Reviews & features: Brian Donaldson

Frankie Boyle

In some ways it would be difficult to imagine an encounter between Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr, what with them being, arguably, the two finest gag tellers in contemporary British stand-up comedy. How, you wonder, can they have a chat when they must be…

Fran Moulds: Significant Human Error

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

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

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…

Luke and Harry's Dot Dot Dot

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…

The Dog-eared Collective

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

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

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…

Dana Alexander: Breaking Through

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…

Carl Hutchinson: Acceptable?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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…

Comedian Dies in the Middle of Joke

Unusual Fringe play in which the comedian keeps on dying

It’s November 1983 and Britain is in turmoil. Ruled over by the Tories, the country is still reeling from participation in a war that no one can properly justify and the charts are full of bland drivel. Sound familiar? In a dingy London comedy club, the…

Gravity Boots

Crashing down to earth with a massive bump

Making surreal humour work is probably the hardest trick to pull off in the comedy arena. Nail it and you will go a very long way; mess up and you just make a complete tit of yourself. Adelaide absurdists Gravity Boots do their best to be as weird as…

Horse & Louis - The Curse of ...

Musical comedy duo who aim for Conchordian heights but crash and burn

It seems the way of things now that any musical duo will compare themselves, if only fleetingly, with Flight of the Conchords. To their credit, Horse & Louis can make this link with more justification than most, given that they both bear a striking…