Comedy, Brian Donaldson

5 Things you might not know about - Frankie Boyle

2 Oct 2008

1 Boyle had his first big break winning the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award in 1996, beating off five other comics in the final, including one Noel Fielding. 2 He believes that while he was performing on BBC Scotland’s Live Floor Show, the mic he was…

Profile - Matt Berry

15 Nov 2007

Who’s he then? You may recognise Matt Berry from his role as aristo explorer type Dixon Bainbridge in The Mighty Boosh or for his parts in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and the recent second series of The IT Crowd. No, there’s somewhere else . . . Then…

Lovespring International

Sky One, Sun 12 Aug, 10.30pm

9 Aug 2007

COMEDY Ricky Gervais can be criticised for many things, such as his mad cackle and the popularity of Karl Pilkington. And here’s a third thing. Lovespring International would most likely never have been made had the US not fallen in love with The…

Jimmy Carr

9 Aug 2007

With his short sharp shocks, Jimmy Carr has outraged and amused audiences around the world. He tells Brian Donaldson why no one has the right to be hurt by a bit of wordplay

Profile - The Wee Man

29 Nov 2007

Who’s he then? Creation of Neil Bratchpiece, smallest comedy member of the not very tall Bratchpiece Family, The Wee Man is a pure wee basturt Burberry fiend whose stage demeanour ranges wildly from quite threatening to really very threatening…

Jimmy Carr

24 Apr 2008

STAND-UP Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Thu 24 Apr Some people out there have looked upon his stand-up and TV work and judged Jimmy Carr to be a smug, self-satisfied posh guy who would undoubtedly be prepared to eat himself were he comprised of the…

Punch Lines

1 Aug 2007

Jim Jeffries isn’t the only comic on the receiving end of trouble from their audience. Brian Donaldson compiles some tales of terror. At a late-night Spank! show, Andrew Lawrence (pictured) foolishly challenged a heckler to a duel. As Lawrence unpopped…

Ross Noble

ROSS NOBLE ON

23 Apr 2007

CD Ross Noble is a comic who, like the best of them, splits the crowd straight down the middle. To some he is a rambling muppet with an array of silly voices whose seeming lack of script results in him endlessly stumbling up comedic cul de sacs. The…

The Hollywood Outlaw Comedy Tour

Not a killer in the house

22 Aug 2008

You know things have gone badly wrong when comics are blaming the audience for the icy atmosphere at a gig. In this instance it was each and every one of the four stand-ups who comprise the Hollywood Outlaw Comedy gang who in their own individual way…

WitTank

Inventive sketches from young team

21 Aug 2008

On first glance, it’s a bit of a rubbish name. And on second inspection, even when you see that WitTank actually serves a dual purpose (being a pun on a particular sex move and the suggestion of a container full of humour), it’s still mildly annoying.

Stephen K Amos

31 Jul 2008

Who’s he then? Stephen K Amos is a 30-something actor, comedian and documentary-maker whose Batty Boy involved him going on a journey from his south London backyard to Jamaica in an attempt to discover why homophobia is so prevalent among black…

5 things you might not know about Pete Firman

4 Sep 2008

Firman was born in Middlesbrough, he made the breakthrough into TV by filming himself doing some tricks in his back garden, he was hugely influenced by Penn and Teller, he once did a trick with an egg and sparkler which went down a storm and his…

The Kevin Bishop Show

31 Jul 2008

COMEDY Channel 4, Fri 1 Aug, 10pm Like the mighty Bobby Davro, Kevin Bishop can do a fair old impersonation or two (his Jonathan Ross and Gary Lineker are awesome) but can’t get any material around them to save his life. There have been boasts made…

5 Things you might not know about - Jenny Eclair

18 Sep 2008

1 Having left drama school in Manchester, Eclair started her stage career in an ‘alternative cabaret’ outfit called Kathy Lacreme and the Rum Babas. When the act split, she went solo as a punk poet before eventually going all-out on a stand-up…

