Festival Comedy list.co.uk/festival
AVA VIDAL President-inspired reflections on making changes for the better
The day Barack Obama won the election was a big day for London comedian Ava Vidal. She started it facing charges in the dock and ended it appearing on ITN, giving her opinion on the new US president. ‘That was a very stressful day for me,’ she exhales. ‘The atmosphere at night was so charged, so full of hope, it got me thinking whether I could apply the same principles to my personal life.’ After reading Obama’s
autobiography, Vidal wondered whether the example of what she describes as ‘a very hard-working, upfront and inspiring former coke and spliffhead’ could spark changes for the
MINIPROFILE
SIMON MUNNERY Who’s he then? Simon Munnery is arguably one of the Fringe’s most mercurial and maverick regular draws, having performed pretty much without a gap year since his 1994 show Cluub Zarathustra, dubbed quite correctly as a ‘confrontational futurist komedy kabaret’. He’s still known to many as the highly irritating Alan Parker: Urban Warrior, but others fondly remember his incarnation as the League Against Tedium whose Fringe antics included making the audience wear dunces caps and driving a tank around a massive tent on the Meadows. Not one for making it on telly with all this stuff, then? You’d have thought not, yet those mad beaks at the BBC gave him a series in 2001 entitled Attention Scum, a Dadaist affair (with Johnny Vegas) which tested the patience of saints. He more recently popped up on Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle as one of a number of irritating Radio 4 comedy writers. What’s his show called this year? Having tested some people’s waters previously with show titles such as Buckethead and Noble Thoughts of a Noble Mind, he’s now settled into his AGM theme and this August, it’s time for the AGM09. As well as being on the Fringe for years, his publicity shot has altered not one jot for half a decade at least. They’ve tarted it up slightly with some pseudo- psychedelic effect going on but it’s essentially just the same old image. (Brian Donaldson) ■ The Stand, 558 7272, 7–31 Aug (not 17), 4.05pm, £8 (£7). Preview 6 Aug, 5.45pm, £7 (£6).
better in her too. The 6ft-tall comic likes to blend personal anecdotes – about the racist hate mail she receives, stupid things her kids say and the golliwog doll she bought last time she visited Edinburgh – with some chewed-over musings on contemporary politics.
Returning for her third Fringe run for a solo show (Remember, Remember the 4th of November) and as the host of Minority Report, she hopes to have grown as a performer and human being. ‘I always like it when a comic comes off stage and you’ve learned something about them. So this show is inspired by Obama, but really it’s about making changes, and me cleaning up my act.’ (Claire Sawers) ■ Ava Vidal, The Stand III & IV, 558 7272, 7–30 Aug (not 17), 3.45pm, £7 (£6). Preview 6 Aug, 1.40pm, £6 (£5); Minority Report, The Stand, 7–31 Aug (not 17), 2.30pm, £8 (£7). Preview 6 Aug, 4.05pm, £7 (£6).
PATRICK MONAHAN Family-friendly Teesside performer exploring our cultural differences
‘My mum’s Iranian, my dad’s Irish and I’m the only one in my house with a northern accent,’ says Teessider Patrick Monahan, explaining how he’s spent his whole life trying to ‘fit in’. Even now, preparing for his eighth year at the Edinburgh Fringe, his non- drinking status differentiates him from other comedians; though his ardent love of talking more than fills this gap. Monahan’s 2009 affair, Cowboys and Iranians, aims to explore people’s differences and will be his most personal yet. ‘It’s related to my life, unlike my other shows, which tended to be quite loose. There are personal observations, but at the same time there’s general stuff about growing up.’
