Comedy and Brian Donaldson

The Penny Dreadfuls

Hard to see exactly what the mad fuss is about

17 Aug 2010

It’s hard to see exactly what the mad fuss is about when it comes to this threesome. Now a staple Fringe act, the trio have laddered up the ranks from a cave in the Underbelly to the cheek-mic glory of Pleasance One in a short space of years. But the…

Seann Walsh

Making the humdrum hilarious

16 Aug 2010

If you were to sit down and read a full synopsis of Seann Walsh’s debut hour, it might come across as the dullest thing ever. The subjects he takes as his inspiration for comedy would make Michael McIntyre seem like the merged resurrection of Bill Hicks…

Eirlys Bellin

Clichés abound and laughs fail

16 Aug 2010

In the same cosy room in 2008, Isabel Fay presented a claustrophobic set of oddball characters who appeared with a bang before fizzling out all too quickly. The same is true of Eirlys Bellin’s show, Unaccustomed As I Am, in which a quartet of irritants…

Daniel Rigby

A ragbag of facial gymnastics and titbits about ghosts

16 Aug 2010

The life of a born-again Christian who lapsed back into the world of reason sounds like the stuff that Fringe epics are made from. But after a solid beginning, Rigby’s Afterbirth dips badly, with not even the little baby Jesus capable of resurrecting…

The Three Englishmen

This might be as good as it gets

16 Aug 2010

First off, there’s actually four of them, though they do all appear to be all of an Anglo bent. Kicking off with a deftly wordless piece about four Brazilians watching the World Cup, the quartet rattle through scenes about accidental infant-theft and an…

Monster of the Deep 3D

An amiable and tight performance

16 Aug 2010

Claudia O’Doherty is a quirky little fish. Her show brings to mind the type of bonkers shenanigans which Bridget Christie gets up to, where a world is created almost out of scratch, infiltrated by rigorous detail and manically explored to highlight the…

Dag Sørås

Sørås makes hilarious hay

16 Aug 2010

At the end of Magnus Betnér’s Stand show, the Swede implores his audience to hang around for his best friend and ‘the better comedian’, Norway’s Dag Sørås. The pair certainly share some common themes (suicide, religion, the right wing) while both are…

Carl Donnelly

Getting his stand-up craft down to a fine art

16 Aug 2010

Being famous is not on Carl Donnelly’s wishlist. Besides, the press now have some pictures of him looking a bit daft filed in their archive, ready to be plucked out at the moment when he attains true celebrityhood and does something shameful. For now…

Barry & Stuart

A hell of a compelling show

16 Aug 2010

Whether you believe The Sandman exists or not – and having him call my name through the medium of a lady plucked ‘randomly’ from the crowd hasn’t made me sleep especially easy these last few nights – the Aberdeenshire boys still put on a hell of a…

The Sunday Defensive

Decent-enough chemistry

16 Aug 2010

You might not look at a block of Red Leicester again after this hour in the company of two men in glasses performing as themselves and their dads. A decent-enough chemistry abounds between Phil Gilbert and Jacob Edwards as they wonder how to tell loved…

Charlyne Yi

Don’t believe the hype

15 Aug 2010

The Assembly Rooms like their north American female comics to be a bit kooky. Maria Bamford and Kristen Schaal have mined an offbeat seam to glory at this venue over the last few years, but Charlyne Yi doesn’t quite have what it takes to follow fully in…

Jennifer Coolidge

A CV full of amusing titbits

15 Aug 2010

Tottering on stage in a tight blue dress and heels that are usually only seen on the Fringe at burlesque cabarets or ladyboys gigs, Jennifer Coolidge is here to tell us that she is sick of LA. Hell, she might even decamp to the UK. Implausible as that…

Bo Burnham

How can a guy with an organ be so good?

14 Aug 2010

On the back of outlandishly glowing reviews from the heavyweight papers and keeping his expectant crowd waiting nearly half an hour after the start-time, it would be easy for the cynic to dismiss Bo Burnham. Maybe after all he’s just an over-hyped teen…

Caroline Rhea

Flirting with fame and audience patience

13 Aug 2010

When Sarah Silverman played London in 2008, there was much outrage when she clocked off for a heavily-priced event some 40 minutes in. Last year, Carol Leifer, the inspiration for Seinfeld’s Elaine, graced the Fringe by reading straight from reams of A4…

Dommett & Lapaert

Material tossed aside for engaging tomfoolery

13 Aug 2010

The bubbling confidence of manic youthery shines through this knockabout gig as Joel Dommett and Eric Lampaert take turns in undermining the other’s half-hour(ish) set. Sending slickness home for the night with a tenner in its back pocket, this is a…

Delete The Banjax

Hyped foursome not quite there yet

13 Aug 2010

Having won over the crowds at last year’s Free Fringe, much was expected of Delete the Banjax with this, their debut paid-for August show. But as much as the quartet try, and boy do they try hard, their Pappy-like mucking-about and wild-eyed enthusiasm…

Matthew Hardy: Willy Wonka Explained

Nostalgic trip back to a time of Veruca Salt and Everlasting Gobstoppers

13 Aug 2010

When Australian comedian Matthew Hardy reached a low point in his life, he turned to the movies for solace. He would often be caught in his underpants with a tinny in one hand and a remote in the other, watching the original Willy Wonka film; in…

Mark Nelson - Offending the Senses

A jolt to the comedy system

13 Aug 2010

Armed with a stage presence that makes Wil Hodgson appear as hyper as any of the comedy Russells, Mark Nelson has opted to simply be a cracking joke-teller. And ultimately, in a Fringe packed to their mainly low rafters with weak concept shows…

5 Questions - Rhod Gilbert

12 Aug 2010

Rhod Gilbert is popping our way for a week of The Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst.

Conor O’Toole

Some good joke-writing

12 Aug 2010

Since making a disappointing Fringe debut here in front of an audience of two reviewers, this young Irish comic is doing the right thing and spending time at shows of more experienced stand-ups. While he has acres to learn about delivery and presence…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…