list.co.uk/festival Previews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
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ANDREW MAXWELL The Irish comic dips a toe into Scotland’s future FOIL, ARMS & HOG Daft sketches and a nifty set of characters
JASON COOK Geordie jester unafraid of the sad side
The comic with arguably the Fringe’s ‘most quintessential Edinburgh name’ is grasping the thistle of Scottish independence, with his show title, Hubble Bubble – a misquote from Shakespeare’s Scots play – adding ‘an extra layer of bullshit’ that Andrew Maxwell relishes. In his 20th festival, he’s allowing all the local characters he’s introduced in recent years to ‘do the talking’, such as Leith Junkie, Scottish Jesus, Gay Keith and the Warrior, ‘who used to do a lot of leaping off the high board at the Commonwealth Pool and now collects shopping trollies’.
The London-based Irishman brings an interesting perspective. His great-grandfather left Edinburgh’s Cowgate slums with James Connolly to promote socialist revolution, but while the latter was executed for leading Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising, his Christian socialist friend rejected ‘blood sacrifice’. ‘When you unnecessarily put another arbitrary line
in the sand of human beings, either side of the line ends up being ruled by the worst cunts,’ he ventures. ‘That’s what happened in Ireland. Nationalism is folly, it always ends in violence. There’s clearly only one type of humans on Earth: that’s humans. Borders and flags are just false nonsense.’ (Jay Richardson) ■ Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, 1–12 Aug, 10.20pm, £15 (£13).
‘The group stuff’s so much better now, that it’s hard to go back to the other, lesser reaction,’ laughs Sean ‘Hog’ Flanagan as he dismisses a return to performing solo stand-up. A Dublin-based trio who met at their university drama club, Foil, Arms & Hog (completed by Sean ‘Foil’ Finegan and Conor ‘Arms’ McKenna) have been garnering acclaim as a sketch troupe with some smartly funny, slick skits.
Since forming, they’ve done some TV and radio
writing, unleashed a prolific output on YouTube and have appeared at the last five Edinburgh Fringes. This year’s show, Loch’d, promises more daftness. ‘We’ve got a sketch about an Irish intervention to a son who doesn’t drink,’ smiles McKenna. ‘And a Christian rock group called God Vibrations
with a new member who’s just a little more extreme,’ notes Finegan. ‘And we’ve got our paper bag sketch: you put them on your head,’ relates Flanagan, before McKenna chips back in: ‘and flip them around to tell three different stories with nine separate characters.’
‘They make you look like a medieval soldier, or like a bandit and also like a horse,’ adds Flanagan. Sounds nifty. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Underbelly, Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, 2–24 Aug, 10pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). Previews 31 Jul & 1 Aug, £7.
Between building a reputation on the live circuit and writing the BBC Two sitcom Hebburn, Jason Cook has become known for Fringe shows that not only deliver the laughs, but also a dose of heart. In previous years he has tackled such tragic topics as his father’s death and his own brush with mortality, garnering him high-star reviews.
This year’s hour, Broken, he tells us, is devoted to life’s relentless onslaught, and the difficulties of reconciling the good and the bad: ‘I’m sort of looking at how all the things that are happening to me at the minute, while wonderful, also have a negative effect and how I’m desperately trying to cope.’ He locates his success in a willingness to put his personal experiences on the line in order to make a real connection with the audience. ‘I just like telling stories,’ he says, ‘and the Fringe is the one place you can do that really honestly. I’ve never had to fake it so far.’ Lest the darkness overwhelm, the genial Geordie refuses to wallow in the pathos of his subject matter, instead tempering the sadness, he assures us, with ‘jokes: lots of jokes’. (Suzanne Black) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 2–24 Aug (not 4, 11, 18), 5.40pm, £8.50–£11.50 (£7–£10). Previews 30 Jul–1 Aug, £6.
KATHERINE RYAN Canadian comic on the choices we make
Katherine Ryan has come a long way since making her Fringe debut in 2011. Having made a name for herself with 20-minute sets packed with song parodies and frank material about her own life and the celebrity landscape she viewed all around her, Ryan wondered how she would fill a full hour. She plumped for more tunes and even a guest appearance from her mum. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that critical opinion was divided. ‘Some of us maybe do our first Fringe hour too soon,’ recalls
Ryan. ‘At that stage of my career I just didn’t have an hour, so I thought “I know what I’ll do, I’ll sing some crazy songs”. A lot of comedians really liked that show but no one else did: “you’re so brave!” No, I was just mental.’ Now though, the London-based Canadian comic is far more at ease with what is required for a successful Fringe, and her new show, Glam Role Model, will tackle some harder hitting themes, albeit on the same broad territory of fame and female identity. ‘Back home we didn’t have glamour models; we had porno
magazines and then we had mainstream actresses and presenters. Here, that line is so blurred and glamour models are put in such positions where they are sold as personalities but their entire personality is just about getting naked or being drunk in the Big Brother house. I was a product of the society that said women are for decoration and I do think girls should be able to do whatever they want. Yet, across the world there are girls who just can’t; some can’t even go to school in Nigeria without being abducted. Here, you actually have a choice to put your tits away. And, well, maybe you should.’ (Brian Donaldson) ■ The Stand V, 558 7272, 1–10 Aug, 6.45pm, £10 (£8). Preview 31 Jul, £6 (£5).
31 Jul–7 Aug 2014 THE LIST FESTIVAL 45