Reviews & features: Comedy
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Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013: the best comedies
11 Jun 2013
Frances Ha, Oh Boy and Old Stock among our top picks for comedy at EIFF 2013
Frances Ha This being a film by Noah Baumbach (Greenberg, The Squid and the Whale), you'd probably expect this to be a comedy of the 'bittersweet and poignant' vein rather than, say, all-out slapstick. And you'd probably be right to a certain extent…
New trailer for Not Another Happy Ending starring Karen Gillan
7 Jun 2013
The Glasgow-shot romcom features the Doctor Who star as an author suffering from writer's block
Following the announcement that quirky indie romcom Not Another Happy Ending will be the closing gala film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, we've just been given a first glance at the trailer. Not Another Happy Ending features the big…
Full programme announced for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013
30 May 2013
New shows from Ontroerend Goed, Michael Nyman and Brendon Burns among highlights
After a month of being drip fed nuggets, the full Fringe feast has been revealed, with a whopping 2,871 shows performed by 24,107 artists in 273 venues across Edinburgh up for grabs. From X-rated puppet musicals and guerrilla style pop-ups to the London…
Eleanor Conway's Midnight Rumble
3 Sep 2012
Conway turns fatigue into an art form in hilarious midnight show
Moving up in the world of Fringe, Conway returns to form with a new format, a new venue and a host of guests hot off the press including wrestling legend Mick Foley, hilarious newcomer Dana Alexander and the pick of the best of rest – from hidden stars…
Hey, Piano Bar Lady!
29 Aug 2012
Musical comedy taking it back to 80s New York via New Zealand
New Zealand singer Linn Lorkin is perched at her keyboard, tousled red hair, whimsical expression and billowing patchwork dress suggesting she’s quite the eccentric dame. Now in its second year at the Fringe, her one-woman biographical show is a…
Cambridge Impronauts present 2012: An Improv Oddessy
28 Aug 2012
Enthusiastic but rehearsed improv
Of the glut of improv the 2012 Fringe has brought in, the Cambridge Impronauts’ bright blue boiler suits promised a well-organised stint of audience participation and laughs. The Oxbridge colleges (and Edinburgh’s own university) appear to revel in the…
Asher Treleaven: Troubadour
28 Aug 2012
The Aussie comedian amiably breaks his life down into six parts
It’s a question you wish more stand ups would ask before embarking on a 30 date Festival run: ‘is my life actually interesting enough to talk about for a whole hour?’. Of course by posing this query at the start of his show Asher Treleaven sets himself…
DeAnne Smith: Livin’ The Sweet Life
28 Aug 2012
Routinely adorable, impish comedy
It’s taken Montréaler DeAnne Smith only a few years to achieve what many circuit veterans never come close to. With her trusty ukulele and sweetened yet ribald observations on sex and life, she struck gold at the Sydney Comedy Festival, prompting…
The Boy With Tape On His Face - More Tape
28 Aug 2012
Comedy that sticks: an equally formidable collection of games, gags and gambits
Have you been following @tapefaceboy over the last couple of years? If not, you’re probably one of the few who hasn’t. TV appearances, newspaper interviews and comedy awards have saturated the blogosphere with duct tape-based hashtags and propelled Sam…
Jonny & The Baptists
28 Aug 2012
Enthusiastic comedy blues, whole-heartedly committed to political satire
Ex-Roaring Boys frontman Jonny Donahoe has enjoyed well-heeled success at previous festivals, and landed at the Fringe 2010 with the kind of dynamism required to prosper in a double act. He transfers the same wild, raw energy to his new trio…
Tom Stade Totally Rocks!
28 Aug 2012
Lavishly furnished routine from master of hardcore comedy
It’s certainly worth doing your research before travelling to a Tom Stade show, as he won’t be for everyone. Comedy audiences may well have seen watered down versions of the Canadian’s stand-up on TV, when censors request that he keep the hardcore sex…
Künt and the Gang - Free
24 Aug 2012
Against the odds, a stream of filth can only stretch so far
Word of mouth has certainly worked for Künt and the Gang. Stewart Lee and various amused Facebook and YouTube proponents are among those who have been banging the drum and the tightly spaced seating here just about coped. The first thing of note is that…
Simon Amstell: Numb
24 Aug 2012
Raw, moving narrative from the despairing comedian-cum-poet
'It’s all about rules,' Amstell tells us urgently, as if his life depends on it, continuing an anecdote on why he had opted for the particularly joyless route of becoming a vegan. 'We need rules. Living with other people imposes those rules. Otherwise…
Ta Daaa!
