FESTIVAL COMEDY | Reviews
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ADAM RICHES Generous and off-the-cuff brilliance ●●●●●
For anyone with a track record of being in the audience or (heaven help your scarred psyche) up on stage with Adam Riches, entering his Pleasance Dome venue might seem like sleepwalking back into your worst nightmare. Sinister music is playing as three monks, heads bowed, hands clasped, stand idly by while seats are tentatively taken. As it turns out, these silent, brown-clad ushers are as in thrall
to their master as the rest of us underlings, while one of them (Fraser Millward, who this year is also in Mock Tudor) gets a Riches slating during the redneck tattooist sketch. Doing his first full run since winning the Edinburgh Comedy
Award in 2011, Adam Riches kicks off by being Sean Bean, the world’s ‘muddiest actor’ whose less-than-stellar career choices are ripe for slaughter. To many, this might seem a little too close to his Daniel Day-Lewis for comfort, but rather than being thrown across the stage by volunteers, Riches-Bean slits a chair’s throat and invites front-row sado-masochists to play each other’s hair like a lute.
It’s as hysterically silly as it sounds and with mood firmly
set, the daftness simply continues. Later he will be a shy Ryan Gosling as well as the actor’s less chaste mum before we witness a showstopping return to the fray for his alpha male Yakult-guzzling Victor Legit. The script might not always be bang on, but Riches has the
perfect safety net; his riffing with those he’s charmed onto the stage is never less than flawless, while the tasks almost always make him seem more of a berk than the participant. Adam of the Riches is a triumphant return and one that is generous both with its laughs and towards its ad hoc cast. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 24 Aug, 9.45pm, £10–£14 (£8–£12).
MINOR DELAYS A young sketch act that’s getting there ●●●●● IMRAN YUSUF Mature and non-preachy satirical rant ●●●●●
A recent past of endless student revues is evident with the on-stage ease and well-honed timing of former Cambridge Footlighters Harry Michell (last seen in 2013’s breakneck costume-change belter Dressing Down) and Abi Tedder, plus their Leeds Tealights counterpart Joe Barnes.
Their confidence in stripping sketch comedy back to basics – no props, no costumes, not even any looking at each other as they sit or stand, facing forward, in a row – is well-placed, as they have the verbose wit, acting skills and professionalism to carry it off. The only adornment is the presence on stage of a cellist and violinist, whose interludes perk up the briefest of blackouts between each skit; it’s a nice touch, giving Minor Delays a real polished feel.
A very British middle-class brand of social
awkwardness features heavily, along with a darker edge in the shape of several sketches about death. As a very new trio, they perform incredibly well together, and this results in a well-constructed show with no dud sketches. A fine example of its genre and certainly a masterclass in the unexpected twist, but probably not in the very top flight of Fringe sketch comedy. (Laura Ennor) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 25 Aug, 3pm, £8–£10 (£6–£8).
50 THE LIST FESTIVAL 14-25 Aug 2014
Since he was last at the Fringe in 2011 tackling the image of Muslims in the west, Imran Yusuf has shed the shiny suits, moved to a more intimate venue and upped the ante on political and social issues. Born in Africa to Indian parents, Yusuf was raised Muslim and lives in England. Standing firmly in this multicultural background, he takes a left-wing swipe at contemporary racial, religious and cultural tensions with everything from the charity industry’s insidious perpetuation of capitalism to Indian call centres coming under his satirical scrutiny. Managing to be thought-provoking without being preachy and, mindful of not wanting to lecture, he throws in enough personal perspective to balance the ranting. This works especially well when he uses a collective ‘we’ when it calls into question which aspect of his identity he is claiming. In this way, the material works best, and avoids didacticism, when he leaves topics open-ended.
In a well-conceived hour, Yusuf encourages the audience to ‘think and feel guilty’. That he does so without sacrificing the laughs, and by somehow involving Jackie Chan, is testament to him maturing as a performer. (Suzanne Black) ■ Underbelly, Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, until 25 Aug (not 17), 6.50pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).
AN EVENING WITH PATTI DUPONT Fully formed, slightly sinister character act ●●●●●
Anna Emerson’s debut solo show is the bottled essence of the Fringe. Not in the smug-bongo- drummers-tackling-racism-through-mime sense. In the best sense. Her show happens up a stairway, in a makeshift theatre created out of a mid- renovation restaurant. The eponymous 84-year-old Patti DuPont has had to cancel, due to botched cosmetic surgery, so her daughter Linda (chronically nervous, horsey, handsome) bravely steps in as understudy for this story of her mum’s life. DuPont was no stranger to controversy, as
a slideshow and stammered synopsis from Linda attests. ‘Horrifically competitive’, ‘sexually exhausting’ and ‘broadly despised’, Patti fell out with co-stars and triggered protests while working on films including Doglady and When Nuns Go Bad.
Emerson (one third of sketch act the Boom Jennies) delivers a parody of the fawning biopic or celebrity documentary which is wholly on point. Hints at Patti’s sinister, manipulative Mommie Dearest tendencies, and Linda’s own tentative brushes with love add poignancy to this fully formed, 3D character comedy. A class act. (Claire Sawers) ■ St John’s, 226 0000, until 24 Aug, 8.45pm, free.