Reviews & features: Comedy, Brian Donaldson
- Filtered by:
- Brian Donaldson
- Comedy
Holly Walsh - The Hollycopter
17 Aug 2011
A brave and bittersweet recollection
When her fellow comics were padding about the Fringe in August 2010, Holly Walsh was clowning around on Worthing Pier. Unfortunately, her charity leap into the West Sussex sea resulted in a shocking injury that led to national media coverage for the…
Music Box
16 Aug 2011
Mash-up improv troupe never hit a true stride
Maybe it was a lack of imagination on the audience’s part (a musical called Fish set in a chip shop doesn’t seem to be in keeping with the mash-up improv spirit), but this troupe never hit a true stride, going round in circles when they chance upon a…
Vikki Stone & The Flashbacks: Big Neon Letters
16 Aug 2011
Comedy songs in band format
Effervescent musical comic Stone is desperate to be on TV. She’s been there before on embarrassing adverts and Blue Peter, but she craves the studio lights, if only to get close to her teenage crush Phillip Schofield. In a bruising encounter she emits…
Meryl O’Rourke - Bad Mother
16 Aug 2011
Some funny and moving material on mixed heritage
O’Rourke won’t be the last Fringe comic to reference the street-riots but it was perhaps unwise to let us hear a better joke on the subject from her spouse. It’s an early off-note that she makes up for with some funny and moving material about her…
Fred Cooke
15 Aug 2011
The Irishman's musical talent is overshadowed by his over-stretched observations
Playing the gormless Oirishman to a fault, the Tommy Tiernan-endorsed Cooke has one distinct ability: he’s a human jukebox when it comes to playing requests on his soprano melodica. As a stand-up, though, he opts for physical shenanigans instead of…
Dana Alexander
15 Aug 2011
Great comedic flair but average material from the Canadian
The Canadian comic meanders through a flat set in which she discusses cake, weight, big bums the cosmetics industry and stretch marks, while observing that Chinese people are small and Italian mothers are domineering. She has the style and patter down…
Tom Rosenthal: Child of Privilege
14 Aug 2011
A very funny and innovative debut about privilege
At around the halfway point in Tom Rosenthal’s debut show, he applies the brake and settles into a gorgeous little homage to one of his comedy idols, Stewart Lee. Around him, some of the crowd are not entirely sure what’s going on as he seems trapped in…
The Beta Males
14 Aug 2011
Good scripting and coming timing from the funny foursome
A stonking show this one as a slick quartet channel the Dutch Elm Conservatoire for a rollercoaster of a journey on the sinister train, Olympus. Skulduggery is afoot with a cast including four manic businessmen, Stephen Byers and the Titanic love duo. A…
Andrew Doyle's Crash Course in Depravity
14 Aug 2011
A full-on assault on the borders of taste
Russell Kane has made a habit out of turning negative comments by reviewers into the show title for his subsequent Fringe show. Easy Cliché and Tired Stereotype and Gaping Flaws were both borne from lines penned by critics. Andrew Doyle has not only…
Josh Widdicombe: If This Show Saves One Life
14 Aug 2011
Steering away from the dangers of blanding out
After an impressive opening flurry of gags about trees, scissors and burglars, Josh Widdicombe is suddenly bumped off his stride. Not by hecklers per se, but by the woman on his front row who has, shall we say, a bit of a thing for him. Once the awkward…
Joe Fairbrother: Characters
14 Aug 2011
Gentle audience-teasing character comedy
Whoever was doing the flyering for this show should be awarded some kind of Edinburgh Flyering Award. They absolutely nailed the target audience for the opening salvo of Joe Fairbrother’s fiendishly subtle character show. Welcomed in by a posh…
Chris Martin
14 Aug 2011
Run of the mill show from the man who definitely isn't in Coldplay
Martin certainly has swagger, but his comedy feels not so much natural but ‘learned’ (with honours from the Whitehall/McIntyre College of Advanced Observational Stand-Up). The initial promise of a show about being alone in a hectic world is ditched for…
Andrew Maxwell
12 Aug 2011
Blistering set from the mercurial Dubliner
