character

9 Aug 2010

Ray Green is an unabashed serial bumbler and the alter ego of Preston-born Dave Gibson. With a down-to-earth Northern charm and a moustache – the latter comes in handy when reaffirming your virility or being mugged, apparently – Gibson/Green’s hour of a…

Don't Run with Scissors

A Betrayal of Penguins can't quite regain of glory of 2009

9 Aug 2010

Like most glorious debut ventures, the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome is a tough nut to batter. And try as they might, A Betrayal of Penguins just can’t quite regain the glory of 2009 in their new show, Don’t Run with Scissors. Some might point to a…

Keith Farnan: Sex Traffic

Facts to gasp at and jokes to die for

9 Aug 2010

One thing you can be certain of with Keith Farnan is that he doesn’t just knock up a show on the train up to Edinburgh. Actually, it’s unlikely that any of the comics do that, but it’s a phrase that’s been doing the rounds for years. With two…

Pete Johannson's - Pete's On Earth

Solid stand-up as it was meant to be

9 Aug 2010

If you were to take a cursory glance at Pete Johansson’s set-list, you’d be forgiven for expecting this 2010 show to be middle-of-the-road stand-up fare. Pete’s on Earth is peppered with gags about the Canadian comic’s drugs of choice, obnoxious…

Pros from Dover

Sketch comedy from accomplished trio inject form with inovation

9 Aug 2010

Critical reaction to sketch groups is an all-too predictable business. ‘Hit and miss’ comes the cry from the press box. So, when the likes of Pros from Dover come along and attempt to inject the form with a bit of curveball innovation, that should be…

Joe Rowntree: Peaceful Worrier

Paranoia revolves around this comic’s past

9 Aug 2010

It’s certainly brave of accomplished Fringe debutant Joe Rowntree to show us clips of him early on in his career being really rubbish on stage and having humiliation heaped upon him by a cruel compere. This, alongside the hack story of the crazy things…

DJ Danny

By day, frustrated teacher, by night, DJ

9 Aug 2010

For two nights only, Danny Robbins brings his cult character back to the Fringe. By day, a frustrated English and General Studies teacher; by night, a DJ who lays down beats which, as he puts it, are not so much ‘phat’ as clinically obese. With his…

Babbling Comedy: The Perfordian Show

Slapstick, magic, juggling all lend to adequate family entertainment

9 Aug 2010

Once you’re over the sight of four grown men capering about dressed unconvincingly as babies, this is perfectly adequate family entertainment. A toybox of props provides pretexts for magic, juggling, balloon modelling and a healthy dollop of slapstick.

Bound

Brimming with comedic talent, weaker on emotion, generally lovely

9 Aug 2010

Some say life is like a boat: you can move around the deck but the course is set. Six fisherman on their last (sea)legs undertake one more voyage in Bear Trap’s water-based drama about the fibres of human connection. Brimming over with comedic talent…

Sound and Fury - Private Dick

Playful postmodern romp with knob gags

8 Aug 2010

Private Dick, Sound and Fury’s latest Fringe offering, is a postmodern homage to the film noir.

Daniel Sloss - My Generation

Teen comic hits home with the personal

8 Aug 2010

It’s not news most in the audience can relate to, but 19-year-old Daniel Sloss is getting on a bit. Or so he thinks he is, in only his second solo show at the Fringe.

Doon MacKichan - Primadoona

Turning tragedy into comedy

8 Aug 2010

Life has heaped a lot of lemons on Doon MacKichan: death, divorce, illness, a career in voiceovers. It’s given her some treats as well, to be fair: children, two Emmys, the ability to Flamenco dance. The accomplished comedy writer and performer turns…

The Ukulele Project

Charming folk take on modern classics

8 Aug 2010

Festival newbies The Ukulele Project make their debut here, bringing their unique take on everything from Radiohead and The Beatles to Plan B and Gorillaz.

