Comedy and Allan Radcliffe

Moonlight and Magnolias

Ron Hutchinson's comedy explores the story behind the making of a Hollywood epic

2 Apr 2012

The strange alchemy that sorts screen hits from cinematic turkeys is energetically explored in Ron Hutchinson’s play about the events leading up to the shooting of Hollywood blockbuster, Gone with the Wind. The story behind the filming of Margaret…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

Ali Cook

Old-fashioned with homage to TV magic shows

23 Aug 2011

A familiar face from TV magic shows, Cook’s hour is determinedly old-fashioned with homage paid to the polyester-haired showmen of his youth in one sketch. Cook’s sleight-of-hand is impressive, while his elucidation of some of the world’s greatest…

Mary Christ - The Unmusical!

Crude, unfunny innuendo from excitable drag queen

23 Aug 2011

Sharing a black box theatre with Mary Christ is like being trapped in a cupboard with a vampire. The excitable drag queen gets up close and personal with her audience, divulging details of her sex life, but there’s no satire here, just 45 minutes of…

Gareth Richards

A lack of confidence on the comedian's part undermines the good-quality material

15 Aug 2011

A Best Newcomer nominee from 2010, Richards should have more faith in his material. His topical routines, while nicely observed, are delivered in an apologetic manner that doesn’t inspire confidence. He seems more relaxed when performing his clever…

Delete the Banjax

The sketch group appear to be having fun, but the audience isn't in on it

15 Aug 2011

A couple of smart musical numbers and an inspired repeat joke involving a flipchart can’t distract the overall feebleness of this sketch quartet’s material. An unfunny extended pub quiz skit is a particular lowlight, and the excitably shrill…

Dave Gorman's Power Point Presentation

Inspired PowerPoint presentation from the genial everyman

8 Aug 2011

Fringe shows that rely heavily on technical apparatus always stir a slight sense of apprehension. There’s always the risk that a large measure of the show’s impact will be neutered by some unforeseen meltdown. ‘Do you like the big screen?’ asks a…

Glenn Wool: No Lands Man

Hobo comic’s killer dispatches

8 Aug 2011

Gruff Canadian Glenn Wool hasn’t been at the Fringe for a couple of years, instead travelling the world, performing and gathering material inspired by his en route adventures. The hobo comic’s set opens with an account of the time he was strip-searched…

The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots

Our annual chart of the people from Scotland being interesting, successful and creative

16 Dec 2010

The Hot 100 is a list of Scots who’ve made a sizeable creative splash in 2010. It includes musicians, artists, writers, actors, fashion designers, technological innovators, shop owners, festival directors, record label heads and one mad cyclist.

The Chooky Brae

10 Sep 2010

It’s a little disconcerting to step out of a balmy late summer’s evening into an auditorium filled with festive songs and walk past a stage set whose centrepiece is a Christmas tree. But then playwright DC Jackson was always going to want to round off…

Sarah Millican

A consistent pleasure

17 Aug 2010

Millican has called her new show Chatterbox after her high school nickname. The Geordie funny woman can undeniably bump her gums, and it’s this ability to chat very naturally and wittily (and sometimes rather naughtily) about everyday stuff, from her…

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…

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…

Susan Calman, Stephen K Amos and Bette/Cavett at Fringe 2010

LGBT Edinburgh Fringe Highlights

23 Jul 2010

The List’s LGBT section is about to take a well-earned break (returning in September, folks), but before we head off on our holidays, there’s just time to let you know about some of the gay-friendly stuff that’s appearing at a Fringe Festival near you…

Edinburgh Festival 2010: More Fringe show highlights

Some of the shows to look out for at the Fringe

16 Jul 2010

With over 2,400 shows to choose from at this years Fringe festival, it's all to easy to succumb to the paradox of choice. Here we present our picks for some of the smaller shows that are worth looking out for.

Julian Clary

Former Joan Collins Fan Club becomes national treasure

24 Aug 2009

‘Are there any heterosexuals in here?’ asks a nervous-looking Julian Clary, ‘because if this is an exclusively gay and lesbian audience I’ll do a completely different show.’ It’s an odd question to be asking of the packed crowd in the cavernous Purple…

Carey Marx

Everything from global warming to fisting cows

24 Aug 2009

Marx offers a relatively fresh take on that peculiarly British obsession with doom and gloom in a routine that takes in everything from global warming to fisting cows, Susan Boyle's hair and bum sex while trampolining. While his writing betrays an…

Reginald D Hunter

Consummate stand-up disappoints with weak material

21 Aug 2009

Sitting through Reginald D Hunter’s The Only Apple in the Garden of Eden and Niggas, is a frustrating experience. A consummate stand-up with a punchy delivery and comic timing to die for, Hunter’s commanding stage style is, sadly, victorious over this…

Tom Wrigglesworth

Anecdotes from a comic who cares

11 Aug 2009

From the moment Wrigglesworth embarks on his extended anecdote – about a train journey in which the comic initiated a whip-round for an elderly woman whose entire savings had been gobbled up by a jobsworth ticket collector, before ending up being…

Pajama Men

Strangers on a train with gags

10 Aug 2009

The simplest way to describe the Pajama Men is ‘indescribable’, but as this is perhaps the least helpful word in the critic’s lexicon, I’ll give it a bash. Basically, the US comedy duo (aka Mark Chavez and Shenoah Allen) invent numerous outrageous…

The Hot 100 2008

11 Dec 2008

It’s been a helluva year. 2008 has been a time of significant global change, socially, politically and culturally, with Scotland no exception. So here, for your delectation, is The List’s pick of the 100 people, places and things that rocked our world…

Chris Addison - It Wasn’t Me

13 Nov 2008

One grotesquely amusing aspect of the current economic crisis has been the sight of our beloved PM desperately trying to hammer home the notion that the predicament should be blamed on ‘global’ factors and is absolutely nothing to do with him, mate. You…

Scott Capurro

A mix of the inspired and the obnoxious

21 Aug 2008

It’s been said that the older people get, the less worried they are about causing offence. Scott Capurro, veteran of some 15 Fringe summers, has clearly decided to go for broke this year, trampling all over every sacred cow and totem of political…

Reginald D Hunter

7 Aug 2008

Reg D manages to pull off the neat trick of delivering an hour of intelligent, edgy material to his largest audience to date with the laid-back nonchalance of a very charismatic pal waxing lyrical after a late-night toke. His narrative, about the…

Saddle up

31 Jul 2008

As a posse of spoof country and western acts rides towards the Fringe, Allan Radcliffe asks why songs about rednecks, guns and erections make for sublime comedy