Stand-up

Jimmy Carr

9 Aug 2007

With his short sharp shocks, Jimmy Carr has outraged and amused audiences around the world. He tells Brian Donaldson why no one has the right to be hurt by a bit of wordplay

Punt and Dennis

9 Aug 2007

It’s quite astonishing that Punt and Dennis, one of the household names of British comedy, have never quite performed a live show in Edinburgh as a duo.

Frankie Boyle

9 Aug 2007

In some ways it would be difficult to imagine an encounter between Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr, what with them being, arguably, the two finest gag tellers in contemporary British stand-up comedy. How, you wonder, can they have a chat when they must be…

Stewart Lee

Confrontational comic getting grief from his mum

9 Aug 2007

It’s almost impossible to imagine that once upon a time Stewart Lee was in a creative and critical bunker. But after doing the Fringe for two decades he can look back on those days with wistful fondness, even remarking during this set that he half…

Rebecca Drysdale

An alternative and arresting set

9 Aug 2007

It’s not often that a comedian invites the audience to join in a chirpy singalong about children drowning in the Titanic disaster. It’s even rarer that it has the crowd in stitches. But then it’s not often you see a comedian like Rebecca Drysdale.

Wil Hodgson

Ex-wrestler grapples with mainly excellent materia

9 Aug 2007

Profiles don’t come much more distinctive than Wil Hodgson’s. With a meticulous pink Mohawk, kohl-rimmed eyes and camp/punk cargo trousers, he looks like a Viking berserker crossed with a highlighter pen. To add to this fairly splendid confusion of…

Kristen Schaal

Whispering genius cobbles together a hit

9 Aug 2007

The Assembly Rooms appears to have been putting up a determined campaign the last few years to platform a string of quirky female American comics with offbeat dispositions all of their own. Wendy Spero and Maria Bamford made inroads with varying success…

Reginald D. Hunter

Sprawling set from comedy icon

9 Aug 2007

One of the problems with the Fringe is that us reviewers often need to get in early during a run while comedians may take the month to refine their material so that the show we see on the 3rd is rarely the one performed on the 20th. It’s worth pointing…

Phil Kay

Impish, semi-mental charm

9 Aug 2007

For the uninitiated, the first breathless minutes of the bedraggled, beardy and rambling Phil Kay’s routine are like watching a homeless dope smoker who has accidentally wandered onstage. But as he ricochets through his tales of shoplifting, smuggling…

Laurence Clark

Raising chuckles and awareness

9 Aug 2007

Thousands hit the Fringe every year with the aim of busting perceptions, but it’ll be hard to find someone who achieves this as thoroughly as the charming Laurence Clark, whose approach veers between being warmly funny and making us feel as…

Simon Brodkin

A one-man comedy club

9 Aug 2007

In this age of panel gameshows and 15-minute slots on Radio 4, a solid hour of stand-up is simply too strenuous for performers and audiences suffering from an attention span bypass. Simon Brodkin thinks he’s found the answer to this thorny issue. The…

Ian Stone

9 Aug 2007

A regular on the national comedy circuit, Ian Stone’s usual 9.05pm crowd are more likely to consist of chattering stag dos and leery hen parties. But the skills he has shaped to deal with such baying crowds make putty of a gently merry, receptive…

Limmy

Hit and miss character affair

9 Aug 2007

Delivering character and sketch comedy with a distinctly Glaswegian accent, Limmy has built himself a considerable following with his World of Glasgow podcasts, and followers are packed into every corner of Stand II to see his first live shows. But…

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’.

Idiots of Ants

Sketches and skits with style

9 Aug 2007

A live sketch show is a notoriously difficult thing to pull off. We allow stand-ups to have lulls in their hour but with a parade of sketches we expect each one to make us wet our collective underwear. A stand-up has time to develop a stage persona but…

Ivor Dembina

Free fun with a lewd slant

9 Aug 2007

Those looking for some high-minded cultural reference may not get the tagline for Ivor Dembina’s show: Jewish Comedy: Free At Last. If truth be told, the veteran Jewish comic has something of a penchant for the age-old anti-Semitic stereotype of the…

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…

House of Windsor

Regal sketches with crowning glories to come

9 Aug 2007

With last year’s debut as the Future, Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas received some rave reviews and an awards nomination before ending the summer being ensnared by one of the country’s powerhouse comedy PR companies. This year that soaring promise will…

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…

Micky Flanagan

9 Aug 2007

Stand-up at the Fringe may be viewed by some as a young person’s game, but there’s surely room for the more senior of our comedy talents to shuffle on to Edinburgh’s stages. At the tender age of 44, Micky Flanagan isn’t ready for his Zimmer frame quite…

Andrew Maxwell

9 Aug 2007

There comes a point in every comic’s career where he or she must decide whether they are going to stay the joker forever or grow up and move onto doing something respectable for the rest of their life. Andrew Maxwell had a brief shot at British TV…

Paul Sinha

King of the comedy world

9 Aug 2007

Paul Sinha has a simple recipe for enjoying life. He wants us all to remember those fleeting moments when we felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. While Sinha’s King of the World moments are rather more everyday than balancing on the prow of a doomed…

Russel Howard

9 Aug 2007

Russell Howard shows a remarkable amount of restraint against what appears to be a natural inclination to gab with his audience. Other than to mock the odd crazy laugh, he concentrates on his material, which is an ability which the crowd requires in…

