Issue 582

Mother and The Addicts

Science Fiction Illustrated

9 Aug 2007

ART PUNK Mother and the Addicts’ debut album burst, in a flurry of white funk and eyeliner, from out of nowhere in 2005 – and subsequently left more people scratching their heads than dipping into their pockets. Successfully bedded in now, the…

Action Group

Greed

9 Aug 2007

ROCK Discounting the occasionally slightly home-made quality of these recordings, the debut album by Edinburgh’s Action Group signals the arrival of a band whose progress should definitely be kept track of. An indie-pop quintet with a fine line in…

Intolerance

9 Aug 2007

And so begins this year’s List-sponsored Anita Loos Retrospective of films, written by or adapted from the work of the grand old dame of American screenwriting. First up is legendary silent film director DW Griffiths’ one true masterpiece from 1916…

Barry Cryer

5 questions

9 Aug 2007

5 words to describe your show this year I’m still here you know. 4 acts who should be more famous in September than they were in July Chris Addison, Andrew Maxwell, Will Smith, Ann Widdecombe. 3 things that you love about Edinburgh in…

Asobi Seksu

Citrus

9 Aug 2007

ELECTRONIC POP In Asobi Seksu’s world dreamy vocals soar over turbulent guitars and delicate vocals switch between English and Japanese in sweeping psychedelic pop songs. But in the real world the result is somewhat toothless, and, despite its…

Taxidermia

9 Aug 2007

Welcome to the insane world of György Pálfi. Even if you have seen his previous film, Hukkle, a raw, near wordless film about ornery peasant folk, nothing would have prepared you for this.

Amanda Palmer

9 Aug 2007

She may be familiar to some as one half of The Dresden Dolls, the drum’n’piano duo who do for Weimar cabaret what The White Stripes did for Mississippi blues. Palmer strides out on her own for the third year at the Fringe with a clutch of new songs frm…

The Spirals

Without Control

9 Aug 2007

ELELCTRONICA The Spirals is yet another alias of Argentinian house duo Fernando Pulichino and Julian Sanza. Without Control starts off with all the sass and funk of a Prince backing track, but proceeds to go nowhere for 56 long minutes. There are…

All Aboard

9 Aug 2007

Take one classic 1970s kids album, a big bag of sweets and two over excited men and what do you get? All Aboard, a new show paying homage to songs such as ‘Two Little Boys’ by Rolf Harris and Benny Hill’s ‘Ernie’. Having bought the rights to the album…

Esther O’Connor

The Place Where We Are

9 Aug 2007

POP Esther O’Connor is something of a musical paradox; a singer-songwriter specialising in slick commercial soft rock that she proudly releases on her own DIY label. As the daughter of the guitarist from Wet Wet Wet, she has certainly picked up her…

Liars

Liars

9 Aug 2007

INDIE Musically this LA-based trio are as mad as a box of frogs. Since they exploded onto the music scene in 2001 with dance-punk driven debut They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, they have dabbled in everything from murky…

ESG

South Bronx Story 2

9 Aug 2007

HIP HOP While the past year has seen much blathering about the Nu Rave scene and its various spin offs, many have been quick to forget that dance rock first came into existence back when many current bands were still playing hopscotch. New York’s ESG…

Irvine Welsh

5 questions

9 Aug 2007

5 words to describe the film you have at the EIFF Racism and testicular cancer comedy. 4 of your favourite cinemas in the world Cameo, Edinburgh; Rio Dalston, London; IFI, Dublin; Castro, San Francisco. 3 people you would love to work with…

Jason Byrne

9 Aug 2007

This beloved Irishman is one of the Fringe’s safest bets and here he gives us his take on relationships, where women are monstrous and men are idiots. There’s a drunken tramp who is actually his seven-year-old son and we hear of his clowning…

O’Death

Head Home

9 Aug 2007

ALT.COUNTRY O’Death are five guys with barely a shirt between them, who, despite hailing from New York, evoke the deep south in their punk country songs: toothless yokels and moonshine-fuelled barn dances. Greg Jamie’s weathered vocals swings from…

License to Wed

9 Aug 2007

When lovebirds Sadie (Mandie Moore) and Ben (John Krasinski) become engaged, Reverend Frank (Robin Williams) puts them through a tortuous marriage preparation course to see if they deserve to be married in church.

5 Questions - Alex Hartley

9 Aug 2007

Edinburgh Art Festival virgin Alex Hartley prays for sun and an end to ‘mega shows’

Barry Castagnola

9 Aug 2007

We all know people who sit in the pub and regale us with stories and have us laughing like drains. How funny do you think these people would be if you put them on stage for a whole hour with no chance to get another round in and maybe a bag of peanuts?