Michael McIntyre

The accent is on over-familiarity

21 Aug 2008

Last year, Michael McIntyre apparently harangued two judges on the if.comedy panel for doing this nation the great disservice of not handing him the award on a plate. Still, he could at least reassure himself of his genius with all those flattering star…

Paul Merton's Impro Chums

5 Jun 2008

IMPROVISATION Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 6 Jun The public image of Paul Merton is one of an ad libbing master who can turn the blandest of suggestion or question and turn into improvised gems. Yet this is a man who has plied his comedy trade with…

5 Things you might not know about - Nick Doody

24 Apr 2008

Nick Doody’s debut Fringe show in 2006, Before He Kills Again, kicked off with a disturbing song about clowns. So disturbing that the imagery cannot be repeated in a family publication. He shares a house with fellow stand-up Matt Kirshen. Noam Chomsky…

5 Things you might not know about - French & Saunders

13 Mar 2008

When Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders first met in 1977 at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, they didn’t exactly hit it off. Saunders believed French was a ‘cocky upstart’ while Dawn thought Jen was ‘snooty and aloof’. French is credited…

5 Things you might not know about - Frank Sidebottom

28 Feb 2008

1 The man behind the big-headed Manc is one Chris Sievey. Frank was initially created to be a fan of Sievey’s group The Freshies, but he became so popular that Sievey soon focused his artistic energies on Sidebottom. 2 Among those who played with…

5 Things you might not know about - Des Clarke

14 Feb 2008

1 In 2000 at the tender age of 19, Des Clarke was runner-up in the prestigious So You Think You’re Funny awards. The victor was one Drew Rokos. He’s Australian. That’s all we know about him. 2 His first major TV exposure was on ITV’s Saturday…

Bill Bailey

1 Nov 2007

STAND-UP SECC, Glasgow, Wed 7–Fri 9 Nov It seems clear that Bill Bailey has never minded looking somewhat foolish in the pursuit of his chosen career path. Back in the early days when he was a mere West Country boy trying to earn a modest showbusiness…

Kristen Schaal

Whispering genius cobbles together a hit

9 Aug 2007

The Assembly Rooms appears to have been putting up a determined campaign the last few years to platform a string of quirky female American comics with offbeat dispositions all of their own. Wendy Spero and Maria Bamford made inroads with varying success…

Different strokes

1 Aug 2007

Having written one of the UK’s finest ever sitcoms, Sean Lock is back pounding the beat on the stand-up stage. Brian Donaldson talks to the man who has finally left bitterness behind

Mark Nelson

Raw energy

12 Mar 2007

Mark Nelson’s mouth has been getting him in trouble for quite some time now. Back in his day as a Dumfries schoolboy, he was indulging in between-song banter while appearing with local band Evac-Chair, named after the vehicle which transports an…

Terry Saunders

26 Aug 2008

In the dank bowels of the ghost-ridden Baby Belly 3, where it rains indoors no matter what it’s doing outside (though, let's face it, chances are it’ll be raining there too), two shows from likeably nervy individuals addressed obsessions with varying…

Carol Leifer

A Fringe debut to forget

21 Aug 2008

Of course, it’s daft to generalise, but when heavily-anticipated American stars have come across to the Fringe they’ve either blown us away or totally bombed. In the happy former camp are Demetri Martin, Kristen Schaal and Doug Stanhope. In the…

The Wrong Door

21 Aug 2008

COMEDY There’s only one thing worse than a really bad sketch show. And that’s a really bad sketch show that has had absolutely loads of money thrown at it. So much dosh has been set aside for the special effects in The Wrong Door that no one seems to…

The Cup

14 Aug 2008

COMEDY DRAMA BBC2, Thu 21 Aug, 9.30pm Do we really need another fly-on-the-wall docu-comedy-drama about flawed individuals living out their largely miserable lives? Apparently so, as The Cup smashes its way towards us with more ‘subtle’ humour and…

