Festival Comedy list.co.uk/festival
Overall the material concerning his worry that he’s neither rebel nor man enough is, though amusing, a little pedestrian in places. But along the way there are fine moments with considerable bite: a comparison between the apostles and The Apprentice and a routine featuring Jeremy Beadle’s hand being two of them. Then, in the final five minutes events get much more interesting with a diatribe about his simultaneous love and dislike of his father. It certainly makes for a promising start. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 25), 7.15pm, £10–£11.50 (£8.50–£10).
ZOE LYONS Sharp act with a cuddly side ●●●●● Despite the misleadingly butch show title of Miss Machismo, Zoe Lyons thankfully goes easy on the cocky swagger in this show about women
for GLASGOW COMEDY see non-Festival magazine
with an exaggeratedly massive masculine side. Instead, ‘the 81st most influential gay woman in Britain’ (so says The Independent, she reports bemusedly) shows glimpses of something almost resembling a fluffy, soft side, with gags about gay penguin couples, competitive lesbian brides and self-loathing dogs. Maybe it’s her strategy to counter those who thought she was being a bit harsh when she made that award- winning joke last Fringe about Amy Winehouse and her self-harming. Germaine Greer called her ‘astonishingly vicious’, chirps Lyons, before sweetly calling the Aussie academic a ‘lovely bloke’. Lyons may be a kitten rather than a bulldog, but the kitten has claws too: the Pope, Kerry Katona (‘that coke-addicted bankrupt’) and P Diddy (‘a
monumental twat’) all line up to have their eyes expertly clawed out. With bitchy, biting sarcasm as her main weapon of choice, props provide back-up ammo too with a gun-toting Sarah Palin calendar and rancid celebrity perfumes both nice touches. (Claire Sawers) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 8.30pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7–£8).
THE DIRTY BROTHERS Gothic sideshow for the Top Gear set ●●●●●
Unsure of whether it wants to be physical comedy, gross-out sideshow or gothic visual poetry, this unique hour just about delivers on all three fronts. Shep Huntly, Patrick Bath and Gordo Gamsby (collectively The Dirty Brothers) are dressed in Beckettian rags and wear the kind of corpse paint Tim Burton likes putting on Helena before doing wordless routines ranging from the endearing to the sectionably masochistic. About the latter, they’re pretty serious with weighted nipple clips and car batteries featuring heavily and this might (and does) attract a certain audience more animated by Top Gear than by alternative comedy. In its defence, The Dark Party is not
just live torture porn. All three performers are above-average pratfallers, the production is slick, and the less physically insane sketches are just as memorable as the pain-based ones. Still, though: nipple clips and car batteries? The Jim Rose sensationalist aspect of the act is always going to overshadow the comedy, and there are more squeals and groans of horrified empathy from the audience than real laughs. (Sam Healy) ■ Underbelly’s Hullabaloo, 0844 545 8252, until 29 Aug, 10.40pm, £9–£12 (£8–£10).
JACK WHITEHALL A pedestrian set delivered with presence ●●●●● Given the many competition finals he reached early on in his career and his rapid rise to TV work, the 21-year-old Whitehall’s debut solo show at the Fringe was always going to be weighted with expectation. Watching him perform, it’s easy to see why there is a buzz around the lad; his is the assured presence of someone much further advanced in his years. He chats to the crowd with confidence and in a lovely moment later on makes a break for the door to scream at the crowd outside in the Courtyard.
DAVID O’DOHERTY Last year’s if.comedy winner consolidates ●●●●● One of David O’Doherty’s fellow Irish comics recently mused that it would be quite a sight to see the Dubliner shocking his fans by performing a full-on political show. This is clearly not the moment for such wild reinvention, for DO’D has a firm reputation to maintain as a quirky tune-meister with a delicious line in exposing the world’s obscure futilities. Beginning with a wry commentary on his churchy surroundings, he launches into a number which pleads for us to lower our expectations about the forthcoming gig (an honorable sentiment but one that surely is false now
that he has achieved such Fringe cult status). O’Doherty has always been one to mix up his
particular concerns, particularly in regards to technology. While he is generally a fan of the internet and social networking sites, he has little truck with Twitter, Guitar Hero or sat nav. Obsessions with the animal kingdom remain a constant (swans, ducks, labradors and pandas are all namechecked) while much of his show centres on the first woman he ever saw naked. Not groundbreaking stuff by any means, but a warm and satisfying night in the hands of an expert communicator. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 31 Aug, 10.30pm, £10–£12 (£8.50–£10.50).
30 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 20–27 Aug 2009