Reviews & features: Comedy, Brian Donaldson

Katherine Ryan: Little Miss Conception

An edgy story of pageant culture

When Katherine Ryan is stopped in her tracks on hearing that someone in the audience has relatives in her very small Canadian home town of Sarnia, it marks a first for her Fringe debut show. There seems very little that will get in the way of this stage…

Joe Wilkinson: My Mum's Called Stella and My Dad's Called Brian

Underpowered affair from BBC Three’s Him & Her

Bounding on stage with arms aloft, the loveable Wilkinson plays around with his front row for a bit before settling into the kind of underpowered affair you’d rightly be expecting having seen his work on BBC Three’s Him & Her and onstage in Two Episodes…

Lady Garden

Successful series of standalone and recurring sketches

Opening with a lovely scene which links hen nights to war movies, the LG quintet offers up a series of standalone and recurring sketches (best of those being the woman whose life keeps falling apart, the least successful being the tattoo parlour scene).

Ro Campbell: Uttering Bad Shillings

Some nice stuff from Scottish Comedian of the Year, but few genuine laughs

In this marginally bitter show, the current Scottish Comedian of the Year and full-on Aussie tells the story of his intriguing background as a retort to those who loudly jeered his victory. There’s some nice stuff about the ‘true’ roots of Kevin Bridges…

Tim Clare: How to Be a Leader

Frequently inventive show includes rousing series of raps about iconic women

A frequently inventive follow-up to last year’s excellent debut from Clare, How to be a Leader is a handy guide to anyone who wants to rule over people and land. After drawing links between suicide cultist Jim Jones and chocoholic Willy Wonka, he closes…

Fear of a Brown Planet

Audience-friendly jovial banter about Islam, Michael Jackson and Barack Obama

Aamer Rahman and Nazeem Hussain both studied law back home in Australia but from what they say on stage, their parents are probably not best pleased with their ultimate career choice. They needn’t worry though, as this pair are surely going places with…

Wedding Band: A Comedy by Charlie Baker

Crooner delivers a gentle comic play

What’s the worst thing that could happen to you as the head of a jobbing wedding band? High on the list would be mislaying the PA, having a keyboardist who can’t stop muttering about being fed and, arguably most awkward of all, discovering that you…

Interview - Heath McIvor and Randy

The purple-faced puppet is clean, sober and ready to entertain

What were the circumstances behind your first alcoholic drink? After 32 hours in labour I was exhausted and absolutely furious about being wrenched from my sac of amniotic fluid. Only a scotch would do. Name a famous puppet that could drink you…

Fringe 2011: Comedy sketches with an edge

Late Night Gimp Fight, Christmas for Two, McNeil and Pamphilon and The Three Englishmen

With the near-veteran likes of the Penny Dreadfuls and Pappy’s opting not to appear in their collective forms this Fringe, it’s a golden opportunity for some of the newer sketch acts to make a mark. But with ever-increasing competition at their level…

Fringe 2011 comedy: 5 musical comedians

Isy Suttie, Steve Pretty, ATF?, Pistol & Jack and Gareth Richards

Isy Suttie. Dobby (from Peep Show not Harry Potter, silly) brings us Pearl and Dave, another heartwarming multi-character tale. With his Perfect Mixtape, Pretty recalls the tunes played at his own wake in 2005 (there’s a story there) and wonders what…

Fringe 2011 comedy: five free shows

Featuring Hatty Ashdown, Jody Kamali, Paul Foot, Norman Lovett and Gadd, Kirk and Winning

Hatty Ashdown ‘Hatty Ashdown’s brain is made up of funny molecules,’ claims Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper with what is presumably deemed as a compliment.

