Reviews & features: Comedy, Brian Donaldson
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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…
Matthew Crosby
20 Aug 2012
Slightly stilted affair from an otherwise very funny man
Given the majesty of this year’s main Pappy’s show, we can surely forgive Matthew Crosby (the small, bespectacled, beardy one of the trio) if he’s not firing on the same number of cylinders that powered his 2011 solo debut. Even so, he is able to…
Lucy Porter
14 Aug 2008
A set down to its bare bones
While it may have been slightly dispiriting for Lucy Porter to hop out on stage to a less than packed auditorium, there's little in her jovial demeanour to suggest crushed hopes. To spend an hour in Porter's company is akin to having a litre of Jelly…
John Conway - The New Conway Dimension
20 Aug 2012
Small and daft is the order of the day in Conway's semi-anarchic routines
If you find yourself tiring of the slick, professional, often identikit comedians in town, you should cop a load of Australia’s John Conway. With laptop-wielding sidekick Michael Burke trying his utmost to keep proceedings reasonably on track, Conway…
Sammy J & Randy - The Inheritance
19 Aug 2012
Triumph of style over substance
Yes, it’s funny that a purple puppet might swear and drink and smoke. And it’s probably amusing that he would hang out with a socially inadequate skinny nerd. But once you get used to those facts, and have nodded in admiration at the production values…
The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek
6 Aug 2012
Disappointing sketch comedy from the much vaunted trio
With early endorsements from Johnny Vegas and Catherine Tate ringing in their ears, the three Gs have developed a hefty following. With the sell-out signs already being slapped up for their twice-daily appearances, they clearly have it made. From where…
Mark Watson: The Information
5 Aug 2012
Another top show from the pointedly non-Welsh Fringe veteran
Ever since making his breakthrough on the Fringe in the mid-Noughties, Mark Watson’s ethos has remained constant: deliver solid, frequently hilarious stand-up amid an audience environment in which things can kick off at any moment. The more offbeat a…
Ventriloquist Nina Conti brings new show to Fringe
29 Jul 2010
Talk to the Hand brings chat-show format to puppetry
Once a reluctant ventriloquist, Nina Conti is now exploring the possibilities of the form. Brian Donaldson hears about weird gigs and strange road trips
Ali Cook
21 Aug 2008
A pleasing mix of cheesy and sinister
He chews razor blades, crushes doves and gets journalists up on stage to help him perform tricks: Ali Cook simply has no fear. With a pleasing mix of cheesy/sinister, there is happily little that is A Touch of Vegas as he demolishes mobile phones…
Late Night Gimp Fight
22 Aug 2012
Risible, regrettable and rotten sketch comedy
Where to begin? Firstly, perhaps the lads behind Late Night Gimp Fight deserve some praise for sheer audacity. Not sure who thought they would regularly cram people into a venue the size of Pleasance Forth but it’s barely half-full on a night when not…
Denise Scott - Regrets
22 Aug 2012
Charm offensive from veteran debutant
One of the least likely comedy debuts this Fringe comes from Denise Scott, a jovial fiftysomething Australian who just so happens to be ‘incredibly famous’ back home. As she retells in one of several stories about her regrets, that fame was nearly…
Taylor Glenn - Reverse Psycomedy
19 Aug 2012
Playing mind games with her crowd
There can’t be too many Fringe comedy shows (ie zero) that casually drop in phrases such as ‘cognitive behaviour’, ‘Gestalt theory’ or ‘psychodynamic therapy’. But then, not many Fringe comedians will have worked for eight years as a professional…
Gareth Morinan
19 Aug 2012
Slim pickings amid a frenzy of facts
Quite a busy boy is Gareth Morinan given that he has seven different shows at the Fringe including political debates, a bit of improv and spoken word events in which he speaks out about his opinions on David Cameron and Ricky Gervais (he’s not a fan of…
Tania Edwards - Killer Instinct
15 Aug 2012
Funny Women finalist in career regression
Straight off the bat, the eminently likeable Tania Edwards insists that this is going to be her year. It’s ‘break or breakdown’ time. Unfortunately, several things could be conspiring against her as she moves ahead with her grand plans (which may have…
Through the Looking Screen
13 Aug 2012
A black tale of loneliness and log-ins
The experience of turning The Office into an operatic extravaganza for Comic Relief in 2009 clearly gave Anne Chmelewsky a taste for the comedic possibilities of a musical form normally associated with grim tragedy. But the ‘high heels and high Cs…
Magnus Betnér Live
11 Aug 2012
One of Sweden's finest comic exports prefers to look on the bleak side of life
In one shaven-headed, tattooed man appears to be encapsulated the downbeat, morose nature of the Scandic peoples. Letting us know that everything he says on stage is absolutely true, who couldn’t feel worried about his suicidal thoughts? But it’s ok, he…
Universal humour: 5 international comedians at the 2012 Fringe
27 Jul 2012
Featuring Naz Osmanoglu, Trevor Noah, Michael Mittermeier and Marcel Lucont
Naz Osmanoglu Given the damp evidence of his debut solo affair last year (he’s also a core member of the WitTank crew), this Turkish prince will provide an energetic sweat-fest like no other. This year, he’s an Ottoman Without an Empire. You getting…
Life is a cabaret: 7 cabaret shows at Fringe 2012
27 Jul 2012
Featuring Auntie Myra, Bourgeois & Maurice, Damsel Sophie, Ria Lina and more
Auntie Myra’s Fun Show As the legendary Jeremy Lion showed, reluctant children’s entertainers make for bleak but blisteringly funny comedy. We suggest that Rotherham’s Myra Dubois may be in the same vein. The Voodoo Rooms, 226 0000, 3–26 Aug (not 6…
Return of the Lumberjacks reunites three Canadian comics
23 Jul 2012
Glenn Wool, Craig Campbell and Stewart Francis at 2012 Edinburgh Fringe
Glenn Wool. What’s the best thing about working with Craig Campbell? The complimentary massages. Tell us one thing that might surprise the world about Stewart Francis? How easy it is to trick him out of his massage vouchers. Tell us your favourite…
Lunch with Quattro Formaggio
23 Aug 2011
Lovely conceit of Italian waiter on the verge does the job nicely
There’s a lovely conceit at play here as the driving force behind this quartet gets a bit too ‘method’ in his Italian waiter role. The team fall out spectacularly with the fourth wall constantly being pushed over, this storyline forcing attention away…
Piff the Magic Dragon
17 Aug 2011
A laconic but jaw-dropping set
It’s not enough these days for a magician to simply get up there on stage and do some jaw-dropping trick. A gimmick is always an added extra and in John van der Put’s case, he’s chosen to dress like a dragon, give himself a suitably puntacular name and…
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…
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…
Wedding Band: A Comedy by Charlie Baker
7 Aug 2011
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: Chris McCausland
21 Jul 2011
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…
