Reviews & features: Comedy, Suzanne Black
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Dave McNeill: Canoe Ride 3000
5 Aug 2012
Surreal silliness that goes for the easy laugh
Dave McNeill works hard. After an hour the vast amount of sweat dripping from his shirt is matched only by the volume of jokes he tries to wring from his surreal material. Describing a journey to China in a canoe, the plot of the show definitely falls…
Danny McLoughlin: The Truth, the Half-Truth and Nothing Like the Truth
5 Aug 2012
Lies, damned lies and comedy
At the top of the show Danny McLoughlin promises two things. The first is that the purpose of his show is to examine the role of 'enhancing' the truth for comedic effect. The second is an admission that not all of what he says during the next hour will…
Jim Campbell: Nine-Year-Old Man
3 Aug 2012
Wonderful timing, whimsical narrative
On the wrong side of 25 and facing the less exciting parts of contemporary life (mortgages, babies, failed dreams of being a rock star), Jim Campbell muses on the themes of growing up and assuming responsibility. It’s hardly unique subject matter and…
Russell Kane
17 Aug 2011
Caustic and hilarious self-flagellation
It’s hard to judge Russell Kane’s show because he’s already done it. For the ‘difficult’ follow-up to his Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning 2010 show Kane performs Manscaping as himself, offers up heckles, anticipates critic and audience responses and even…
Tom Goodliffe
16 Aug 2011
Lightweight autobiographical material, but with lovely rapport
Goodliffe rails, good-naturedly, against middle-class problems like not liking your job, not having a girlfriend and the annoying questions people ask him because of his name. Taking in his love of maths (with an insistent musical riff on the subject)…
Lee Camp Is: Yet Another American Mistake
12 Aug 2011
Rabble-rousing American gets mad at current affairs
Lee Camp aims his freewheeling cannon at all the aspects of American (and Western) culture that are easy to criticise: childhood obesity, people who believe in aliens, sweatshops, war as big business, the moon landings, the death penalty, multinational…
Doon MacKichan - Primadoona
8 Aug 2010
Turning tragedy into comedy
Life has heaped a lot of lemons on Doon MacKichan: death, divorce, illness, a career in voiceovers. It’s given her some treats as well, to be fair: children, two Emmys, the ability to Flamenco dance. The accomplished comedy writer and performer turns…
Frisky and Mannish
24 Jul 2009
Pop song parodies and mash-ups from anachronistic vocal duo
Popular music is a serious matter, with the risk of ridicule for those who don’t know the Sugababes from the Sugarcubes, and Flo Rida from Tinchy Stryder. Luckily, singing duo Felicity Fitz-Frisky (Laura Corcoran) and Hansel Amadeus Mannish (Matthew…
Brendon Burns
7 Aug 2008
Award winner is back and still pretty angry
What do you get when you take an aggressive Aussie comic with a history of psychosis, substance abuse and vitriolic rants about every sector of humanity and award him the if.comeddie main award? Gladiator costumes, Schwarzenegger impressions and a…
Karen Bayley
9 Aug 2007
They say that the most important thing is having the confidence to give it a go. But decent material and delivery also help. A self-confessed depressive turned optimist after a near-death experience, Bayley’s self-assured demeanour surpasses her…
The New Conway Experience
23 Aug 2011
Bringing hilarity to the masses
Appearing haphazard while remaining in control isn’t easy. John Conway is the genial host for an assortment of skits and bits that feels more like post-pub drinks at the house of a funny friend. Balancing the well-crafted with the pleasingly…
Ian D Montfort - Spirit Comedium
23 Aug 2011
Witty send-up of hand-wringing mediumship
Resplendent in the New Age uniform of beads and sandals, Tom Binns takes on an industry that is at best delusional and at worst predatory. While sending up the vagaries of ‘cold reading’, Montfort drops ‘real’ psychic insights. A witty send-up of…
New Art Club: Quiet Act of Destruction
23 Aug 2011
Comedy-dance due don't do their talents justice
War between two English villages provides the narrative for this comedy-dance duo’s latest. Tom Roden and Pete Shenton’s years of working together shows and at moments their previous inventiveness shines through, but an hour that’s light on dance and…
Mark Nelson
16 Aug 2011
Straight talker whose profanity is utterly charming
With no narrative arc or gimmicks, Nelson presents himself as a straight talker, not scared of eliciting shocked gasps with his more provocative material. He deals in the controversial with a cheeky grin, as if the words magically appeared in his mouth.