The Real Daniel O'Donnell Show

14 Aug 2008

Witching hour tales of semi-terror have become such a hackneyed notion now that only the most brilliant of scripts can lift them above the ordinary. This failure has a couple of decent ideas (the shy ghost and Tales of the Unexpected dancers) but the…

Idiots of Ants

Messing about with form and content

7 Aug 2008

To the rousing theme of Grandstand, this quartet of white-shirted, black-tied lads (still not sure whether they're more idiotic or antlike?) race into the venue. For the previous few minutes, we've been looking at them on screens prancing around London…

5 Things you might not know about - Francesca Martinez

19 Jun 2008

Martinez first came to the public’s attention as Rachel Burns in Grange Hill and claimed that at her real school she had to use humour to make people accept that even though she had cerebral palsy, she was just a regular kid. She got into comedy when…

5 Things you might not know about - AL Kennedy

22 May 2008

The A stands for Alison, the L for Louise. She chose to go with the initials as she was keen on a certain degree of anonymity when starting out as a writer and her favourite authors as a kid were JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and EE Nesbitt. She doesn’t come…

Profile - Dave Ward

4 Jan 2008

Who’s he then? A self-confessed fibber, Dave Ward has gone through quite a few career shifts. He’s been a professional golfer and a waiter at a celebrity hang-out, before spending a period of time behind bars due to his extreme gambling addictions. At…

Elaine C Smith - 5 things you might not know about her

13 Dec 2007

1 In 1987, the Baillieston-born actress appeared in the kids show Dramarama in an episode entitled ‘My Mum’s a Courgette.’ 2 Her most recent Beeb appearance was in Jennifer Saunders’ ill-fated Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle. Fortunately, Smith…

Mark Watson

16 Aug 2007

Mark Watson deserves his moment. Having proved to be one of the true innovators on the Fringe with his marathon comedy sessions, off-the-cuff novel writing and participation in daft quizzes, his solo hour of stand-up has grown in stature and scope in…

Peter Powers

Profile

2 Jul 2007

Name Peter Powers Who’s he then? Dubbed as a ‘hipnotist’ and the ‘Ali G of stage hypnotism’, he has the ability (or, I suppose, power) to have a man standing about in women’s underwear or find a cure for the most acute of phobias. His TV work…

Ricky Gervais Show, The

The Ricky Gervais Show

27 Nov 2006

CD The massive success of Ricky Gervais has occasionally been a bemusing thing. For every single episode of sheer genius that was The Office, there remains the dank memory of his ‘stand-up’ ‘career’. As excellent as the majority of Extras has been…

Phil Kay

11 Nov 2006

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT... 1 The manically surrealist one was the second ever winner of the prestigious So You Think You’re Funny award. Fellow Scot Bruce Morton won the inaugural prize in 1988 and the likes of Rhona Cameron, Dylan Moran…

Stewart Lee: 41st Best Stand Up Ever!

DVD

4 Sep 2008

When Stewart Lee first wrote this 2007 show, he was seriously hacked off with the BBC. Having been commissioned by the corporation to make a series of half-hour comedies which would feature Lee performing in front of unusual audiences (a group of…

Ahir Shah & Alex Maple

Raw talents in unfettered mayhem

21 Aug 2008

A few years back, a show entitled It’s a Shambles won the Perrier Best Newcomer award. If that moniker hadn’t already been snapped up, it could so easily have applied to this ramshackle affair. And yet, rather than making this an hour of difficult…

Andrew Stanley

21 Aug 2008

Being whimsically funny seems to be part of the Irish birth right and Stanley is another example of an act who is adept at managing a crowd and building up a sweat as his shaggy hair matches the tales he unfurls. Gilded Balloon Teviot, 668 1633…

Ivan Brackenbury

Ill-advised gags in the Disease Hour

21 Aug 2008

Fresh from a triumphant Fringe 07 which included an if.comeddie nomination and a string of rave reviews, Chesterfield and North Derbyshire’s foot-in-mouth specialist hospital DJ is back. And in a seasonal twist, he’s turning August into Christmas-time…

