Brian Donaldson

5 Questions - Rhod Gilbert

12 Aug 2010

Rhod Gilbert is popping our way for a week of The Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst.

Conor O’Toole

Some good joke-writing

12 Aug 2010

Since making a disappointing Fringe debut here in front of an audience of two reviewers, this young Irish comic is doing the right thing and spending time at shows of more experienced stand-ups. While he has acres to learn about delivery and presence…

Bec Hill

An endearing quirkiness

12 Aug 2010

Stand-up doesn’t get more mixed bag than this. In this show from the perky Aussie about the downsides of growing up, there are a couple of gags that shouldn’t have even reached the strangled-at-birth stage. Yet, there’s an endearing quirkiness about…

Stuart Goldsmith

On the road to proper glory

11 Aug 2010

Goldsmith insists he’s a Reasonable Man and his blokish bonhomie certainly doesn’t appear to mask a ghastly individual. Standing out from the crowd is his chief concern here as he recalls being a failed goth in white trainers, a street performer who…

Sam Simmons

Somewhat lacklustre

11 Aug 2010

Some show titles require little comment when they are so horribly apt. For an hour which bounds around at breakneck speeds, as Simmons contemplates the things he loves and hates in life, its heart and soul is somewhat lacklustre. Taking part in a…

Nick Mohammed

Fantastically irritating and inappropriate

11 Aug 2010

The memory tricks which Mohammed plays at the end of this show would be worth the entrance fee alone, but by then, he’s already charmed our socks half-off with his fantastically irritating and inappropriate creation, Mr Swallow. He’s clearly too…

Mike Wozniak

A frustrated and edgy figure

11 Aug 2010

The moustachioed Portsmouth-Pole has been working on producing another Wozniak with his wife, but a month away at The Stand isn’t helping. Wozniak cuts a frustrated and edgy figure as he returns with Egg and Spoon, a far sharper set than his 2009 affair…

Damion Larkin

Cuddly Loser has the feel of being hurriedly chucked-together

11 Aug 2010

Full of confidence, presumably from his years at the coalface of stockbroking, Larkin’s story of being a Cuddly Loser has the feel of being hurriedly chucked-together and in dire need of narrative moulding. Still, for a fiver, you’ll get to hear one of…

Two Episodes of MASH

Offbeat charm and wit

10 Aug 2010

There’s no denying the offbeat charm and wit of Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson, but this latest Fringe effort is given a fatal dead-leg by its uneven pacing and repetitious tone. Wilkinson plays the frustrated misfit and awkward loser to perfection…

Kai Humphries

Desperately needs an injection of sharper gags

10 Aug 2010

There’s something about the Geordie accent (see Brummie and Somerset for details) that makes us want to laugh at rather than with anyone forced by nature to wield it. Humphries pretty much acknowledges this setback as he fails to overcome the hurdle in…

Derevo - Harlekin

Sinister, beautiful show from Fringe favourites

9 Aug 2010

You never quite know where you are with Derevo. The 80 minutes of Harlekin somehow fly by, aided in part by the trio’s willingness to hop around theatrical styles from dance to commedia dell’arte, from mime to psychological terror. It’s apt that such…

Magnus Betnér

Cult comic in the making

9 Aug 2010

It’s a traditional stand-up tactic to ingratiate yourself upon an audience by finding a connection between yourself and someone in the crowd. Early on Magnus Betnér discovers that there are some fellow Swedes in the front row. This means about as much…

Jonny Sweet - Let's Just Have Some Fun

Derailing a show about a boat

9 Aug 2010

So how do you follow up a hugely silly but wildly successful PowerPoint-happy Fringe hit? You go a step further and make Let’s Just Have Some Fun (And Learn Something for Once), a freewheeling romp about awkward failure and a terribly helpful lecture…

Richard Herring - Christ on a Bike

A disappointing retread of past glories

9 Aug 2010

With last year’s show, Hitler Moustache, Richard Herring created a genuinely moving and highly provocative tract about racism, identity and the power of iconography. On the back of an unseemly pre-festival row with The Guardian, he appeared to have his…