Christmas for Two: Friends With You
12 Aug 2011
Variable sketch show of audacious surrealism
This sketch duo’s Friends with You starts with a rape joke. The way they treat the topic that has become a shibboleth of contemporary comedy is a statement of purpose, signalling their intent to sidle up against the profane, nudge things into the…
Barry and Stuart
8 Aug 2011
Showing and telling their magical mysteries
Be-suited Aberdonian purveyors of macabre magical comedy, Barry Jones and Stuart MacLeod have struck upon one hell of a gimmick. First comes The Show, filled with their favoured brand of slightly gory trickery and presented by the twosome with their…
Totally Tom
8 Aug 2011
Impressive range of comedic prowess and accents
Straight out the trap, Toms Palmer and Stourton launch into a run of standalone sketches. With great versatility they eschew running gags and call-backs; each sketch is a snapshot of a fully realised world which displays their impressive range of…
Joel Dommett: Neon Hero
8 Aug 2011
Celebrity crush tale an from assured and skilled performer
Dining out on the retelling of one week spent in the company of a unnamed celebrity crush, Dommett weaves a charming and self-effacing love story. Behind the trendy haircut and gleeful grin is an assured performer with the skills to back up his…
Brett Goldstein Grew Up in a Strip Club
8 Aug 2011
Endearing personality wins over crowd despite lacklustre material
Stand-up Goldstein puts on his raconteur cap to narrate a tender coming-of-age tale. Set in a strip club. Softly spoken and exuding a quiet confidence he articulately and admirably wins over a small crowd. The material, though a little lacklustre, is…
The Life Doctor
8 Aug 2011
Channelling of the most irksome of TV lifestyle gurus disappoints
Written by Adam Lawrence and Phil Wang, Lawrence channels the most irksome of TV lifestyle gurus. The premise quickly falls flat as jokes fail to land or are utterly baffling. A stand-out turn by George Potts and some surprisingly witty pre-recorded…
Kieran and The Joes: Teampowered
5 Aug 2011
Teambuilding seminar with more laughs than cringes
Taking a cue from Office-style humour, which seeks to entertain with the toe-curlingly cringeworthy, Joe Markham, Joe Parham and Kieran Hodgson’s show takes the form of a teambuilding seminar. From the inspirational music and matching pink ties to pleas…
Josie Long - The Future is Another Place
26 Jul 2011
Little miss sunshine gets political
JosieWorld is a place built on home-spun whimsy and Ms Long presides over it with a refreshing optimism, pointing out all the little things that make us smile or inspire or deserve kudos. In her fourth Fringe show it is being impinged upon by a newfound…
Paul Sweeney and Tom Webb
23 Aug 2010
An hour of average comedy with a respectable laugh ratio
Tom Webb is 5’5’’ of nervous energy, has four insightful handy hints, two self-effacing stories and one audience survey. Paul Sweeney has one full moustache, four slight comedy songs, lots of good ad-libbing and some lovely tattoos. It adds up to an…
Susan Calman
23 Aug 2010
A vitriolic manual in self-loathing
Glasgow’s pint-sized, squeaky-voiced professional lesbian talks us through her obituary. Written when she was drunk, it’s a vitriolic manual in self-loathing. Calman deftly manages the tricky task of stuffing truth into a comedy-shaped bag tied up with…
Mark Allen
23 Aug 2010
Confident delivery often resulting in pleasing set-ups
In our time-starved, online lives, Mark Allen investigates savouring rather than saving time over 90 languorous minutes. The concept, although not earth-shattering, is admirably adhered to with Allen’s confident delivery often resulting in pleasing…