Alcock Improv

Hateful yet seemingly hilarious ad libbing

7 Aug 2008

Apparently this lot are causing sleepless nights for the Cambridge Footlights crowd, as the establishment quake in their boots as the Alcock crew go around snapping at their improvised heels. The whole ad-lib game is at best hit and miss, and at worst…

Pippa Evans

Turning loneliness into laughter

7 Aug 2008

Ushering her audience through to their seats in the guise of an Australian lifestyle coach who runs classes in helping people deal (very badly) with crippling symptoms of loneliness, Pippa Evans begins a thoroughly mixed character show. Runner-up in…

Russell Kane

Essex boy made good

7 Aug 2008

While a cursory glance at the Fringe programme might suggest that being blessed with the forename Dan (including such variations as Danny/Danielle) might be the best way to fast-track towards a career in comedy, the nation's Russells are arguably the…

Wisecrackin’ Mindsqueezin’ Behemoth - Big time

31 Jul 2008

Their first stage meeting involved simulated copulation. John-Luke Roberts and Nadia Kamil now make beautiful music in their Behemoth sketch guise. Brian Donaldson hears about the pair’s celebrity fans and those nasty critics

Profile - Mark Olver

17 Jul 2008

Who’s this fella, then? Having first taken to the mic in 1998, Mark Olver is among that triptych of fine young comics from the west country, which also includes Russell Howard and Wil Hodgson. His style is more conversational than Hodgson’s and less…

5 Things you might not know about - Ken Dodd

10 Apr 2008

Somewhat eccentric from his early years, he often walked backwards all the way from school to his home simply to prove that it could be done. When he tried this feat of nonsense while on his bicycle, it proved to be less successful. Legend has it that…

5 Things you might not know about - I'm Sorry I Haven't Got A Clue

27 Mar 2008

1 Humphrey Lyttelton had a top 20 hit in the 1950s with ‘Bad Penny Blues’ and played on Radiohead’s ‘Life in a Glasshouse’. The Humph appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2006. 2 Tim Brooke-Taylor’s grandfather was a parson who played centre-forward…

Pete Firman

17 Jan 2008

MAGIC The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh, Tue 29 Jan Can you actually imagine anything less appealing in the theatrical sphere than a magic act? All that showing off with handkerchiefs and bunny rabbits and saws and tasselled ladies is simply…

Matt Kirshen

4 Jan 2008

STAND-UP Jongleurs, Glasgow, Fri 4 & Sat 5 Jan Reality TV has created many a pointless monster but it’s also attracted the already talented to show us what they’re made of. If you say ‘British comedian’ to the average American (whatever that may…

Extras

13 Dec 2007

For all his faults (and his stand-up and radio work make them plentiful), Ricky Gervais at least knows when a TV comedy should bow out. Having clocked off at The Office with 12 episodes and a Christmas special, he has opted for the same strategy with…

Baggage

29 Nov 2007

RADIO Radio 4, Wed 5 Dec, 11.30am With the Grumpy Old Women back doing their grumpy old thing on the nation’s stages, it’s good to hear of another female comic trio who aren’t just wielding rolling pins and frying pans while moaning about the…

Hitlist - The best comedy

1 Nov 2007

• Bill Bailey The self-proclaimed hippie materialist part-troll guy worms his way back into our affections with more daft musical musings. SECC, Glasgow, Wed 7–Fri 9 Nov. * Ian Rankin's choice • Mark Watson The most energetic (yet unhealthiest…

Arnab Chanda

6 Sep 2007

Be funny about things that you know is one of the most common pieces of advice that young comics are given by more experienced stand-ups. Arnab Chanda, then, should have a wealth of funny stuff at his fingertips purely from the places he’s lived during…

Alex Horne

23 Aug 2007

Alex Horne revels in trying to find comedy in the most unlikely of corners. It’s one thing to make fun out of ancient languages (the absurdities of Latin was the topic of his last full Fringe run) but he’s now moved on to the inherently unfunny pursuit…