I am a Dick - Josh Howie interview

The comedian tells us, in his own words, why he's a dick

I am a dick. This was something I had to finally embrace. When I talked to comic friends of mine, where I’m just being me and letting my guard down, I got sick of them saying, ‘stop with the jokey-jokes, the thing that is funny about you is that you’re…

Dare to Dream - Nick Helm interview

The on-stage angry man is actually quite pleasant

It may surprise anyone who witnessed Nick Helm’s breakthrough Fringe last year that he is actually something of a festival veteran. Back in 1997, he made his Edinburgh debut with the first of three annual school plays while in 2001 he came up with a…

Andrew Maxwell - The Lights Are On

The King of Comedy returns to his ancestral pile

To Andrew Maxwell, there are few sounds better than a roomful of people laughing. All the better if they’re laughing at something the tiny Dubliner with the massive talent has just said. ‘Laughter speeds shit up,’ insists the man crowned King of Comedy…

Money, Money, Money - Keith Farnan interview

The conscience-fuelled Irish comic talks money

While there are few people who are able to laugh at themselves quite like the Irish, recent times have been somewhat trying for Celtic self-mockery. The aftershock of the global financial crisis is still hurting the Emerald Isle and Keith Farnan sees…

Fringe for (around) a fiver: Comedy

The best cheap shows in Edinburgh this August

AAA Stand-Up/Late A trio of dandy comics for much less than the normal price of three in this annual not-late/late line-up. The earlier bill includes Joe Rowntree while the later roster has Matt Price. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 3–5 Aug…

Interview: Chris McCausland

The comedian discusses his blindness ahead of gigs at Highlight, Glasgow and the Fringe

As Rudi, the ever jovial market-stall owner, Chris McCausland cut a fine dash across CBeebies screens in Me Too! With Big Time, his upcoming Fringe show at the Pleasance Courtyard, he’s back reflecting upon childish things by wondering how time seems to…

Comedy picks for the Edinburgh Fringe 2011

David O’Doherty Two shows this year from the beloved man of lo-fi musical comedy with the high-laugh quotient. His usual brilliant sit-down/stand-up fare, David O’Doherty is Looking Up, is augmented by his debut on the one-man comic play scene. Rory…

Interview - Dave Gorman's Power Point Presentation

Comic who set the bar for concept shows makes welcome Fringe return

When Dave Gorman was pottering away on his latest project – finding and playing obscure and unique games – he came to the conclusion that maybe there wasn’t a book, documentary series or stand-up tour in it. Meeting people and playing their games in…

Katherine Ryan: Little Miss Conception

Canadian comedian's hits Edinburgh with show about crucial early years

As a little girl growing up in the Canadian smalltown of Sarnia (not a made-up place), Katherine Ryan’s parents put her forward into those pageants that only north Americans are capable of laying on. Yet even at an early age, Ryan showed a healthy…

Edinburgh Fringe Festival comedy shows to look out for in 2011

Margaret Cho, Todd Barry and Imran Yusuf among 2011 ones to watch

Down List way, we’ve just about recovered from the devastating news that there will be no sign this year of Bo Burnham, Jonny Sweet, Tommy Tiernan or Pappys. But if you think that kind of comedic void can be filled by this year’s galaxy of acts, then…

Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist a strong gathering led by Bo Burnham and Josie Long

2010 awards puts two women on shortlist for first time

According to Nica Burns, producer of the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards, 2010 is ‘a vintage year for comedy,’ and the shortlist for the main award ‘reflects the enormous changes in the comedy landscape’. Of course, this might just be the kind of…

Magicians

Thwarted ambition and misplaced idolatry

A daft and slightly irritating tale of two rubbish magicians (or are they?) canters along amid a backdrop of thwarted ambition and misplaced idolatry. Remove the mild innuendo, tone down the psychological torment and this could easily be a more…

Tommy Tiernan

A passionate man taking glorious risks

For a few minutes there it looked like Tommy Tiernan had lost the plot. Starting off Crooked Man slower than Wayne Rooney at a Mensa convention, he tosses out a few semi-derogatory quips about the state of comedy at the Fringe and wondering why he’s…

Kevin Eldon

Where hard graft meets titting about

Lugging around a CV of television credits longer than the queue snaking outside The Stand, Kevin Eldon comes to Edinburgh for his debut Fringe solo show with both word of mouth and heavy press coverage on his side. And unlike those Hollywood stars…