Comedy, Nicola Meighan
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CBeebies comedy duo Andy and Mike talk about their Tick Tock Time Machine
23 Jul 2012
Comedy duo swap CBeebies for time travel
‘If you mix Back to the Future with The Mighty Boosh and Goonies, you get a glimpse of where we wanted to go,’ says CBeebies presenter Andy Day, co-star of Andy and Mike’s Tick Tock Time Machine. The follow-up to 2009’s Box of Bananas, this new show was…
Dying of laughter: Shows about death at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe
11 Jul 2012
Dead funny Fringe has comedians inspecting death from every angle
Earlier this year, William Shatner made the headlines by advising that he might die onstage in his new one-man show. His life-threatening sales pitch was a literal one: at 80, the former Star Trek legend admitted that embarking on regular 100-minute…
Jay Foreman: We're Living in the Future
23 Aug 2011
Exploration of pop-culture future-shock via acoustic ditty
London stand-up bard Foreman uses the medium of acoustic ditty to explore pop-culture future-shock and his prevailing quarter-life crisis. His observations on technological progress and modern times are agreeable, but he’s better when contrasting his…
Jigsaw
19 Aug 2011
Accomplished but light sketching
There’s no doubting the talent on offer in Jigsaw. The rapid-fire sketch trio comprises stand-ups Dan Antopolski, Tom Craine and Nat Luurtsema and thus boasts a triple Perrier nominee, a Times Top Five 2010 winner and a Chortle best nominee…
Andrew Lawrence - The Best Kept Secret in Comedy Tour
18 Aug 2011
Mirthful and delicious kamikaze comedy
Coming on like a poetic auctioneer or a wayward racing commentator, Andrew Lawrence variously channels the guises of his grandmother, a fitness buff, a middle-aged man, a whining Scottish wean and a long-lost Trinidadian relation. All the while he…
Seann Walsh: Ying and Young
16 Aug 2011
A casual yet potent force
Observational livewire Walsh is a casual yet potent force for laughs when he riffs on the generic habits and quirks that characterise our day-to-day - from experiencing déjà vu to losing the remote control - and his idea for a late-night pissed-up TV…
Biscuit and Brawn
15 Aug 2011
Strong chemistry but weak laughs from the comedy duo
Comedy duo Adele Cliff and Kate Cherrell have been performing respectively as Biscuit and Brawn for over two years and this works in their favour: the young duo’s chemistry goes some way to redeeming a mixed bag of sketches and monologues which work…
Joanna Neary: Youth Club
14 Aug 2011
A period piece with confusing threads
Have we finally wrung out the vestiges of 80s nostalgia? Joanna Neary’s latest show, Youth Club, suggests that this may be the case. Neary is a likeable comic actress, a former Perrier Best Newcomer nominee, and a familiar TV face to viewers of Armando…
Keith Farnan: Money, Money, Money
12 Aug 2011
Well-informed monologue about money
Irish stand-up Keith Farnan has a lively stage presence and off-the-cuff style, with a congenial, raggedy appearance that is equal parts Bee Gee and Celtic Jesus. Such up-beat charisma serves Farnan well for his wandering, socially-conscious…
David Morgan: Triple Threat
8 Aug 2011
Show taking in musical theatre, childhood bullying and homophobia
Subverting a popular football reference (‘Running, Passing, Kicking’) for the amateur dramatic variant (‘Actor, Singer, Dancer’), Morgan goes heavy on musical theatre and high-camp tropes, which juxtapose with his accounts of childhood bullying and…
Colm O’Regan: Dislike! A Facebook Guide to Crisis
8 Aug 2011
Funny and informative social networking guide to Irish history
When it comes to Ireland, what O’Regan does not discuss is not worth knowing. His social networking guide to Irish history and economics embraces themes like sandwich culture, national identity, Mills and Boon, skyscraper sexuality, Rapunzel’s weight…
The best upcoming events in Scotland in 2011
3 Jan 2011
Highlights of the 2011 cultural calandar from Film, Music, Comedy, Theatre and Visual Art