Tom Basden

9 Aug 2007

With a show entitled Tom Basden Won’t Say Anything, I had partially been expecting this to be on the same lines as last year’s Oh: A Cut-Throat Comedy by Claire Hooper where she literally uttered not a single word until the very last moment. But here…

Isy Suttie

9 Aug 2007

Initially, on reading that Isy Suttie was once a Daily Telegraph Young Jazz Competition regional winner, I thought it might have been a joke. Yet, on hearing her impersonation of Amy Winehouse falling down a well, allied to her general ability to get a…

John Richardson

Delightful surreal obsessive material

9 Aug 2007

BBC6 radio host Jon Richardson is clearly at home behind a microphone. Charming and self-effacing, he moves through a show that might have been subtitled OCD, Or How Other People Drive Me Insane, segueing effortlessly between the different elements of…

Paul Foot

9 Aug 2007

Dapper, diminutive Paul Foot may not bestride his narrow stage like a Colossus, but he is on superb comedic form this year. With sharp, singular observational material and a newfound confidence in his stagecraft, the potential he showed in the past has…

Martha McBrier

An interactive work-out

9 Aug 2007

There’s no other way to approach the star rating on a show like Martha McBrier’s but to give it three. Not because it’s an averagely good show but because it’s a definite love her or loathe her scenario. Which is a shame as McBrier doesn’t like the…

Nina Conti

A tender display of an ancient art

9 Aug 2007

If your idea of ventriloquism involves slightly strange men jamming their hands up fluffy toys, then think again. Nina Conti is an eminently presentable young woman, with a simian sidekick more at home with muttering depressed asides (‘oh sweet…

Russell Kane

Putting the accent on originality

9 Aug 2007

Plucking his theme from a review he received last year, Russell Kane decided to take on criticism and explore the notion of stereotype and cliché in comedy. A risky gambit, as it would be all too easy to simply slip into those stereotypes – the Essex…

Justin Moorhouse

Expressive material on fatherhood

9 Aug 2007

With impressive comedy credentials already under his belt, including Phoenix Nights and a radio slot on Manchester’s Key 103, Justin Moorhouse is a natural storyteller with an engaging and charming stage presence. Pacing around and waxing lyrical about…

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…

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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Different strokes

1 Aug 2007

Having written one of the UK’s finest ever sitcoms, Sean Lock is back pounding the beat on the stand-up stage. Brian Donaldson talks to the man who has finally left bitterness behind

Hitlist - The best comedy

2 Jul 2007

• Improbabble The crazy gang brings us some more games and skits and general larking about in their own inimitable Whose Line Is It stylee. The Brunswick Hotel, Glasgow, Fri 6, 13 Jul. • Jo Caulfield One of the more solid performers on the circuit…

5 Things - Brendon Burns

5 Things you might not know about . . .

23 Apr 2007

1 Aussie comic Burns believes that death is our second biggest fear. Number one is speaking in front of a group of people.

Feature - Sean Hughes

Renaissance man

12 Mar 2007

After 40, the old joke goes, everyone gets the face they deserve. Sean Hughes has had the same hangdog expression for years but he maintains that he hasn’t lost the drive which made him a star in his 20s. ‘When I started out I was full of young comic…

Phil Nichol

ABC, Glasgow, Sat 24 Mar; the Stand, Edinburgh, Su

12 Mar 2007

STAND-UP Many comedians bare all on stage but precious few take it quite as literally as Phil Nichol. Although born in Glasgow, his accent is Canadian, and his wide-eyed, manic, positive energy most definitely not a product of the Central Belt.

5 Things

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT . . .

27 Feb 2007

1 Back in her native Oz, a young Kendall first worked her comedy routine for fellow students at Sydney University while majoring in modern history. She fought for a while against stage fright insisting that stand-up was ‘a good way to get into vomiting.’

Zoe Lyons

29 Jan 2007

STAND-UP Back in 2001, reality TV might not have been the scabrous slice of vermin that it is now. The innocent spirit of adventure probably reigned and people who went onto those shows may actually have wanted to get on with each other. This is…

Out to Lunch - Live!

Profile

29 Jan 2007

What’s that then? Lunch and 50 minutes of improv comedy for five shiny pounds.

Shappi Khorsandi

29 Jan 2007

The British Iranian comedy market is getting busier by the second with messrs Djalili and Monahan already giving it a good name and Madame Khorsandi having recovered from dodgy shows in the past to storm the Fringe last August. Her tales of growing up…

Wil Hodgson

15 Jan 2007

STAND-UP Bespectacled John Peel impersonator Robin Ince has been known to tell a story about how his pal Wil Hodgson was verbally abused by some blokes in the street. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carr was one of the experienced comics who offered the mohicaned…

Jason Manford

18 Sep 2006

STAND-UP The timeless criticism in which people are implored to act their age could never be more apt when directed at Jason Manford. Yet, in his case, it’s more likely that he’d be accused of acting way beyond his years; when he started his career…

Bill Bailey

14 Aug 2006

A big part of Bill Bailey’s appeal down the years is that he has always slapped on a look of bemused befuddleness, as though he really wasn’t sure where he was or why he was there in the first place. As if to scythe this notion down as quickly as it was…