Comedy, Claire Sawers

7 Sins

21 Aug 2008

Limelight-loving, fabulous and about as butch as Dorothy's dog Toto, San Francisco comedian James Judd's fate was inevitable from the day his mum paid him to act out soaps she'd missed. In a breathless hour, with quick Martini stops, he acts out…

Badly Ranted Thoughts Via the Magic of Song

A cult alternative to stand-up-by-numbers

21 Aug 2008

Doktor Cocacolamcdonalds is a crowd divider of a man. One half remains stony-faced, mentally working out what else they could have spent that tenner on, and the other ends up laughing slightly hysterically at his brand of freak or unique comedy. Wearing…

Eleanor Tiernan & John F O'Donnell

21 Aug 2008

The premise here - that bumbling, shaking Tiernan can't cope without her American sidekick - unfortunately turns out to be too close to the truth. When O'Donnell is a no-show, Tiernan's jokes about having crap material aren't followed with any real…

Girl and Dean

21 Aug 2008

Tragically, the hand-knitted props from last year haven't returned, and an annoying puppet and some over-long sketches have snuck in instead. The quirky duo still deliver occasional gems like their posh thesp stereotypes and weird cake-themed…

Jason Byrne

Totally insane, bloody funny

21 Aug 2008

Several things will probably happen at a Jason Byrne gig. A teenage boy in the crowd will squirm while Byrne guesses what he gets up to behind closed bedroom doors. Audience members get assigned surreal characters, based around something Byrne’s caught…

Joke-e-oke

21 Aug 2008

This strangely simple but effective pub game lets punters try out their favourite comedian's routine, with help from an autocue. Just like karaoke, a mix of real talent and boozy have-a-go heroes come out the woodwork to copy Richard Pryor, Dylan Moran…

Pagagnini

Giving clowning a modern twist

21 Aug 2008

After five minutes of classical music in a strictly straight-faced, show-off virtuoso style, from a string quartet in coat-tails and white bow-ties, the first signs of slapstick start to appear. It’s from the Spanish mime and physical theatre troupe…

Paul Kerensa

Failing the great playlist challenge

21 Aug 2008

Although lots of love and forward planning have clearly gone into Paul Kerensa’s show, his fuddy duddy, granny-friendly material taints the brighter, more likeable stuff. Taking his cue from Dave Gorman, he designed a show around a comedy challenge by…

Shazia Mirza

A stilted set about the big issues

21 Aug 2008

A lot of Shazia Mirza’s material deals with her social awkwardness. Juggling the roles of devout daughter of fundamentalist Muslims and trailblazing female Muslim stand-up, she’s experienced her fair share of cultural dilemmas. But beyond the hype over…

Shitty Deal Puppet Theatre Company

21 Aug 2008

This low-tech, frantic and ingenious wee show uses Action Man, plastic dinosaurs and teenage-goth panda bear puppets to act out scenes from art history and blockbuster films. Luckily it moves too fast to dwell on the less funny jokes, but cameos from a…

Barry & Stuart: Part-time Warlocks

Part-time warlocks, full-time fun

14 Aug 2008

It's hard to imagine Paul Daniels onstage with a joint that transforms into a gold chain, and there's no danger you'd have caught him magically turning a porn mag into a map of Iraq. Describing themselves as the 'anti-Paul Daniels of magic', these…

A Guide To Sexual Misery

14 Aug 2008

More chatty lecture than stand-up set, friendly Viennese therapist-comedian Wolfgang Weinberger gives relationship advice, like why and when things go wrong in the bedroom. And what women really want. Using an audience Q&A, some gender clichés…

Dead Cat Bounce

Am-dram antics fall flat

14 Aug 2008

There's an old-fashioned feel to this sketch show, which uses the same hotel bedroom as a backdrop for a set of Goons-style skits. Three American sailors on shore leave burst into knee-slapping golly-gee-whizz song at every opportunity, a ginger man…

Dermot McMorrow

14 Aug 2008

It's hard to decide whether Sligo-born comedian McMorrow should be hailed as a cult hero or stretchered off to the loony bin. Wavering between wide-eyed nutter and intelligent, left-field observer, he reflects on fractal maths, reads animal suicide…

Graeme Thomas

14 Aug 2008

Pedestrian material (including gags about actual pedestrians) is churned out by this Stand regular. Although he begins well with his attempts to 'start smoking', his quickly rattled-out patter about office temping, daytime telly and shopping trolleys…

Jim Jeffries

How to lose your crowd in one horrible hour

14 Aug 2008

No one expects fluffy, cuddly material from Jim Jeffries. The Australian comic is infamous for his potty-mouthed, middle-finger-up comedy, and he'll trash anything - cancer, self-harmers, molested children - as long as it gets a laugh. But unlike other…

JL Roberts & Nadia Kamil present: Wisecrackin', Mindsqueezin' Behemoth

Breakneck capers with Angela Lansbury

14 Aug 2008

There can't be too many shows at the Fringe which feature a musical about BNP über-führer Nick Griffin and his Robertson's Jam-eating, red, white and blue ways. And will anyone else dare to include cameos from Angela Lansbury and her crime-solving…

John Bishop

14 Aug 2008

Last year Scouse sales director Bishop ditched his job to go pro on the comedy circuit. The office's loss was comedy's gain and his warm blether hits its stride with an energetic and funny show. Embarrassing tales of his panto debut, having a son who…

Maeve Higgins

14 Aug 2008

Irish cake-baking, tea-cosy loving chatterbox Higgins is a sweet treat. Entering her weird world, where a warm, stream of consciousness makes her irresistible, she creates a memorable atmosphere with understated stories about her other dream job (museum…

Sean Grant and Tiernan Douieb

14 Aug 2008

Kicking off with tepid, half-baked and badly edited gags by Douieb, who wants to turn Rage Against the Machine songs into a musical, the show improves in the second half with Glaswegian acid tongue, Grant. Making his family life sound like the Addams…

Seymour Mace

Bible stories told by an idiot

14 Aug 2008

An hour with this Geordie comic won't leave you any the wiser about his love life or neuroses. That's not his thing. He doesn't want to offend his crowd, brag at them or sleep with them, he just wants to share his oddball little world. It's a sort of…

Kristen Schaal - Heart of daftness

7 Aug 2008

Kristen Schaal merges sinister and sweet with terrifying success. Claire Sawers chats to her while hoping she doesn’t do that angry, erotic sheep thing.

Mark Watson

Lightning fast, likeable wit from not quite Welsh wizard

7 Aug 2008

Most 55-minute comedy shows, explains Mark Watson, use 50 minutes of material then allow five for laughter. But being a pessimist, the self-slagging, nervy wonderboy has prepared an hour. Based on audience reactions, the wiry, fake Welshman should have…

Bridget Christie

7 Aug 2008

Christie's obsession with King Charles II began almost 30 years ago, when she became fascinated by a portrait of him surrounded by spaniels and oranges. Her eccentric but likeably bonkers show brings him back to life, along with Samuel Pepys and her own…

Dan Antopolski

Truth-seeking weirdly magical stuff

7 Aug 2008

After three years break from the Fringe, Perrier nominee Dan Antopolski returns with more of his brainy brilliance. As a new dad, his daughters make up a large chunk of material, but his status as someone who now 'tries to get girls into their knickers…