Marissa Burgess

Gordon Southern

An enjoyable hour with a cheeky chap

On the night we popped into Southern’s show, the audience were a touch rowdy. Still it gave him chance to display his well-honed crowd-control skills. Audience pacified and on with the show, one with the theme of borders, inspired by his Australian wife…

Radio Hoohah

Very occasional glimpses of humour

Centred on a defunct radio station peopled by obnoxious presenters and their objectionable guests, MacKenzie and McGuire’s latest offering is a pretty poor effort. The comedy is in turns laboured, random and largely devoid of comic timing as we meet a…

Sarah Bennetto

A thoroughly engaging and charming storyteller

In this heart-warming little show, Aussie Bennetto tells the story of how, as an impoverished stand-up and one-time satellite TV presenter, she found herself invited to Clarence House to have tea with Prince Charles. This may not be the slickest or the…

Gyles Brandreth

Anecdotes of a life in theatre, TV and politics

OK, so we’ll ignore that Brandreth is both a former Tory MP and a wearer of particularly bad jumpers to focus on the fact that this hour of anecdotes of a life in theatre, TV and politics is sharply written and squeezed for laughs. Though inevitably it…

Paul Chowdhry - Not PC

Self-censorship blunts some impact

‘I’ve got more fans than audience members,’ jokes Paul Chowdhry of the ratio of people in the room to cooling devices. ‘You could have one each.’ Granted, it’s not ideal circumstances in which to perform a show but Chowdhry, allowing himself censorship…

Aidan Bishop

Sounds more like he’s 50 than 30

Dublin-based American Bishop presents another charming hour of laid-back stand-up. This year his slant is how technology has changed since he ‘were a lad’. As he acknowledges himself, Bishop sounds more like he’s 50 than 30 but it gives him a chance to…

George Ryegold

A gloriously bleak worldview

They say that doctors have the blackest sense of humour; something to do with all those birth, death and boils in their everyday lives. Comic Toby Williams’ creation Dr George Ryegold epitomises that sentiment. A vision in corduroy, he grumbles to a…

Felix Dexter

Observational stand-up and nicely realised characters

The veteran character comic introduces us to Julius the Nigerian, dispirited at the lack of romance in bump ‘n’ grind R&B, Harlesden wide boy Early D and posh Cotswold bigot Aubrey who ‘sees the point in the working class’. Though there’s nothing…

Edward Aczel

Somehow incredibly funny without even trying

Aczel’s latest show is a hi-energy romp packed with sharp one-liners. Only joking, it’s as low-key and anti-comedy as ever. Reading from his A4 notes, flicking through his badly presented flipchart and barely making eye contact, he reveals all the…

Alex Horne

Clever maths, quantum mechanics and pleasingly lo-fi graphics

This is another of Horne’s endearingly geeky, PowerPoint-assisted shows. There’s some bamboozling clever maths, brief lessons in quantum mechanics and pleasingly lo-fi graphics as Horne outlines his bet with William Hill to achieve a hole in one at golf…

Pete Johannson's - Pete's On Earth

Solid stand-up as it was meant to be

If you were to take a cursory glance at Pete Johansson’s set-list, you’d be forgiven for expecting this 2010 show to be middle-of-the-road stand-up fare. Pete’s on Earth is peppered with gags about the Canadian comic’s drugs of choice, obnoxious…

Sound and Fury - Private Dick

Playful postmodern romp with knob gags

Private Dick, Sound and Fury’s latest Fringe offering, is a postmodern homage to the film noir.

Lesbian Bathhouse

A feminist comic romp

In Helen Eisenbach’s comic piece, actresses turn up for an audition to a sexually charged theatre production, the creation of the heard but never seen Rod Laselle (voiced by Harry Shearer of The Simpsons and Spinal Tap fame). By coincidence, the…

The Real MacGuffins

Deliciously daft sketches

Double act Jim and Dan... no wait, there’s a third member, the put-upon (and aptly named) Matt. And therein lies the dynamic for the threesome’s sketch show.

Andi Osho bring Fringe debut Afroblighty to Edinburgh

Multi-talented comedian has fingers in many pies

We’re hoping that Andi Osho isn’t going to be spotted twiddling her thumbs on the Royal Mile as she’s only performing the one show at the Fringe. Outside of the festival she has her fingers poked in more pie varieties than a Greggs bake. Osho’s a…

The All-Powerful Jimmy McGhie revels in being un-mighty - and long show titles

Having a good old moan about life

The All-Powerful Warrior Who with His Endurance and Inflexible Will to Win Goes from Conquest to Conquest Leaving Fire in His Wake is surely the longest Fringe show title this year. How did Jimmy McGhie get it in the brochure? ‘My title did use up the…

Erin Judge plays Glasgow dates at The Thursday Show

We may speak the same lingo but for American comedians making their first journey over the pond, they’ve got to get the cultural references right or risk dying on their fanny (US for ‘arse’). Ahead of her visit to Scotland, observational stand-up Erin…

Lucy Porter

As a comedian, when you find the funny in something that’s very much of the moment there’s always the risk that at some point you’ll discover it’s either out of date or there’s an unexpected glut of gags on the same subject. Suddenly it doesn’t look so…

The Thick of It's Chris Addison plays Glasgow date

Though these days more likely to be recognised as the perpetually put-upon Olly Reeder from The Thick of It, Chris Addison has actually been a fine stand-up talent for many years. Starting out on the comedy circuit back in 1995 in his home town of…

Daliso Chaponda

The Malawian born comedian offers cultural ponderings in Glasgow

After snuffling around a myriad of shows on the Fringe this year, witnessing Daliso Chaponda was like finding a truffle. One of the few acts playing The Lot on Grassmarket, his hour, Westerners Calm Down: An African’s Perspective, was an intelligent…

Abi Roberts

Not much in the way of comedic writing

There's little doubt that Roberts can sing and her range of styles is wide but there's not much in the way of comedic writing here. Her show whizzes through her life story and along the way she throws out a myriad of impressions of singers with the…

Shirley & Shirley

Can't fault either of the performances

This female duo's sketch offerings are technically, meticulously executed and you can't fault either of the performances. But the material sways from pitch perfect writing to packing little punch plus being a little too reliant on stereotypes for…

Luke Toulson

Frequently unexpected and inventive

It's thoroughly refreshing to see a comic unwilling to pander to his crowd or make them love him, even the reviewer who in a stroke of genius positioned herself in the middle of the front row. Consequently, Toulson's often cruel humour - whether in his…

Dead Cat Bounce

The overall effect is enjoyable

Taking the idea of musical comedy to the extreme, these Irish lads not only perform sketches but are a four-piece band too. It's nicely presented but much of the actual comedy hasn't a lot of substance, instead relying on the music to carry it through.

3 Gaga Heads

All quite barmy

The trio of Japanese nutcases showcase their largely none speaking style of inventive tricks and amusing oddities. There are pink aliens, a rubber glove overture and Godzilla recreated through a red lycra bodysuit and with a little help from two mates.