Huge gigs, inspiring theatre productions, comedy legends and two cute little waving bears – just a few of the things coming up in ‘11 that we can barely contain our excitement about
The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots
16 Dec 2010
Our annual chart of the top creatives in Scotland
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 Unexpected Items
25 Aug 2010
A spirited rabble of punning linguists
The Unexpected Items is a spirited rabble of punning linguists who embellish their clever, feel-good sketches with satirical pop songs and spontaneous dance moves. The Oxford troupe’s tributes to Alan Rickman and Carol Ann Duffy are ebullient, while…
Mary Barrel is Really Good at Things
23 Aug 2010
Over-excited, part-improvised but tediously goofy life skills ‘seminar’
LA comic and playwright Carrie Barrett is disconcertingly convincing in her role as hyper-dork Mary Barrel, an annoying, awkward 13-year-old who’s obsessed with best friends, sleepovers and party invites (or her lack thereof). Her over-excited…
Abandoman
18 Aug 2010
A hip hop celebration of everyday lives
Sure, they’re ‘the seventh biggest rap act in Ireland’, but hip hop comics Abandoman are quick to append two critical caveats. The first is that Jedward are four places above them in the relevant (and fairly bizarre) newspaper countdown. The second is…
Tom Wrigglesworth
18 Aug 2010
A disconnected dispatch about nuptials
Affable Yorkshire stand-up Tom Wrigglesworth might have won fans and critical praise for last year’s Open Return Letter to Richard Branson, but he fails to gain more than a few polite laughs for his latest chronicle, Nightmare Dream Wedding. Based…
Miles Jupp
18 Aug 2010
Wonderful, funny and moving
Jupp is a thoroughly endearing storyteller, stand-up and cricket fetishist. The former Balamory actor’s account of how he posed as a journalist and toured India with the England team (and some familiar sports celebs) is wonderful, funny and moving. It…
Checkley Bush
18 Aug 2010
A bawdy, musical realm
Checkley Bush is a bawdy, musical realm in which Cher and Liza Minnelli are housewives, Peter Andre is a pop avenger, and an imminent visit by Sandi Toksvig equals front-page news. Actors Laura Checkley and Victoria Bush cavort through sketches, film…
Eric’s Laws of the Land
18 Aug 2010
Clichés about football, TV and women’s toilets
Interactive stand-up Eric has some half-baked plans to upturn UK legislation. His targets are sometimes vaguely diverting (Radio 1 should re-think its vocabulary) or mildly amusing (stone-cladding should be a capital offence). But the upshot is less a…
Pete Firman
18 Aug 2010
A cross between Paul Daniels and Vernon Kay
Firman’s old-school spectacle of party magic, wit and mock-sorcery is droll, if not dumbfounding. The comic-wizard’s deadpan hang-up with ‘mystery’ might align Alan Partridge with the Magic Circle (an exotic range of tricks and props includes The Flying…
Holly Burn
16 Aug 2010
Vivid, boundless and contagious
Burn’s awkward, absurd and occasionally hilarious routines are enlivened by recurring delights like the DIY musical theatre of Jason the Very Rich Lion and the kitchen-sink surrealism of super-villain Custard Flanagan. The Newcastle comic offers an…
Comedy Bitch
10 Aug 2010
Intelligent, surreal and original
The terms ‘television’ and ‘Comedy Bitch’ are often uttered in the same breath and no wonder. Their pastiches of pop culture’s favourite genres - horror, espionage, period drama – are intelligent, surreal and original, and their nostalgic incidental…
Kate Fox - Kate Fox News
8 Aug 2010
A slow news day
Comic poet and newshound Kate Fox sure knows how to sell a story. Her true-life rhymes are plotted out through a series of quirky, attention-grabbing hooks in her show, Kate Fox News: she absconded with a gun-runner, was a gangster’s moll and…
Hip hop parodist Doc Brown
6 Aug 2010
Sometimes laboured, but poignant, moving, and convincing
There are three things you should know about London’s hip hop parodist Doc Brown. One: he’s superstar author Zadie Smith’s little brother. Two: he’s had several brushes with pop success, having toured with De La Soul and Mark Ronson. Three: more than…
