Comedy, Suzanne Black

Janey Godley

Family tale from straight-talking Glaswegian

21 Aug 2008

The title of this show, Domestic Godley, doesn’t refer to the cooking, cleaning, dinner parties ‘domestic goddess’ stereotype. Janey Godley’s candid stand-up is specific to her east end of Glasgow upbringing and subsequently eventful life. With a…

Junk Band Story: Uh?!

21 Aug 2008

'Uh?!' is right. Billed as music, comedy and martial arts, in reality it's a bewildering musical comedy played on instruments assembled from junk (think Stomp with a glue gun). The show is cobbled together from comedic skits, tantalisingly brief…

Raymond Mearns

21 Aug 2008

Mearns is a formidable character, an apoplectic hurricane of bluster as he details his exploits on the cruise ship comedy circuit, family life and other unrelated topics. The gathering rage whips up momentum but the punchlines often fail to land. He's…

Umbrage Swain

New Romantic heroes stand and deliver

21 Aug 2008

The New Romantic Gentleman Thief (looking uncannily like Eddie Izzard dressed as Adam Ant), his Cure-loving sidekick and Tina Fray (an excellently faux innocent Millie Reeves) swash and buckle in battle with evil baddie The Darkness (no, not Justin…

Gavin & Gavin

14 Aug 2008

The two bickering Gavin sisters pillage their Irish heritage to offer up domestic skits and 'aren't the Oirish funny' jokes while lamely trying to undercut their nice-girl personas with misjudged vulgarity bombs. When they reach an anecdote about…

Greg Fleet

14 Aug 2008

He's Aussie, ex-Neighbours stock and a reformed drug abuser but none of these facts are important. Eschewing high concepts, he moulds observations about Edinburgh, confessional soul-baring and deconstructions of controversial humour into anecdotes that…

Ismo Leikola

14 Aug 2008

The Finnish stand-up has the stage persona of a deceptively cuddly, long-haired faux-naïf, which makes his irreverent and slightly risqué material seem even more shocking. Despite starting well with some observational belters, his nonchalant style…

Pig Island - Simply Fancy

14 Aug 2008

These Australian players call themselves Pig Island, but they may as well hail from Mars. Their absurd adventure pits witless non-hero Brian, his spunky daughter and possibly robotic son against stock fantasy characters and a manta ray. Each line…

Brendon Burns

Award winner is back and still pretty angry

7 Aug 2008

What do you get when you take an aggressive Aussie comic with a history of psychosis, substance abuse and vitriolic rants about every sector of humanity and award him the if.comeddie main award? Gladiator costumes, Schwarzenegger impressions and a…

Alex Horne

7 Aug 2008

The classically educated birdwatcher is on about neologistic invention (that's new words) this year. Imagine a self-deprecating hybrid of Stephen Fry and Dave Gorman holding court on his favourite subjects with some clever (if sometimes distracting…

Apes Like Me

7 Aug 2008

It's tough playing to a tiny crowd but most stand-ups are capable of going it alone without audience participation to lean on. Kate Smurthwaite excavates the seams of evolution, creationism and the close human/chimp relationship to create another…

Matt Green

7 Aug 2008

Observational notes and familial anecdotes on the theme of childishness are all bound up in a neat structure that ties the strands together and tucks the ends in. Genial and self-aware, Green's manner and material is wholly inoffensive, which means…

Teddy Bares

Making the leap with cheek and charm

7 Aug 2008

Stand-up comedy is an act of onanism. The trick is to make the audience feel like their satisfaction is the aim and Teddy observes this rule well in his rambling discourse on his travails in love. The Dunfermline-born 28-year-old with pinchable cheeks…

The Gadabouts

7 Aug 2008

There was a young sketch troupe called Gadabouts / With three handsome gents, or thereabouts / When scene-ending got hairy / They used an anthropomorphised cherry / They'll go far with this comedy, I've no doubts. Knockabout, laugh-a-minute sketches…

Greg Fleet with Mick Moriarty

23 Aug 2007

Fleet has survived drug addiction and a guest part in Neighbours. Now, with the aid of a double bass and guitar-playing sidekick, he successfully battles tree frogs, a tiny but disproportionately vocal audience and being a punning private dick straight…

Simon Amstell

23 Aug 2007

Amstell is a good date. He makes you feel clever with his philosophical musings, draws you in with candid tales of heartache and social ineptitude and proves that his pulling power is still mighty away from the telly with tightly written, machine-gun…

AL Kennedy

9 Aug 2007

Delightfully warm and engaging, despite all those dreary press pictures, ALK gives the impression she really enjoys trying to endear an audience to her. It would be easy to dismiss this well-crafted material as the inevitable product of her writing…

Gamarjobat

9 Aug 2007

The Japanese mime and magic duo take their street performance act inside for an hour of slapstick, spoof magic, acrobatics and guitar riffs with Rock’n’Roll Penguin. The pair waddle about like a hybrid of Pingu and Tommy Cooper and their non-verbal…

Karen Bayley

9 Aug 2007

They say that the most important thing is having the confidence to give it a go. But decent material and delivery also help. A self-confessed depressive turned optimist after a near-death experience, Bayley’s self-assured demeanour surpasses her…

Tony Law

Time-travelling surrealism

9 Aug 2007

As well as starring in theatre show Killer Joe , a trailer trash thriller with a cast of actors and comedians, Tony Law has what appears to be a stand-up show. It’s called Revenge of the Dog of Time and the Fringe brochure promises ‘random good fun’.

Fat Tongue

21 Aug 2006

Here, Cher is played as a Northern bloke and French footballers camp it up in The Italian Job and while this is hardly comedy genius, it certainly gets the populist vote. Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 28 Aug, 6.15pm, £7.50-£8.50 (£6-£7).