Cowboys and Iranians will be Monahan’s fifth solo Fringe outing. With a children’s show enjoying a full run this year too, he’s fast cementing his position as one of the Festival’s most family-friendly performers. And, ever true to his fans, he claims he’d never think about taking a year off. ‘Edinburgh has such a good vibe,’ Monahan explains. ‘Last year, people would come up to me and say they’d seen all my Fringe shows; where else
28 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 6–13 Aug 2009
would people remember you like that? I think if audiences make the effort to go every year, you should as well.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, 9–31 Aug (not 13, 17, 20), 9.15pm, £9.50–£12.50 (£8–£11). Previews 7 & 8 Aug, £5. ELVIS McGONAGALL The king of poetry departs his humble home in unflattering tartan
Everyone, it seems, has a little bit of Elvis Presley in their town. It could be the ageing impersonator who works the local pubs, the rumours circulating about the bloke who sells battered haddock in the local chippy or, in the case of Dundee, the scrawny bloke that lives in the Graceland caravan park and bears a passing resemblance to an irascible version of the King himself. Rumoured to be a product of an assignation between Presley and a baggage handler by the name of Big Agnes as he passed through Prestwick Airport in 1960, Elvis ‘Jnr’ McGonagall has picked up on his pop’s love of lyrics. ‘It all stems from a deep well of bitter
twisted bile, I think,’ he growls, explaining the source of his stand-up poetry while sucking on the dead end of a roll-up. ‘It’s a conduit for having a wee rant at things.’ Now though, he is leaving the static caravan for a show at the Fringe. ‘What have I got planned? Shouting at strangers in a dark room while wearing an increasingly tight tartan jacket. That’s the gist of the show. In verse obviously.’ So like father, like son. Aside from the tartan, obviously. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, 8–30 Aug (not 17), 5.45pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9). Previews until 7 Aug, £5.
ADAMS & REA Well-mannered but occasionally quite naughty musical pair ‘I do like to get down,’ confesses Leisa Rea, half of the warmly surreal double act, Adams & Rea. ‘So there’s more of my salacious dancing this year,’ she says, referring to their cult internet hit, ‘Stick it in Me Bin’, an anti- litter ragga rant accompanied by vigorous ass-shaking. ‘I’m doing a disco dancing guide this time, which leaves me breathless and I can’t talk. That’s how Sarah prefers me,’ she nods, explaining that her partner’s onstage job is ‘bursting my bubble’ and ‘reminding me I’m a dickhead.’ Gentle abuse aimed at Rea is only part of the story. The Aussie-English two-team use ukuleles, guitars, banjos
and something called ‘flamenco cajones’ to bring alive their songs, which ‘take a devilish pop’ at everything from irritating yummy Stockbridge mummies to overly- talkative friends. Rea hopes their South African township funk ditty about a failed neighbourhood watch scheme may also go down well. Besides twisted Smack the Pony-style songs, audience members will be treated to a mid-show snack, free badges and maybe even a printed umbrella, which doubles as a parasol for the schizophrenic Edinburgh summer weather. ‘We like to look after the audience,’ she insists. ‘We’re well- mannered, even if we joke about dark things.’ (Claire Sawers) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 8–30 Aug (not 17), 7.30pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7–£8). Previews until 7 Aug, £6. EDWARD ACZEL Solving the world’s woes in a pleasingly shambolic way
Having performed essentially the same critically-acclaimed non-show for the last two years, anti-comic Edward Aczel is planning something a little different for this Fringe, as he ambitiously Explains All the World’s Problems . . . And Then Solves Them. His shuffling, shambolic delivery, total lack of jokes and anything remotely resembling a routine may still be evident, as is his strained audience interaction and excessive use of pointless flipcharts. But this time, the full-time marketing company employee and winner of 2008’s Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality is also promising to investigate, and if necessary, resolve the credit crunch, climate change, global conflict and stand-up comedy. In an hour. As Aczel’s fame and following
continue to swell by, ooh, tens of people, it seems appropriate for him to raise his stakes, with a strict no- refunds policy indicating just how successful he reckons he’ll be. Specific lowlights include an impression of Steve McQueen, a lecture on the War of the Spanish Succession lifted word-for-word from Wikipedia and a demonstration of the Seven Deadly Sins through an audience raffle. (Jay Richardson) ■ Underbelly, 08445 458 252, 8–30 Aug, 7.25pm, £6.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9). Preview 7 Aug, £6.