Anyone who goes to see a barrel-load of comedy this August will no doubt witness stand-up after stand-up making a fleeting reference to the summer riots, if only to prove they have a handle on what’s going on in outside the Edinburgh bubble. Not Andrew…
Gavin Webster: All Young People Are C**ts
12 Aug 2011
Likeably profane and bitter hour
Accoding to Geordie comic Gavin Webster, ‘all young people are cunts’. He believes that so much that he’s been driven to name this year’s Fringe show with the phrase, concluding his amiable hour with a profanity-fuelled sing-along. Admitting to being…
Benny Boot: Set-Up, Punchline… Pause for Laughter
12 Aug 2011
The secrets of comedy remain a mystery here
When you set yourself up as a stand-up who has nailed the very fundamentals of comedy structure, you really are setting yourself up for one mighty fall. And Benny Boot plummets without trace during this show. The crowd is welcomed in by his South…
Toby - Lucky
12 Aug 2011
Divisive duo spark a riot of tutting and scowling
If this performance of Toby’s Lucky was set in front of a focus group, clear scientific findings would have been concluded. The semi-surreal double act are loved by student blokes in their early 20s and loathed by fortysomething women. At one point…
Interview: US comedian Todd Barry set for Edinburgh Fringe
9 Aug 2011
High hopes for American Hot show from 'third conchord'
When Todd Barry made his Fringe debut in 2004, the experience didn’t seem to be to anyone’s liking. Stuck in a cavernous hall with a near-midnight start time, people failed to show up in their droves and those who did couldn’t quite get to grips with…
Luke Wright's Cynical Ballads
8 Aug 2011
Wonderful slices of fractured Britain
As part of ‘poetry boyband’ Aisle 16, Luke Wright helped to bring spoken verse to a new generation. In his previous solo shows, he has had a dig at Andrew Motion for having the temerity to be Poet Laureate when clearly Luke was the right man for the job…
Matthew Crosby: AdventureParty
8 Aug 2011
A safe and hilarious haven for geeks and nerds
Any fears that Matthew Crosby would be exposed under the Fringe glare without the back-up of his showbiz buddies have been put resolutely to bed with this debut solo effort, the distinctly Pappy’s-esque entitled AdventureParty. Let’s get one thing…
Tom Green
8 Aug 2011
Porn and meat-fuelled non-event
On the most relentlessly wet Fringe day since the sodden floods of 2008, it’s perhaps understandable that a late show might start half an hour late. That our bone-dry Hollywood host made no mention whatsoever of the endurance test his devoted fans (and…
Diane Spencer: All-Pervading Madness
8 Aug 2011
Don’t judge a comic by their gentle demeanour
One of the first thoughts that might enter your head when popping along to a Diane Spencer gig is whether or not she will play on the fact that her name is but a single letter away from one of the most famous women of the 20th century. Actually, playing…
Catie Wilkins: A Chip Off the Odd Block
8 Aug 2011
Enthusiastic and wry story about parents
While children can be so cruel, parents are nothing less than a walking embarrassment to their offspring. Especially if they, like the blood-line guardians of Catie Wilkins, are an over-emotional firecracker (mum) and a cold, pedantic robot (dad).
James Acaster: Amongst Other Things
8 Aug 2011
Mixing up the comedy flavours
In the modern stand-up world, there seems to be a desperate need to fill every moment with high-octane verbiage, constant blather and, maybe, a spot of shouting while running, hoping to dear christ that your mic-cheek stays in position. You won’t find…
Who Are The Jocks?
8 Aug 2011
A multi-faceted tale of love and loss
Having cultivated a persona for being a tough-hearted, callous shock-comic, it was something of a surprise to learn that Scott Capurro was turning to the death of his mother as the basis for his latest Fringe show. Dubbing her his ‘best friend and coke…
Ford and Akram: Humdinger
8 Aug 2011
Yin and yang do silly and surreal
Many double acts rely on a natural chemistry to get them by. Others might be strong on material but just don’t have that onstage zing. So thank the blazes that Louise Ford and Yasmine Akram have got both elements down to a fine art for their Humdinger…
