list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
AISLING BEA Strong debut showcasing many talents ●●●●● LEE CAMP Packing too much into a polemical hour ●●●●●
GLENN WOOL Comedy troubadour hits pay dirt ●●●●●
The blurb on Aisling Bea’s Fringe entry states it’s her ‘highly anticipated debut stand-up show’: a big claim, but C’est La Bea certainly lives up to the hype. She won So You Think You’re Funny? last August and yet again delivers an absolutely solid hour of brilliant material; in fact it’s probably more than an hour given the rate at which she talks. Bea’s chatter covers growing up in very rural Ireland with a jockey mother, the delights that were to be had at their local disco and her enduring love of hip hop. Just in case we’re getting bored, the stand-up segments are punctuated with a showcase of her ‘talents’.
Not that there’s any chance of boredom in this show, as there isn’t a gag that goes by without a laugh. Bea crafts a wonderful turn of phrase and teams them with some fantastic analogies. In addition, there’s a musicality to her voice (not simply from the Irish accent) that adds to the gag: like Sarah Millican and Ross Noble, she possesses a natural rhythm. Surely a dead cert for the newcomer list this year? (Marissa Burgess) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 26 Aug, 6.30pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).
Like a mate down the pub with a beer in his belly and a bee in his bonnet, Lee Camp presents a passionate but messy diatribe against the ills of the world. Gradually building from petty concerns (allergies, pets), it’s not long before he’s tucking into bankers and politicians, and his scattershot polemic leaves few subjects unscathed. Although he’s a fiery performer, his targets are all too obvious and he struggles to say anything new. He also seems unsure of much of his material; every so often, just as he’s building to a crescendo, Camp deflates the atmosphere by reaching for his scruffy notebook containing a list of tepid one-liners. He claims to have this as back-up in case his material falls flat, but it’s a pointless distraction, both for the audience and himself, and needlessly dilutes what little momentum he’s built.
Towards the end of a long hour, it feels like the
room’s energy has long since dissipated. Camp is a confident performer with some nice ideas but by trying to confront every issue on the planet he fails to make any profound connections. (Murray Robertson) ■ Just the Tonic at Bristo Square, 556 5375, until 25 Aug, 6.50pm, £10–£12.
By Glenn Wool’s own admission, This Road Has Tolls doesn’t mean anything; there is no theme or unifying sentence or idea linking the jokes and anecdotes. Does this matter? Well, simply, no. If you go and see ‘GW’ (as he often refers to himself), it is not for enlightenment but to be entertained – and he does this consummately. The show starts slowly, his topical intro covering
Thatcher and the royal baby feeling forced and unnatural, but once he gets into his stride there is no stopping him as he moves through subjects as diverse as equine emancipation and the story of his worst ever flight. All of this is delivered with a combination of eye-bulging fervour, righteous indignation and offset with the right amount of knowing self-deprecation. Wool is a seasoned performer and if at times
he seems to be working within himself, it doesn’t distract the audience. With a litany of Asian puns and even an explanation as to who has caused all of the world’s problems, this is a show you should pay the toll to see. (Gordon Eldrett) ■ Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 26 Aug (not 19), 9.50pm, £12.50–£14 (£11.50–£12.50).
THE PIN Sketch poster boys lead from the front ●●●●●
Straight off the bat, you can see exactly where The Pin are coming from. A thousand times now, we’ve witnessed a double act which features one half who thinks they know it all but is actually just as much of a buffoon as the other (Bottom, Steptoe and Son, Morecambe and Wise, etc). The Pin start from this familiar basis but send their fractured relationship off into wildly hilarious territory.
Ben Ashenden is ostensibly the clown, casting childlike / sleazy sideways glances at the audience while the seemingly more professional Alexander Owen wants to crack on with the show, mainly to deliver the world premiere of his play The Vicar’s Secret. He believes his work is destined for London’s West End once the inevitable acclaim is heaped on it by critics in Edinburgh. No doubt, there are various scenarios already whipping around your head as to why this plan won’t succeed (chances are one of them will be correct) but there’s abundant fun to be had in following this ill-fated journey.
Word has spread about the pair, who claimed the inaugural Sketchfest title in May, and the venue is packed for their ever- inventive skits in which Ed Miliband tries not to make a fool of himself when meeting Barack Obama (he fails, horribly), an overly PC headmaster tries to impress a school inspector and Frank ‘Franky Lamps’ Lampard inadvisably improvises his lines during an ad shoot. All the while, they want the nation to be chanting their catchphrase (‘that’s a real Pin moment’).
Whether the sketch show genre really is on the resurgence is a matter for debate. But if they’re looking for poster boys to lead the revolution, The Pin look to be set for the job. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 25 Aug (not 19), 6.15pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).
15–26 Aug 2013 THE LIST FESTIVAL 41