Reginald D Hunter - Trophy Nigga

Funny but familiar material

9 Aug 2010

While Reg D Hunter remains one of the most compelling presences on the UK comedy stage, it appears that he has become afflicted with Wil Hodgson syndrome. Like the pink-haired Care Bear-lovin’ former communist and wrester from Chippenham, Hunter was a…

Paul Foot - Ash in the Attic

"Comedy connoisseurs" only for divisive yet invigorating hour

9 Aug 2010

‘Not exactly Danny Bhoy, is it?’ An Irish woman presumably out for a rollicking night of mainstream stand-up comedy has chosen/been dragged along to a show in which a man with cream slacks, white slip-on shoes, plain shirt, 70s semi-kipper tie and hair…

No Son of Mine

Family secrets uncovered amid a heap of gags

9 Aug 2010

For anyone who has been embarrassed by a parent or felt shame at their offspring, this is possibly not the show for you. Then again, those scenarios most likely cover everyone, and it would be a shame to miss out on such a pleasing mid-afternoon show.

Laura Solon: The Owl of Steven

A curious show about owls and oddballs

9 Aug 2010

It seems like a very long time ago since Laura Solon popped up to Edinburgh with a hastily rewritten show and astonished the comedy world by walking away with the last ever Perrier Award. Five years on and Solon is getting into her stride with narrative…

Ross Sutherland - The Three Stigmata of Pacman

Life’s daftness exposed via poetry and music

9 Aug 2010

Over the past few Fringes, Luke Wright has earned himself a reputation as the cutting thrust of performance poetry. Now two of his fellow Aisle 16 buddies are getting their taste of an Edinburgh ‘summer’. While Tim Clare takes us on a Death Drive at Zoo…

Jessica Ransom

What would you do with a million?

9 Aug 2010

The bunker that is the Pleasance Cellar has been a launch-pad for several notable Fringe careers. Rhod Gilbert and Jason Manford both performed their debut solo shows in there and last year Jonny Sweet swept to Best Newcomer glory on that stage. Mind…

Don't Run with Scissors

A Betrayal of Penguins can't quite regain of glory of 2009

9 Aug 2010

Like most glorious debut ventures, the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome is a tough nut to batter. And try as they might, A Betrayal of Penguins just can’t quite regain the glory of 2009 in their new show, Don’t Run with Scissors. Some might point to a…

Keith Farnan: Sex Traffic

Facts to gasp at and jokes to die for

9 Aug 2010

One thing you can be certain of with Keith Farnan is that he doesn’t just knock up a show on the train up to Edinburgh. Actually, it’s unlikely that any of the comics do that, but it’s a phrase that’s been doing the rounds for years. With two…

Pros from Dover

Sketch comedy from accomplished trio inject form with inovation

9 Aug 2010

Critical reaction to sketch groups is an all-too predictable business. ‘Hit and miss’ comes the cry from the press box. So, when the likes of Pros from Dover come along and attempt to inject the form with a bit of curveball innovation, that should be…

Joe Rowntree: Peaceful Worrier

Paranoia revolves around this comic’s past

9 Aug 2010

It’s certainly brave of accomplished Fringe debutant Joe Rowntree to show us clips of him early on in his career being really rubbish on stage and having humiliation heaped upon him by a cruel compere. This, alongside the hack story of the crazy things…

DJ Danny

By day, frustrated teacher, by night, DJ

9 Aug 2010

For two nights only, Danny Robbins brings his cult character back to the Fringe. By day, a frustrated English and General Studies teacher; by night, a DJ who lays down beats which, as he puts it, are not so much ‘phat’ as clinically obese. With his…

Gary Younge visits the Edinburgh Book Festival

Exploring issues of identity across this mad world

6 Aug 2010

Returning to Edinburgh holds bittersweet memories for Gary Younge. He was in the city as a student in the late 80s, studying Russian and French at Heriot-Watt and was awestruck by the geography of his new surroundings. ‘Having grown up in Stevenage…

The Slutcracker's Tim Key answers 5 questions

On fame, what bugs him about the festival and dead comics

5 Aug 2010

Tim Key reprises his award-winning Slutcracker show for a snatch of dates. Here he provides the answers we wanted for our somewhat tarty Q&A.

