STAND UP FOR FREEDOM
In association with The cooperative
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Amnesty’s legendary benefit is back with two nights of the best comedy in Edinburgh!
6 August Rich Hall/ Ed Byrne/Stephen K Amos/ Alun Cochrane/ Lucy Porter/ Mark Watson
13 August Brendon Bums/ Andrew Maxwell/
Hans Teeuwen/ Reginald D Hunter/ David O’Doherty/ Jo Caufield
Where Assembly @ Assembly Hall, Mound Place When Midnight
Price £14.50 / £12.50 (conc.)
Tickets www.edcomfest.com
Book early! All profits go to Amnesty International
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Amnesty lntemationalisflregoodcauseatthe heart of the Edinburgh Festival. There’s our sell-out comedy shows, plus exhibitions, lectures and readings, theatre, our Freedom of Expression Award and a daily Festival biog reporting from the frontlineoftheworld’s biggestartsevent.
foriailed Chinese human rights campaigner Hu Jia. www.amnesty.org.uk/edinburghfestivals or
call 0844 800 9088
Supported by Amnesty International - PROTECT THE HUMAN
36 Till LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 7-14 Aug 2008
MATT KIRSHEN
; Globe-trotting charmer gets coy .0.
Matt Kirshen explains away his show's
title (Keep Smiling, Matt. Just Keep
I Smiling) saying he has a funny face and
smiles a lot. Now this is obviously a more favourable title than. My Adventures in the Weird Land that is America which would have been a less catchy but more truthful summation of his hour of quality stand-up. Kirshen is
I insanely likeable. the kind of self- confessed nerd who we‘re laughing
with, not at. Having been a part of the
? recent US series Last Comic Standing.
he brings us observations on fame.
; religion, rules and junk food in America.
While Kirshen's observations are on point. he seems less able to find the comic G-spot in many of his subjects. Rather than probe around for the most satisfying possible climax to his vignettes, he 00ny resists. resulting in something not as funny as the build-up might suggest. Kirshen has huge comic potential and taking some of his gags beyond stand-up foreplay would leave us all with a true night to remember. (Mark Robertson)
Alun Cochrane
l for see non-Festival magazine
I Assembly Rooms, 623 3030, until 25 3 Aug (not 77), lOpm, {NO—72.50 (29—7 7.50).
' ALUN COCHRANE
Dad talk amid the credit crunch 0...
Last summer, the tallest Yorkshire-
' Glaswegian on the comedy circuit
opted not to bring himself up to the , Fringe. Not because he was writing a sitcom or developing a novel or workshopping sketch ideas; his z absence was down to the more noble ; activity of raising his freshly-born son. 1 While this may have altered his August routine. some things never change: Alun Cochrane will always be a daydreamer, in particular concocting schemes to assassinate animals which may or may not pose a threat to Junior. The break has done Cochrane good (even if he has lost the ability to sleep while gaining some semi-serious facial fuzz) and his amiable stage manner has been honed to near-perfection allied to some top-notch material about the credit crunch while occasionally referring to The Guardian manual of 'who we can and cannot insult today'. Alun Cochrane may never effect serious change on this wonky world, but his presence will always lighten up the Fringe. And I suspect he'll make a cracking dad. (Brian Donaldson) I Assembly Rooms, 623 3030, until 25 : Aug, 7. 30pm. {Tl 760—27 2.50 (BIO—El l.5()).
IAN STONE Wry, meandering voyage around existence .0.
Life's an uphill struggle. It's easier going down a hill than up. A platitude
‘ of course. but after berating a harmless walker for suggesting such a thing. lan Stone got to thinking that it's