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…

Frank Skinner

Stand-up

9 Aug 2007

If you happen to be at one of Frank Skinner’s shows and spot a tear welling up in the corner of his eye, don’t be too surprised.

Jim Bowes

9 Aug 2007

Whether WMDs can be launched within 45 minutes may be debatable, but a far safer bet would be to spend that length of time in the company of Bowes. An affable and enthusiastic host, he guides us along the journey from polite to increasingly assertive…

Tea and Cake

9 Aug 2007

Afternoon tea with Tiernan Douieb and Lauren Shearing is an entertaining affair. Their well-written sketches are unashamedly unafraid to push the boundaries of taste and almost enough to put the delicate off their Lady Grey. They overcome awkward…

Andy Zaltzman

9 Aug 2007

Zaltzman has decided to create a utopia using a flea circus as a microcosm of humanity and his crowd are going to help. As a vehicle for political yet absurdist humour the structure works well, providing opportunities for potshots at governmental…

Des Clarke

9 Aug 2007

Glaswegian Clarke’s stand-up is far less grating and nippy than his work as a kids TV presenter. Catering for out-of-towners and locals with an enjoyable tour around Scottish clichés, his gags on Burberry, Buckfast, Irn Bru and dour, workshy…

Rhod Gilbert

9 Aug 2007

Being stuck in a hotel room watching What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is Gilbert’s starting point, as he trails off on various tangents about parental divorce, finding love, having a baby and the trials of growing up in a fictional town. Surreal, rambling…

Simon Munnery

9 Aug 2007

Watching someone ponder the potential of an idea or flail around improvising a punchline is easier when you’re sitting on the carpet, paper cup of wine in hand as they play pool than when they’re spotlit onstage. Munnery’s baggy, genial AGMs are much…

Adam Hills

9 Aug 2007

Bantering with the front row always seems like a great idea in the sweaty confines of a comedy club but in one of grandest chandelier-happy rooms on the Fringe, it’s a pointless, excluding exercise. Inviting a Rocky Horror-esque audience-stomping finale…

Jarlath Regan

9 Aug 2007

Regan is utterly beguiling and likely to be among the most charming men you’ll meet. Self-deprecating, bewildered, and clever, he talks of hopeless government attempts to curb drinking in Ireland, his ineptitude in the workplace and with women, and a…

John Bishop

9 Aug 2007

Six months ago, sparkly-toothed Scouser Bishop was a marketing man in a pinstripe suit. But bored of the humdrum routine, and keen to make his kids proud, he bravely jacked it in to go pro as a stand-up. His open heart story of marriage breakdown…

Own Powell

9 Aug 2007

An hour of stand-up on the subject of Starbucks doesn’t sound like everyone’s cup of java chip frappuccino. But Powell’s intense, nervy quest to track the two closest UK branches of the coffee chain actually proves quirkily entertaining. His odyssey is…

Rush Hour 3

9 Aug 2007

Chris Tucker has certainly put the pounds on for the third instalment of this jolly, paper thin Kung Fu comedy series.

Brendan Hunt

9 Aug 2007

Warning: don’t have sex with this man. Maybe think twice about employing him, too, and do not sleep with his girlfriend. After a merciless autobiographical trawl through the Boom Chicago star’s mucky linen that builds to a frenzied climax (literally) in…

Carey Marx

9 Aug 2007

Holding a teddy bear aloft, Marx says, ‘I’ve got a new rape joke,’ and then proceeds to cast aspersions on little people, religious fanatics and his poor girlfriend, nicknamed ‘Elbow Face’. Scapegoating the bear when his more offside jokes fail to…

Skinner & Bell

9 Aug 2007

Having given up on Narnia, Dave and Dave hole up in Uncle Brian’s country house. There, they inadvertently encourage a cow to ‘moo-icide’ and discover a motley assortment of people and creatures, including a man who stuffs animals and a…

Daniel Townes

9 Aug 2007

This charming London-based Aussie’s set is built loosely around his detention and deportation from an LA airport for an apparently negligible misdemeanour, an encounter that offers him some considerable mileage. With the air of one of your funnier pals…

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…

Jude Simpson

9 Aug 2007

Performance poetry is making great strides at Fringe 07, and this show, all about growing up (or, more accurately, not growing up) is lunchtime delight. Taking her cue from the audience’s written suggestions, Simpson swoons and sings some stanzas about…

Marcus Birdman

9 Aug 2007

Supporting his treatise that comedy should enjoy an unlimited target range, Birdman takes aim at everyone in general and no one in particular. His father, daughter, and religion all structure his musings, but he rails gaily en route, exhibiting easy…