James Robertson - And the Land Lay Still

One of Scotland's most vital authors tackles our Q&A

5 Aug 2010

James Robertson has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize of 2006 for The Testament of Gideon Mack and has just published And The Land Lay Still.

Fatima Bhutto's Songs of Blood and Sword

Benazir Bhutto's niece tells her criticizing story.

5 Aug 2010

Mystery still surrounds the murder of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 but while people like her niece Fatima are around to ask questions, there’s always some chance that the puzzle might yet be solved. Not that Fatima has the family blinkers on as she was an…

Toulson and Harvey back at Fringe 2010 with new show

Friends reunited after a three-year absence from Edinburgh

3 Aug 2010

When Luke Toulson and Stephen Harvey gained a spot on the last ever Perrier Best Newcomer list in 2005, it seemed the double act would be set for big things. Their fellow nominees that year included Mark Watson and Rhod Gilbert, with Tim Minchin walking…

Comedians you might know from TV at the Fringe 2010

Five faces from the telly making a beeline for the stage

3 Aug 2010

Alex Zane He’s the cheeky wee chappie from Rude Tube and a man described as a saviour to sensitive lads everywhere. Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug (not 16), 10pm, £10–£10.50 (£8.50–£9). Previews until 6 Aug, £5. Norman Lovett There will be…

Sean Hughes - Ducks and Other Mistakes I’ve Made

Youngest ever winner of Perrier returns to Fringe

3 Aug 2010

Who’s he then? Sean Hughes was the youngest ever winner of the Perrier back in 1990 at the tender age of 24. At the time he was told that he would be inundated with big-money offers and would continually be swept away to fancy dinners. He moaned that…

Fringe show Willy Wonka Explained tracks down the original Veruca Salt

Matthew Hardy and Julie Dawn bring a pinch of Salt to Edinburgh

30 Jul 2010

Everyone reaches a low point in their lives, when it feels natural to seek solace in objects that remind us of happier, perhaps more innocent times. When Matthew Hardy was dumped by two girlfriends (years and continents apart), he couldn’t stop sticking…

Toby Williams brings Dr George Ryegold back to Fringe

Applying surgery to a subtle character creation

30 Jul 2010

For someone who has suffered crippling stage fright, it seems extraordinary that we have even heard of Dr George Ryegold. Having heard from his agent that a parting of the ways might have to come, Toby Williams (the actor behind the maverick medic) told…

Five new faces in British comedy to watch in Edinburgh

A quintet of bright and shiny debutants from the UK

30 Jul 2010

Joe Rowntree Hindsight is a great thing, but who knows where this guy would be now had his planned collaboration with Laura Solon in 2005 arrived in Edinburgh. She only went and won the Perrier on her tod and half a decade later, he’s making his…

Addy Van Der Borgh brings Advanced Mumbo Jumbo to Fringe

Five words and their more honest definitions

30 Jul 2010

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ is not strictly true, especially in a fight, but there is some truth in it. Words, as we know, can be very powerful, especially when put together in the right order. Here are five words and their more honest and thus…

Five of the best improvised comedy shows at the Fringe 2010

Edinburgh shows making it up as they go along

30 Jul 2010

The Noise Next Door Five slightly posh Brighton-based blokes don shirts and colourful ties before transforming your daft ideas into blindingly witty songs and sketches. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug (not 11, 18), 7pm, £11–£12 (£9.50–£11).