Scott Agnew proves himself as storyteller with eye for absurd

Devilish entertainer with broad appeal

8 Aug 2010

Powerhouse Scott Agnew returns to the Fringe with this seamlessly laidback and funny narrative about the lengths he – and by extension, we – have gone to for love. This popular ‘anti-queen Glasgow poof’ isn’t squeamish when it comes to dissecting odd…

Jonno Katz - Cactus: The Seduction

A manic one-man love story

8 Aug 2010

After an unnecessarily lengthy preamble that includes a lesson in cultural and linguistic differences and enforced sexual fantasising for the audience, Australian Jonno Katz weaves a love story of a man, another version of himself, an enigma wrapped in…

Kate Fox - Kate Fox News

A slow news day

8 Aug 2010

Comic poet and newshound Kate Fox sure knows how to sell a story. Her true-life rhymes are plotted out through a series of quirky, attention-grabbing hooks in her show, Kate Fox News: she absconded with a gun-runner, was a gangster’s moll and…

Gary Delaney - Purist

The Basil Brush of stand-up

8 Aug 2010

The Ronseal of comedy, Gary Delaney deals in one-liners, so if it’s a machine gun approach to punchlines you’re after, that’s exactly what you’ll get.

Lady Garden - Top Secret Gig

Slightly too fast-paced sketch show

8 Aug 2010

Despite their immaturely provocative title, Lady Garden is six inoffensive Manchester University alumni returning for their third Fringe.

Elis James - Daytripper

Scruffy yet sharp show about obsessions

8 Aug 2010

Elis James is charming company. Even when fluffing the end of his show, he’s wooed the audience with the skills of a sharp compere so they totally forgive the slip.

Gemma Goggin - Get Laid or Die Trying

Hilarious and graphic sex tales

8 Aug 2010

Bridget Jones meets Victoria Coren in the formidably busty and bright-eyed form of Gemma Goggin, a woman in her 30th year seeking desperate and dubious routes to love.

Lesbian Bathhouse

A feminist comic romp

8 Aug 2010

In Helen Eisenbach’s comic piece, actresses turn up for an audition to a sexually charged theatre production, the creation of the heard but never seen Rod Laselle (voiced by Harry Shearer of The Simpsons and Spinal Tap fame). By coincidence, the…

Paul Zenon - Lounge Wizard

Old tricks with some new twists

8 Aug 2010

Paul Zenon was once a TV regular. Now he’s performing in a Chinese-themed nightclub basement on the Five Pound Fringe. His quips to that effect, while delivered with self-deprecation rather than bitterness, carry an uneasy ring of truth that echoes…

The Real MacGuffins

Deliciously daft sketches

8 Aug 2010

Double act Jim and Dan... no wait, there’s a third member, the put-upon (and aptly named) Matt. And therein lies the dynamic for the threesome’s sketch show.

Tiffany Stevenson - Dictators

Top Trumps of despots

8 Aug 2010

A quick glance at the leaderboard Tiffany Stevenson uses to rank and display her top five dictators reveals all you need to know about this comic and her style. First, that she scores power-crazed and often genocidal individuals like they were Top…

Jo Caulfield - her off the telly sketches out her Fringe show Cruel to be Kind

Board Meeting: Jo Caulfield

7 Aug 2010

Another comedian puts pen to board for The List, to draw the essence of their stand-up. When asked how she'd flyer her own show, Caulfield explains she'd point at the flyer and ask, 'Do you know who she is? Off the telly? Well, it's her but she's much…

'Pedantic overlord' Stephen Carlin draws out ther details of his show

'Pedantic overlord' Stephen Carlin draws out the details of his show

Board Meeting: Stephen Carlin

7 Aug 2010

Stephen Carlin took 25 minutes to draw his whiteboard. It's not a criticism, but symptomatic of a show born from the brain of (and we're quoting) "a pedantic overlord" which has won him high favour on the comedy circuit with its invention and picked…