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…

Keith Carter

9 Aug 2007

Coming over like some Greatest Hits tour, Liverpudlian Carter rolls out three of his longstanding creations (the addled Nige, the driver to the stars Gerald and electro-ponce Colin) adding Ronnie the racist to the mix but leaving loyal admirers feeling…

Stan Stanley

9 Aug 2007

Stanley’s theme of embarrassment attempts to hold together this jumbled set, with no transition between gags about his parents and standard jokes about Harry Potter and the War on Terror. His finale is a re-enactment of the show’s best visual humour…

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…

On Danse

9 Aug 2007

Sticking a video screen behind your choreography is all the rage these days, but few people do it as seamlessly as these guys. Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu from France has blended ballet, contemporary, African and breakdance with a stunning video…

Stuckey and Murray

9 Aug 2007

A musical comedy act is a tough tightrope to walk at the best of times, and although the camaraderie of this duo is impossible to fault, it proves that a song doesn’t automatically become funny because it contains the word ‘douchebag’. One to avoid if…

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…

Greedy

9 Aug 2007

There’s little doubting the acting skill and vibrant energy of this quartet, but they are let down by writing which flounders on the majority of their skits. Recurring routines about dinosaurs and a pesky lothario called Whistling Martin work best but…

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…

Toulson & Harvey

9 Aug 2007

The history of this Perrier-nominated pair (as seen largely through Toulson’s skewed perspective) is related. Theirs is a show that interacts with their audience, but with an affable non-threatening demeanour. Stand-out moments feature a…

Breaking the Seal

9 Aug 2007

As far as Australian accents go, Larah Bross has got one of the best. Add to this Russian, New Jersey, and downtown Montreal, and you’ve got the basis for some desperate and down-and-out alcoholics living it up in Scotland. Bross takes broad…

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…

Janey Godley

9 Aug 2007

‘The most outspoken female stand-up in Britain’ likes to think of her show less as a routine and more of a informal chat among friends. Certainly, the fact that Godley’s reminiscences take in such close-to-the-knuckle subjects as child abuse, murder and…

Paul Chowdhry

9 Aug 2007

Chowdhry’s world is one of discomfiting male nudity, racist jokes and Panorama reconstructions: he turned down an offer to play a suicide bomber in a reconstruction of 7/7 because the £200 fee ‘wasn’t enough to buy me a new identity’, and revolving…

Tara Flynn

9 Aug 2007

Standing alone on stage amid the heart-rending cries of Kate Bush, Flynn clutches a comic from her childhood and encourages the audience to embrace her time-travelling adventures. Full of anecdotes about growing up in rural Ireland, she lampoons sham…

Trippplicate

9 Aug 2007

Allow madcap ‘twins’ Kirsty and Miranda to guide you through the finer points of being a TimeLord. A barmy bonanza, our intrepid ‘superhumans’ zip through the timeosphere, with the help of stolen theme tunes, impressive Flashdance-worthy dance routines…

The Queef of Terence

9 Aug 2007

The insincerity and superficiality of daytime TV make a ripe target for lampooning, and the three stars of Queef start out promisingly in this supposed pilot for a show. With a finely-tuned sense of character acting and comic timing, they deserve a…

Vladmir McTavish

9 Aug 2007

McTavish packs his usual punch with this acerbic and energetic performance. A whistle-stop tour of Scotland’s history is delivered with the perfect balance of nit-picking, fun-poking satirical vim and pockmarked with trademark asides. For its…

Arthur Smith

9 Aug 2007

The Fringe veteran takes a different approach with a showcase of his and other comedians’ artwork. This exercise in combining comedy and art is Dadaist in its execution, with empty cupboards, daft signs and a happy slapping video. Stewart Lee’s…

Stephen K Amos

9 Aug 2007

Amos came out on stage last year and it’s marvellous to see him increasingly weaving tender and masterful material about growing up gay in a British-African household. You’re guaranteed a good time with this talented pro as he imbeds important stuff…

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…

Working Girls

9 Aug 2007

Three sloanes deprived of daddy’s benevolence have to procure jobs in this patchy sketch show. The format is fine, and is slickly executed with an eclectic choice of tunes accompanying each overly-frequent, pace-destroying fade-to-black. But it’s hard…

Cirque de Sabotage

9 Aug 2007

This female three-piece act proclaims itself as ‘heavily character-driven, comprising sketch-based slapstick and silliness, woven together with verbal dexterity and an extensive wardrobe of props and costumes’. True enough, but then so was the…

Rob Deering

9 Aug 2007

Deering giggles a lot during his own set, and it’s no wonder: he’s a funny man. His offbeat mix of late-night-presenter and cheeky teenager pushed all the right buttons. The best parts were the musical interludes with manic, sonic panic delivered with a…