Holly Burn back at Fringe with 'renegade' character-sketch show

Living and Dying follows site-specific show of 2009

30 Jul 2010

For her previous Fringe shows, Holly Burn has tunnelled into the mind of the Angel of the North and invited people into the flat she was living in last August for a site-specific experience, which our reviewer described as ‘torturously exasperating but…

Ventriloquist Nina Conti brings new show to Fringe

Talk to the Hand brings chat-show format to puppetry

29 Jul 2010

Once a reluctant ventriloquist, Nina Conti is now exploring the possibilities of the form. Brian Donaldson hears about weird gigs and strange road trips

Colin Hoult's follow up to 2009's Carnival of Monsters

From monsters to villains in one fell swoop

29 Jul 2010

‘What we have is a cabaret from hell, of lost souls; they’re all there for wicked crimes they’ve done in real life.’ No, it’s not Nick Clegg describing a Cabinet meeting, this is Colin Hoult (formerly of Colin and Fergus) chatting about his follow-up to…

Five of the best free Comedy shows at the Fringe 2010

We count the pennies and decide it’s time to get some laughs for nowt

29 Jul 2010

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Romantic Comedy Back in 1948, two people(s) met at a convention in Geneva and fell in love. But they’ve been at each other’s throats for some time now. Will they ever learn to get along? Perhaps only in a two-person…

Ronna and Beverly's most embarrassing moments in chat

We ask the Edinburgh Fringe sofa beasts: What’s the chat?

29 Jul 2010

1: After situating herself firmly on his lap, Beverly pronounced to the audience that Mad Men’s Don Draper (Jon Hamm) smells like ‘scotch and testicles’. 2: Bombing at the International Jewish Men’s Softball tournament banquet in St. Louis. They…

Phil Nichol gives us a warm welcome to Crazytown

Comic's 2010 Fringe show promises 'dark poetic theatrical jazz silliness'

29 Jul 2010

What five words best describe your show this year? Dark poetic theatrical jazz silliness. Which comic should be more famous by the end of August? Carey Marx is consistently one of the most progressive-thinking, hardest-working and under-rated…

The Men Who Jump off Buildings - Base jumping

Channel Hopper

23 Jul 2010

‘I think I might die, every time’. When base jumper Dan Witchalls tells his Danish girlfriend how he feels before launching himself from one of London’s many landmark buildings, it looks like she might knock him out flat. ‘Is it worth it?’ she scowls.

30 top shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

The List's pick of the Edinburgh Festival programme

23 Jul 2010

From Turner Prize-winning Martin Creed and New York theatre experimentalists The Wooster Group to former wild child Storm Large and promising newcomer Jonny Sweet, this is The List's pick of August’s entertainment.

5 Things you might not know about.. Roy 'Chubby' Brown

23 Jul 2010

1. OK, this is one you’ll probably all know, but it’s a good one so it’s going in. Born Royston Vasey in 1945, the moniker was used by the League of Gentlemen as the name for their fictional location where all the grotesques come out (or stay in) to…

Newsmakers

Siege thriller keeps action and outrage flowing

23 Jul 2010

(18) 105min (Showbox) Based on Johnnie To’s 2004 Hong Kong action thriller, this Russian remake (from Swedish director Anders Banke) is an admirable effort. As a bunch of ruthless gangsters go on the rampage across the country, Russian law…

World Press Photo

The List looks at this year's exhibition

16 Jul 2010

Brian Donaldson casts an eye over the winning shots in the World Press Photo collection and witnesses both horror and heaven. Sometimes even captured within the same image.

The Gospel at Colonus promises rousing theatre experience

EIF soul and gospel take on Sophocles' tragedy sure to impress

16 Jul 2010

If there’s a more roof-raising theatre experience at the entire festival, never mind just at the International end of things, we can’t wait to hear about it. Lee Breuer and Bob Telson’s The Gospel at Colonus merges rock’n’roll, soul and gospel to fire…

Barry and Stuart bring the Festival magic back for 2010

Aberdeenshire magical jesters threaten to unleash the terrors

16 Jul 2010

This pair of Aberdeenshire magical jesters have been firm List favourites for a number of years now; we even awarded them a five-star review and a cover story a couple of Fringes back as they proved that they could very nearly walk on water. Now, Barry…