24 Aug 2012
Clowns with magic skills that are no joke
It takes a few minutes to really get the measure of Frehd Astarr and Tim Eee Presley, but once you do, you want them for your best friends. Claiming to be aged eight and ten respectively, Frehd and Tim are dressed in full clown regalia, including big…
Fran Moulds: Significant Human Error
24 Aug 2012
Multi-character yawn from a spirited performer
Fran Moulds is the latest in a series of female character comedians who have laid on a feast of Fringe creations in recent years with one thing in common: their shows have all been extremely high on intricate character detail but decidedly low on…
Trevor Browne - I Think... I Am
24 Aug 2012
Barnstormingly bad character creation
From horrible start to dreadful finish, I Think... I Am is just god-awful wrong. Hamming up the role of a former folk-rock god who is trying to reclaim his previous glory, Browne treats us to some pre-show ‘entertainment’ which has us paying heed to…
Scientist Turned Comedian - Tim Lee
24 Aug 2012
A lazy lecture on pointless PowerPoint
Chatting about molecular bonds, rule matrices and scalar/vectors is certainly one way to avoid attracting a boorish comedy crowd. But if the sciencey boffins who have been flocking to attend Tim Lee’s debut Fringe hour assume that all stand-up shows are…
The Harri-Parris - The Leaving Do
24 Aug 2012
Cake-filled musical hour about leaving it all behind
Anni Harri-Parri is about to leave behind forever the Welsh farm she grew up in and head to the big London smoke for a new life away from her doting family and friends. The audience are the guests for her surprise leaving do (cake is handed round) and…
Luke and Harry's Dot Dot Dot
24 Aug 2012
Shock tactics sideline the sketch laughs
When you are just two guys doing a series of sketches with no props or a set to speak of, those routines live or collapse on the quality of writing with weight of performance coming a close second. Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas managed it to gloriously…
Bob and Jim - Go
24 Aug 2012
Top-notch buffoonery and lecherous lookalikes
After indulging in some Modern Urges last time around, now the truly big and daft Bob and Jim are imploring us to Go. No doubt deliberately, this is a title which admittedly could be read in a couple of contrasting ways. These classically cockney gents…
The Dog-eared Collective
24 Aug 2012
Brave, bonkers but too often a bit bland
If effort equalled quality then the Dog-Eared Collective gang would be on a bullet train to glory by now. Formed seven years ago, it seems unclear quite where they’re headed, but if the quartet (three women and one bloke with long hair) are content to…
Scottish Comedian of the Year 2011 - Jamie Dalgleish
24 Aug 2012
Lacklustre Fringe debut hopefully hides real talents
The current Scottish Comedian of the Year has a wide-eyed enthusiasm for his work that has to be admired, but judging by this short appearance (it’s not really a ‘show’ as such), Jamie Dalgleish clearly has quite a way to go before emulating the…
Ladies Live Longer - Ladylike
24 Aug 2012
Charismatic if clumsy sketch outing
Two performers with energy oozing from their fingertips, the Ladies fire through a series of skits and songs in which they appear convincingly posh one minute, and quite credibly chavvy the next. Louise Fitzgerald and Victoria Temple-Morris are the pair…
The Noise Next Door: Bring the Noise
24 Aug 2012
Improv mayhem to delight the masses
For those who believe the whole ad-lib world is the lowest rung of the comedy ladder, it might be time to hang out with a Noise Next Door audience. They are virtually messianic in their acclaim of this quintet of very talented improv actors. There isn’t…
Greg Proops
23 Aug 2012
Natural storyteller paints even overhashed topics a new shade of funny
Greg Proops is rambling (‘If there’s any critics in – fuck you. Why did you come on a Sunday night?’ Colour me chastised.) He finds tangents and embraces them, drawling on about the Scottish accent and his inability to understand that old chestnut: the…
