Comedy and Emma Lennox

Amsterdam Underground Comedy Collective

14 Aug 2008

If you were to ask the audience why they were laughing hysterically at Hans Teeuwen, they probably couldn't tell you. This is because Teeuwen's humour is so stupidly bizarre, so darkly deadpan, so poetically distasteful, with a Kaufmanesque quality, a…

Who Writes This Crap?

14 Aug 2008

Poets Luke Wright and Joel Stickley are in love with the English language; which is why they are so apoplectically enraged by its daily misuse. By rewriting all the ironic advertising, spam emails and glossy mag headlines read in one day, they find…

Ladies in Waiting

Getting Brownie points for this show

7 Aug 2008

Anyone who has broken their childhood promise to 'do their best' will find this show pleasingly subversive. The Brownie leader, Brown Owl, starts the show with a finger pressed to her pursed lips and the audience is told to be 'quiet as mice'. The…

Danielle Ward

Pacy set that's both clever and funny

7 Aug 2008

'We haven't even flirted with the line yet' warns Danielle Ward as one joke gets a hesitant reaction. She isn't lying; the rest of Ward's material, all rapidly told, invokes death by decapitation, the sex drive of a Siamese twin and some depressing…

Rick Shapiro

Not pretty but very punchy

7 Aug 2008

Rick Shapiro is introduced as a man 'fighting himself', but for tonight's performance it's the theatre tech who is taking most of the comedian's acerbic blows. Trying to sync up highly designed video graphics with Shapiro's meandering mind is an…

Mick Sergeant

7 Aug 2008

Sergeant is a man backed into a corner, both on stage and in his life as a divorced, unemployed shipbuilder from Newcastle. Despite this he makes an excellent motivational speaker, uplifting the audience with tales of depression and brimming with bitter…

Jeff Green

7 Aug 2008

Green has the pleasant vocal tones of a traditional English whinger; he's recently been married and increased his family size, but what he really wants to talk about is caravan holidays and petty foibles of British middle-aged life. Some of the material…

Sammy J

The rude puppet show that blew Oz away roasts everything in its path

31 Jul 2008

‘If you put Disney, Les Mis and Queen in a blender, it might sound a little like our show,’ explains Sammy J, the delicately framed Antipodean whose puppet show Forest of Dreams is hoping to charm Edinburgh audiences. ‘That said,’ he continues, ‘the…

Johnny Candon

Dublin comic finds his theme with a personal story free of sentiment

31 Jul 2008

At last year’s Fringe, Johnny Candon was dancing around in a bear costume for Tony Law’s Revenge of the Dog of Time, but for many years the Dublin-born stand-up has been successfully gigging all over the world. Candon has been a background name in the…

Mark Watson - Crap at the Environment

5 Jun 2008

POLITICAL COMEDY (Hodder & Stoughton) When reducing your carbon footprint, the first thing to do is admit that you’re crap at the environment. This is according to stand-up comedian, writer, TV personality and one-man iceberg melter Mark Watson, who…

Andrew O'Neill

23 Aug 2007

Is Andrew O’Neill rock or folk? He has the heavy metal chains but he also has long hair and black framed glasses. He has a V-shaped guitar, but it’s acoustic instead of electric. More importantly, is this a comedy show or surrealist theatre? The answer…

Dan Atkinson

23 Aug 2007

With shambolic hair and stately intonations, Atkinson looks and sounds like an endearingly mad university professor. He uses his amiable and rambling persona to enlighten the audience with talk of Greek philosophy and nicely worked illogical theories.

Butch

23 Aug 2007

Skinny, effeminate Menno Kuijper has many things, including his wit, style and falsetto vocal cords, but what he really wants is to grow muscles and date army captain ‘Stud’, reasoning that: ‘if Harry Potter can do it, why can’t I?’ In a theatrical…

Sammy J

23 Aug 2007

Sitting at his grand piano, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Sammy J looks like a cruise ship entertainer, but his clever, self-referential comedy is much more than kitsch parody. His upbeat songs are gleefully ridiculous and intervals of smart stand-up keep…

The Ugly Kid

23 Aug 2007

A quartet of comedians performs stream of consciousness sketches on subjects as typical as job interviews and doctor and nurses. Although individually talented, the group fail to meld and produce anything which the audience hasn’t seen before. The…

Lawrence Leung

16 Aug 2007

Australian comedian Lawrence Leung is under the impression that he isn’t cool. Granted he stands awkwardly on stage, an adorable grin spread across his face and displaying a beard only a maths teacher could sprout; yet there is something undeniably…

Tom Allen

16 Aug 2007

Allen’s short stories are based on autobiographical tales of his uneventful coming of age, but it’s the way it’s told that’s important. He’s a quick witted storyteller whose wry asides make for absorbing listening. Theatre seems the stronger influence…

Charlotte Hudson & Leila Hackett

Fresh sketches and bouncy tales

9 Aug 2007

Charlotte Hudson and Leila Hackett’s lively performance and British beach setting perfectly reflect a Blackpool-style summer: slightly tacky and full of tongue-in cheek exhibitionism. Fake seagulls call in the distance as a parade of characters accost…

Seymour Mace

9 Aug 2007

If Seymour Mace was a superhero he would be called ‘Comic Book Man!’ and his special powers would be making a nerdy slide show seem entertaining and hilarious. It doesn’t sound impressive, but fortunately Mace’s Where’s Batman? is far more inventive…

Jarred Christmas

9 Aug 2007

The Hero Show is a befitting title for Christmas’ latest venture as the Kiwi resembles something between Clark Kent and the Incredible Hulk. He throws himself into storytelling, gripping the audience’s attention with red-cheeked fury, though at times…

Watson and Oliver

9 Aug 2007

This pair’s absurd sketches include Olympic ceremonies, last suppers and Jane Austen-style romps, which they infuse with musical flair. Oliver takes the lead as a beaming, stage school parody, while Watson uses her large, watery blue eyes to play the…

Wormholes and Arseholes

9 Aug 2007

Tom Davies and Chris Boyd promise to ‘confuse the audience into submission’ with their postmodern banter, but with a shortage of solid material they fail to reach even this modest ambition. Lacking in confidence, the pair fails to pull off their easy…

Nick Mohammed

9 Aug 2007

The crowd-pleasing 4uarters showcases Mohammed’s talent for character comedy. His performances are flawless, each of his four creations are sculpted from personality quirks, unusual mannerisms and teeth-gritting faux pas, making the sketches unbearably…