Reviews & features: Brian Donaldson
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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…
Dana Alexander: Breaking Through
23 Aug 2012
Desperately Seeking the Exit might be more fitting title for fly-by show
A theme seems to be emerging from several reviews of Dana Alexander’s 2012 Fringe show. She just doesn’t seem to adapt very well to playing in front of a small audience. Of course, it’s not ideal for any comic, but the old maxim surely must apply: ‘the…
Paul Foot - Kenny Larch Is Dead
23 Aug 2012
A creature of habit delivers his usual fantastical fare
The structure of a Paul Foot gig is by now pretty well-established. Kick off with a bizarre non sequitur, move onto the next surreal musing, go a bit stir crazy, take ages over insignificant details, suffer a stage breakdown and then depart to a hero’s…
Neil Delamere: DelaMere Mortal
23 Aug 2012
Safe but solid hour of craic
With such an easy-going manner and propensity for chatty audience banter, it helps if Neil Delamere can scoop out an interesting front-row character or two. And on this occasion, he uncovers a children’s author and the son of a notable ITV newsreader in…
Bristol Revunions: Destination Adventure
23 Aug 2012
Stepping up their sketch act to a new level
The cool kids down at Bristol Revunions (quite a clumsy moniker that) have come up with a pretty ingenious avenue into their sketches this year. Not for them the gruesome donning of gimp masks or overly cosy slipping-on of jimmy-jams, as members of the…
Carl Hutchinson: Acceptable?
23 Aug 2012
A pleasingly moody debut from 25 year old Geordie comic
Having spent a mere 25 years on this planet, it might be far too soon for rising Geordie comic Carl Hutchinson to be a grumpy old man. But he gives those fractious celebrity gents a run for their moaning money with his debut hour. Acceptable is an…
Kieran and Joe: Friends of Steel
23 Aug 2012
Mercurial chemistry in pair's solidly entertaining double act
This masterclass in friendship is more of a lesson in intimidation as Kieran Hodgson and Joe Parham put the living fear into a front row which could be plucked from and experimented on at any moment. Now ploughing on as a trimmed-down double act (yes…
Peacock and Gamble
23 Aug 2012
No TV deal just yet for comedic spacehoppers
While they proclaim that they aren’t especially fussed about never being on TV, Ray Peacock and Ed Gamble may be biting their tongues somewhat. Certainly, there must be somewhere (a late-night corner on BBC Three?) for their ill-fitting partnership to…
Kumail Nanjiani
22 Aug 2012
Accomplished stand-up debut from the Pakistani-American comic
Kumail Nanjiani is a big fan of horror films. But as a natural beta male, he can’t quite cope with the feelings of terror they inspire in him and much of his life is spent in a state of fear. When he talks of being unable to visit the toilet during the…
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…
Sarah Kendall - Get Up, Stand-Up
22 Aug 2012
Anticipated comeback show is good rather than glorious
When Sarah Kendall became the first woman in what felt like an entire generation to receive a solo Perrier nomination in 2004, her future glory seemed assured. But after one further Fringe stand-up show, a theatrical piece about a college initiation and…
Top 5: Sports novels - The Damned United, Dead Cert and more
22 Aug 2012
Chris Cleave brings Olympics-based novel Gold to Edinburgh Book Festival
As Chris Cleave brings his Olympics-based novel, Gold, to the Book Festival Brian Donaldson kicks off the search for some sporty fiction
Erich McElroy: The Brit Identity
22 Aug 2012
A permanent cultural exchange with laughs
Whenever a comedian brings a show to the Fringe with any kind of social or political bent, the evolving nature of world events can often turn around to bite them in a soft fleshy place. In 2005, Andrew Maxwell was compelled to rewrite swathes of…
Neil Delamere - DelaMere Mortal
22 Aug 2012
Safe but solid hour of craic
With such an easy-going manner and propensity for chatty audience banter, it helps if Neil Delamere can scoop out an interesting front-row character or two. And on this occasion, he uncovers a children’s author and the son of a notable ITV newsreader in…
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…
The Great Puppet Horn
22 Aug 2012
Shadow puppetry show that leaves the comedy in another room
The Great Puppet Horn showed a devilish side recently by using their vast shadow puppet skills to project an image of Stewart Lee onto Edinburgh Castle. It was not an act of idolatry towards the agitprop comic, but the Horn guys were expressing their…
