list.co.uk/festival Previews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
ADAM BUXTON One upside to the internet’s shadier spots BRETT GOLDSTEIN Peddling a funny version of the facts
THE COLOUR HAM Injecting chaos into magic
Ah, the internet. With its birth came an unending source of dubious knowledge, a wealth of porn and the opportunity to anonymously spit vitriolic words on a variety of message boards. Still, the knock-on effect of the latter has been a
series of shows from Adam Buxton. In his Bug gigs at London’s BFI for the past six years, he’s parodied the comments that people love to leave in response to videos on YouTube: those kind of vicious digs people think it’s OK to fling at each other because they’re not sat in the same room.
His new show, Kernel Panic, is a mixture of Bug-
type shenanigans and the kind of short films that he and Joe Cornish are renowned for. Who can forget the first time we saw Adam and Joe’s soft-toy parodies such as Toy Trainspotting or Saving Private Lion? A quick scan of YouTube reveals the enduring appeal of many of the pair’s dafter skits and much of Buxton’s more recent output. He was last seen at the Fringe in 2005 for I, Pavel,
a parody of a performance artist that required Buxton to grow a very large beard. Whether this year necessitates one remains to be seen. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Assembly Hall, 623 3030, 2–5 Aug, 10.30pm, £16 (£14).
Brett Goldstein walks the fine line between truth and fabrication. Avoiding both painstaking observational recollections and flights of surrealist fancy, Goldstein tells tales that you couldn’t make up . . . then proceeds to examine the nature of truth in joke- telling. In 2011 he regaled us with stories of running a strip club in Marbella as a youth. This year he turns his attentions to the rise of online pornography and its cultural implications, though he assures us there will also be a liberal smattering of dick jokes.
We’ve all told gags in the first person because it sells the punchline better, and Goldstein applies this subjective grasp of ‘truth’ to his brand of storytelling. ‘All comics sell what they are saying like it’s truth,’ he explains. ‘When Harry Hill tells Stouffer to help him turn the pages, we laugh because it is true. It doesn’t mean he has a real cat. It’s just true.’
In terms of what material is verifiable fact, the
raconteur helpfully clarifies: ‘I make most of it up. Or do I? (I do.) Or maybe I say that to put you off the truth . . . It doesn’t really matter anyway.’ (Suzanne Black) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 3–26 Aug (not 13), 9.30pm, £9.50–£11 (£8.50–£10). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £6.
Were Kevin McMahon, Colin McLeod and Gavin Oattes to be exactly the same kind of comedian or magician, there would barely be any point to The Colour Ham. Thankfully, their various talents (‘magician, mind reader and primary school teacher’, as it says on their publicity material) make their show an endlessly entertaining and occasionally mind-blowing ride. ‘Originally the idea was to bring together our three backgrounds in magic, mind reading and comedy to create something that we enjoyed performing,’ insist the trio. ‘But we quickly gained a following and realised we had created something that no one else was doing. It was more “comedy with special effects” than a magic show.’ The world of magic has had something of an image problem down the years, but the likes of David Blaine and Piff the Magic Dragon have helped give the form a slice of credibility. The Colour Ham are keen to do their bit too. ‘We definitely don’t fit into the current magic mainstream and we’re very happy about that. We’ve brought some much- needed chaos.’ (Brian Donaldson) ■ Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 556 5375, 2–24 Aug (not 4, 12–15, 19–22), 7.45pm, £8–£11 (£7–£10). Previews 1, 4 Aug, £5.
DARTS WIVES Sharp humour beyond the oche
Even to the uninitiated, there’s something inherently compelling about the spectacle of watching live darts. It feels particularly British, from the sight of portly guys with gelled hair and ill- fitting sportswear roaring themselves on like Usain Bolt when arrow sweetly hits bed, to their invariably bronzed and dolled- up partners sitting in pride of place looking like they could challenge us all to a scrap. It’s into the world of these ‘DWAGs’ that comedian / actor sisters Lauretta and Sharon Gavin have stepped with their new Fringe show. Darts Wives is a sitcom-style four-hander, with the Gavins
playing sisters Lorraine and Faye, Philippa Sarll as Trina (wife of Dutchman Vinnie the Viper), and Tonya French as novice DWAG Angel, the second wife of Tel ‘The Bullet’ Murphy, who she stalked for years with love raps in the style of Dizzee Rascal. ‘Darts is an amazingly passionate world,’ says Lauretta. ‘What’s interesting is that unlike WAGs, DWAGs are instrumental in their husbands’ sporting journeys: they’re managers, PAs, drivers, lovers and beer monitors all rolled into one. The comedy lies in the battle of their egos.’ With acting credits including Skins, Shaun of the Dead and Green Wing plus four Fringe shows as Gavin & Gavin behind them, the duo is stepping into new territory with Darts Wives. Their research took them a year, including hanging out at matches and meeting famous players and their wives, and the process of improvising the characters lasted another few months. ‘Our biggest test was when we invited some famous players to
come and see it,’ says Lauretta. ‘Thank God we got it right and they weren’t offended. In fact, they said they couldn’t believe the insight we had into their world.’ (David Pollock) ■ Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, 3–26 Aug (not 7, 12), 4.50pm, £10–£11. Previews 31 Jul−2 Aug, £6.
1–8 Aug 2013 THE LIST FESTIVAL 51