Gently Progressive Behemoth

23 Aug 2007

While the sketch show may have fared rather poorly at this year’s Fringe, the oddball double act might well be having its salad days. Certainly, if the Gently Progressive Behemoth (in the shape of comically theatrical young Cambridge guns Nadia Kamil…

Miles Jupp

16 Aug 2007

There are few things in life quite so satisfying than seeing a posh person throwing a bit of a wobbler. And so it’s with great pleasure that Miles Jupp brings us Everyday Rage and Dinner Party Chit Chat, a perusal of the moments in life when Jupp…

Bridget Christie

9 Aug 2007

And here comes Stewart Lee’s missus as he indulges in her long-held obsession with Charles II, influenced by the fact they share the same hair and a love of oranges. Endearingly quirky and historically offbeat, the set loses steam rather quickly but…

Russel Howard

9 Aug 2007

Russell Howard shows a remarkable amount of restraint against what appears to be a natural inclination to gab with his audience. Other than to mock the odd crazy laugh, he concentrates on his material, which is an ability which the crowd requires in…

Paul Sinha

7 May 2007

MY COMEDY HERO

Profile - Keir McAllister

Profile

26 Mar 2007

Name Keir McAllister Who’s he then? This Glasgow-born comic has been performing since 2004 when he entered a stand-up competition in Dundee, only to go on and win the darned thing. He has worked closely with Paul Pirie (runner-up in the Scottish…

15 Storeys High

12 Feb 2007

DVD With questionable wisdom, voters in the BBC’s Best Sitcom Ever poll back in 2004 utterly ignored 15 Storeys High, instead opting to find slots near the business end of the top 100 for the risible likes of ‘Allo Allo’ and Vicar of Dibley. History…

Carl Donnelly & John Robins

21 Aug 2008

Two chaps with bright futures amble along amiably with their separate stand-up sections, linked by an amusing satisfied drinking sound, fashioning out little urban observations and memories of childhood. Clearly, this has no bearing on the star rating…

FxP2 in Trouble!

21 Aug 2008

The thing with last-gasp chances are that you have got to take them. And thankfully this set of young sketch artists pulls out a ludicrously playful finale (a boy band mime) that saves the day. It's when they are left to their own writing devices that…

…And Other Stories

21 Aug 2008

Yet another in a long Fringe line of below-average youth sketch shows by a group (this time the Durham Revue) that will no doubt have some talented writers and actors within its circle but whose abilities are swamped in a sea of over-enthusiastic…

Isabel Fay

14 Aug 2008

There's an energetic and quirky charm about Fay's set of oddball characters that makes it hard to hate them, but with a little extra work on the script, we could have loved these failures a bit more. The arachnophobe drafted in for a spider exhibition…

Jon Richardson

The mutt's nuts is wearing the cat's pyjamas

14 Aug 2008

Living on your own might be fraught with danger and potential misery, but it doesn't half give a decent comic shedloads of material for a show. And fortunately, Jon Richardson is more than just a decent comic; he's a true star in the ascendant. This…

Rule of Three

14 Aug 2008

Steering too close to the wind of cliché (kids becoming 'street', Aussie extreme sports guys, City workers being arrogant and loud), this trio get their teeth into some better material which just about sustains the hour. The sleazy boss and the…

Sarah Millican

The young Thora Hird gets down and dirty

14 Aug 2008

Judging by her light Geordie tones, you'd never find Sarah Millican staggering around the Toon with skirt hitched up to her neck, tanked up on Breezers and yelling filthy abuse at anyone with a member. Then again, even though she's been dubbed 'a young…

Adams & Rea

Jokey folky afternoon amusement

7 Aug 2008

One has a pointy chin and is in therapy. The other is Aussie and has issues with her comedy partner. Welcome to the warm, witty and slightly witchy world of Adams & Rea, whose collected CV includes Jade the Folk Singer, a Funny Women award and a cameo…