Phil Nichol sketches out Welcome to Crazytown

Board Meeting: Phil Nichol

7 Aug 2010

Drawing on the board, chatting, posing and having the photo taken takes Phil Nichol about three minutes. This comedic whirlwind is what whisked his reputation into the public eye, and this year the storm is again channelled into the unnerving world of…

Jojo Sutherland Goes for the Jocular - in pictures

Board Meeting: Jojo Sutherland

7 Aug 2010

Jojo returns to home territory with her show Jojo Sutherland Goes for the Jocular, where she'll tackle all the grievances that have been driving her barmy over the past year. She'll be taking a lunchtime spot at The Stand, a time of day when a bit of…

James Dowdeswell's My Grandad was a Clown and Those are Big Shoes to Fill

Board Meeting: James Dowdeswell

7 Aug 2010

James Dowdeswell discovered that his great grandfather was a clown and comic actor who had worked with Charlie Chaplin? How does an up-and-coming comedian compete with that? By looking a bit homeless on the street outside his venue with a whiteboard and…

Stand regulars Silence of the Trams II draw us their Fringe show

Board Meeting: Silence of the Trams II

7 Aug 2010

Silence of the Trams comprises of Jim Park, Gordon Alexander, Niall Browne, Derek Johnston and Martin McAllister: regulars at The Stand throughout the year (we know, we've forgotten what that's like too). Join them on a comedic trip round the most…

David Strassman's world premiere of Duality

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…

Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw set challenge with Fringee comedy show

Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw set challenge with Fringe comedy show

Champion of new music finds comedy feet

6 Aug 2010

Radio 1 returns to the Fringe following last year’s Scott Mills The Musical. DJ Nick Grimshaw was set the challenge of writing a one-man show, with five weeks to prepare. Here, he explains the show he’ll perform this week. ‘Don’t get me wrong – I…

Flesh and Blood and Fish and Fowl

Look busy, it’s the end of the world

6 Aug 2010

When the human race has all but died out, when the Earth has erased almost all evidence of our existence, the last redoubt of our once great civilisation will be … the back office of a microwave meal manufacturer. As a premise, it sounds half-baked…

Hip hop parodist Doc Brown

Sometimes laboured, but poignant, moving, and convincing

6 Aug 2010

There are three things you should know about London’s hip hop parodist Doc Brown. One: he’s superstar author Zadie Smith’s little brother. Two: he’s had several brushes with pop success, having toured with De La Soul and Mark Ronson. Three: more than…

Andrew Lawrence gets a few things off his chest

The end result is some high-pitched and hilarious rantings

6 Aug 2010

Andrew Lawrence claims he doesn’t have a grand theme or gimmick to his show: he just wants to get a few things off his chest. Boy, does he want to get a few things off his chest. With most comedians you start to sweat for them after half an hour…

Stewart Lee’s Silver Stewbilee!

The stand up will launch his new book at the one-off night

6 Aug 2010

He’s not letting us reviewers in again this year, so we can only assume that he’s doing a mime show in Swedish or something. With this one-off night, he’s launching his excellent new book, a series of musings and full scripts from his last few stand-up…

Jeremy Lion answers questions from kids

The children's entertainer answers the questions that popped into our mailbox

5 Aug 2010

Bumbling children’s entertainer Jeremy Lion has taken time out from being near-permanently soused to explore some pressing environmental issues in his new show. He’s still got time for the kids, however, and was more than happy to answer the questions…

Neil Hamburger descends upon the Fringe with a surprise for his critics

Controversial stand-up talks Tenacious D, hecklers and Mel Gibson

5 Aug 2010

With a characteristically phlegmy cough, Neil Hamburger clears his throat and recalls his last Scottish gig, opening for Tenacious D in Glasgow. ‘I sure got a lot off my chest there,’ he reminisces. ‘Though of course, they got even more off because they…

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