Omid Djalili

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

There are several downsides to modern fame. Being hassled in the street by ordinary people and getting hunted down by paparazzi when hanging out the washing are just two celebrity negatives. Having chirpy researchers from celebrity TV shows ringing up…

Barry & Stuart

28 Feb 2008

Some magicians spend their lives trying to convince us that they can walk on water. Metaphorically speaking. With London-based, Aberdeenshire-raised double act Barry Jones and Stuart MacLeod, there’s one thing you should know: they actually can walk on…

Eagle Vs Shark

17 Jan 2008

COMEDY (15) 84min (Optimum DVD rental/retail) With its sweet soul and crumbly heart, you’d think that Eagle vs Shark would only be fit for shooting out of the sky or being drowned at birth. But in the hands of writer/director Taika Waititi and…

What's Up, Tiger Lily?

4 Jan 2008

COMEDY (PG) 76min (Optimum retail) Despite insisting in the intro to his 1966 directorial debut (of sorts) that Gone With the Wind used the same strategy, this was the first film to remove the dialogue of one movie and dub a completely new stream of…

Comedy DVDs

13 Dec 2007

DVD Marcus Brigstocke: Planet Corduroy The Show The erudite satirist rails against the injustices of the world in London’s Shaw Theatre, analysing how tough it must be to live life as a corduroy-loving middle-class white chap. The Extras A stirring…

5 Things you might not know about - Jenny Éclair

18 Oct 2007

1 When on Room 101, she managed to get jellyfish thrown down the chute. 2 In the televised cartoon of Sid the Sexist back in 1992, hers was the voice of ‘Cilla Black’. 3 Her first dabble in showbusiness came writing punk poetry and performing…

The History of the World Backwards

18 Oct 2007

COMEDY BBC4, Tue 30 Oct, 10pm Of all the survivors of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Robert Newman has arguably been the one to escape with the largest amount of public goodwill behind him. Punt and Dennis have eased themselves into genteel…

Mark Thomas

20 Sep 2007

STAND-UP There’s still something horribly unfashionable about political comedy in Britain. It can’t simply be that most comics have such sensitive leftist tendencies that they find it unbearable to go hell for leather at attacking the government that…

Profile - Joe Rogan

20 Sep 2007

Name? Joe Rogan Who’s this guy then? Just having passed his 40th birthday, Rogan has built a successful career as an outspoken comic in the Doug Stanhope-ranting vein and has even landed himself the odd TV gig such as being the host of Fear Factor.

Frank Skinner

23 Aug 2007

After a decade away from the stand-up circuit, you’d think that quite a fuss would have been made of Frank Skinner’s Edinburgh return, back in the exact same room where it all started for him with his Perrier-winning year of 1991. Yet when the lights go…

Harmon Leon

23 Aug 2007

This dreadlocked American claims to be The Infiltrator but how he managed to work his way into the comedy section of the Fringe programme is his greatest hoax. He’s on stage for perhaps ten minutes as he plays some largely pointless footage of him…

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

23 Aug 2007

There’s absolutely no doubting the effort put in here with this one-man sock puppet show, but there seems to have been more time spent on perfecting the timing between the two characters and less on any kind of script. Being billed as ‘worthy of Abbott…

Sean Hughes

23 Aug 2007

On the face of it, the stage Sean Hughes of 2007 doesn’t seem a whole lot different from the one who nabbed his first bit of fame back in 1990 as the youngest winner of the Perrier. With that boyish gaunt look still intact, he certainly doesn’t look any…

The Leeds Tealights

9 Aug 2007

We troop in to the sight of four young chaps dressed in white shirts, braces and dark trousers gyrating on stage and leave in a desperate hurry almost an hour later. A sketch show which flounders on its own cloying surrealism, there is some talent in…

Rebecca Drysdale

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

19 Jul 2007

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Bits & pieces An award-winning show with nudity, lesbianism and racial politics sounds like pretty standard Fringe fare these days. But Brian Donaldson reckons Rebecca Drysdale has quite a few cheeky tricks up her sleeve

5 Things

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT . . .

27 Feb 2007

1 Back in her native Oz, a young Kendall first worked her comedy routine for fellow students at Sydney University while majoring in modern history. She fought for a while against stage fright insisting that stand-up was ‘a good way to get into vomiting.’

Aaron Barshak

19 Dec 2006

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT . . . 1 Most famous for donning a peach dress and a Bin Laden beard to gatecrash Prince William’s 21st birthday party and plant a smacker on the future King’s horsey lips, the self-styled Comedy Terrorist has also…

Jason Manford

18 Sep 2006

STAND-UP The timeless criticism in which people are implored to act their age could never be more apt when directed at Jason Manford. Yet, in his case, it’s more likely that he’d be accused of acting way beyond his years; when he started his career…

5 Reasons to Go See Dave Fulton

1 Sep 2006

1 Unlike every second comic you hear about these days, he’s actually not Australian But you’d know that as soon as he opened his mouth. An opinionated, long scraggy-haired guy from Seattle is a more accurate description of him. 2 Has his friends in…

Bill Bailey

14 Aug 2006

A big part of Bill Bailey’s appeal down the years is that he has always slapped on a look of bemused befuddleness, as though he really wasn’t sure where he was or why he was there in the first place. As if to scythe this notion down as quickly as it was…

Omid Djalili

26 Aug 2008

No one can really deny the lofty position that Omid Djalili now occupies in the British comedy world. Having begun in the Fringe wastelands a decade ago, he can pop by to do a week here fresh from a BBC1 Saturday night show deemed so successful by the…

Richard Sandling

Format war rant full of comedic gems

22 Aug 2008

In the dank bowels of the ghost-ridden Baby Belly 3, where it rains indoors no matter what it’s doing outside (though, let's face it, chances are it’ll be raining there too), two shows from likeably nervy individuals addressed obsessions with varying…

Otis Lee Crenshaw

Season pro stil has fire in his belly

22 Aug 2008

Rich Hall is a man who know show to treat his audience right. While his gigs as plain old Rich Hall back in the mid to late 90s helped forge a ridiculously high standard for the next generation of Fringe stand-ups, it was as C&W legend Otis Lee Crenshaw…

Ali Cook

21 Aug 2008

He chews razor blades, crushes doves and gets journalists up on stage to help him perform tricks: Ali Cook simply has no fear. With a pleasing mix of cheesy/sinister, there is happily little that is A Touch of Vegas as he demolishes mobile phones…

Dan Atkinson

21 Aug 2008

Not sure whether Atkinson woke up in a bad mood that afternoon or whether he'd simply left his mojo elsewhere, but this hour of moaning about having been left behind by his friends and whingeing about having moved to London kicks off promisingly but all…

Felix Dexter

21 Aug 2008

Affable as Dexter seems, his is another show of thwarted ambition, over-reliance on funny voices and an hour show that clocks in at almost 50 minutes, a somewhat irritating trend that has been all-too prevalent this year. There's nothing lightweight…

If.comedy shortlist long on quality

Little to argue with over judges award selection

21 Aug 2008

The rant was already prepared. How could they possibly let A on there when B has put together a far more impressive hour? C was absolutely hilarious: why have they let D & E in when they were funnier three years ago? And yet the good people sitting…

Jarlath Regan

A charming but semi-comatose hour

21 Aug 2008

When you Google ‘relax the cax’, you will be asked, ‘Did you mean “relax the car”?’ Well, of course not, that’s just silly. But perhaps more daft is that gentle Irish comic Jarlath Regan failed to find it within himself to explain the title of his show…

Two Episodes of MASH

Potentially great sketches simmer to nothing

21 Aug 2008

Their publicity photo brings to mind the sellotaped surrealist madness of early noughties Noble and Silver while their onstage relationship might, with a wildly imaginative leap mind, make you think of Terry and June had they been members of Monty…