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For full length versions of these reviews see list.co.uk/festival Abigoliah Schamaun: Post-Coital Confessions ●●●●● The show title implies X-rated tales of Schamaun’s sexploits delivered with a wink and a nudge. But the confessions she’s referring to are the non-sequiturs, revelations and truth-bombs that are blurted while languishing in a post-orgasmic afterglow. Though some of what she presents as shocking is anything but, it’s Schamaun’s warmth and sincerity about the topic that allows her to cross the finish line victorious, taking the audience along for a thoroughly enjoyable ride. (Suzanne Black) Gilded Balloon, 622 6552, until 31 Aug (not 19), 5.15pm, £8.50–£10 (£7.50–£8.50). Angela Barnes: Come As You Are ●●●●● The self-deprecating Barnes discusses her perception of herself with her appearance casting a long shadow (to massively understate the case), leading her battling to find an identity ‘and what I meant to the world’. At times an unexpectedly sad look at struggling for self-acceptance, it’s also a lesson that proves to be deeper and more rewarding than expected. (Emma Newlands) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 17), 8.15pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10). Bafflesmash ●●●●● These Bafflesmash guys are current Footlights members and a decent education shows through the sketches with plenty of literary references to derive gags from such as the Trojan horse of Greek mythology to Dickens and his ‘Tale of Two Urban Settlements’. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of popular culture too including a wonderfully silly Wallace and Gromit theme and skits are sharply written and honed with attention to detail and actual punchlines. (Marissa Burgess) Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 477 7007, until 30 Aug (not 17), 9.15pm, free.
In Cahoots: Two White Guys
BEASTS: Live DVD ●●●●● Gay pirates, disgruntled ducks, and too many baguettes to count. BEASTS are on a mission to make a DVD of their live show in a bid to impress movie makers across the pond. But there’s confusion between Moby Dick and Free Willy, and a pitch for a new show (Naked Chef ) that doesn’t quite make it off the ground but certainly lets the audience see more than they bargained for. (Jen Bowden) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 31 Aug (not 18), 4.45pm, £7.50–£10 (£6.50–£9). Charmian Hughes: When Comedy Was Alternative (The Laughs and Loves of a She-Comic) ●●●●● Having been brought up in what she describes as a right-wing, middle-class family, Hughes always felt like an outsider. As a result, she rebelled and immersed herself in an adoptive fraternity of alternative comedians. Hughes is an endearingly scatty performer whose stories have a habit of wandering in search of punchlines that never come, but she has some delightful one-liners up her sleeve. (Murray Robertson) Banshee Labyrinth, 226 0000, until 30 Aug (not 17), 3.10pm, free. Chris Stokes: Altruism in Birds ●●●●● An introspective and thoughtful comedian who looks about 12 but has wisdom far beyond his years, Stokes has been divorced, suffered a mental breakdown and is a strict vegan. He retells his more traumatic anecdotes in a conversational style that really puts everyone at ease. His self-effacing insight and emotional candour make for an authentic connection that is so welcoming it softens the audience up for some fantastic, well thought-out jokes. (Graeme Connolly) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 10.45pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£6.50–£8.50). Corey White: The Cane Toad Effect ●●●●● Having grown up in care while his heroin addict mother spent time in jail, White has some rather unique material. White warns us that it will get
Reviews at a Glance | FESTIVAL COMEDY
even darker and it certainly does. As he moves onto a recent break-up, the show feels more like a therapy session. White’s total honesty and resilience to adversity is admirable but there’s tension in the room. (Rowena McIntosh) Assembly Hall, 623 3030, until 30 Aug (not 17), 8.20pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9). Damien Slash: Übermen ●●●●● Proving that multi-character comedy is not an easy form to get right, Slash handpicks a set of creation that are wilfully obscure rather than especially amusing. There’s a motivational speaker who gets everything wrong and an online war-games leader with terrible social skills; even the decent ideas (such as the arch critic of mineral water) fall flat from overstaying their welcome. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 17), 5.45pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£6.50–£8.50). David Callaghan: No Momentum ●●●●● Callaghan can leave Edinburgh saying he sold out his venue. Which is true, but given that his room was slightly bigger than a kids TV broom cupboard, it’s not a huge claim. But with a bit of luck and sharper editing (the finale goes on a bit), he should go places with his affable wit and occasionally borderline gags. (Brian Donaldson) Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 622 6801, until 30 Aug (not 24), 11.15am, free. Dead Funny ●●●●● Harry Garrison has been treading the Scottish circuit for a while now and has gathered the experience to handle some salty Saturday night audience members: he just blanks them, pretty much. Instead of indulging in banter, Garrison ploughs on with his jet-black comedy songs featuring abduction, paedophilia, age intolerance, abduction, rape, public defecation and, well, abduction. Deliciously dark stuff. (Brian Donaldson) Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 07768 048 165, until 30 Aug (not 17 & 18, 24 & 25), 10.25pm, free. Diane Spencer: Power Tool ●●●●● Spencer has a pretty excellent anecdote about the time she sold her soul to pay for radiators in her newly bought flat by penning a one-woman play for Nancy Dell’Olio. But out of that disastrous flop, the comic has found a quality show of her own with Spencer’s impersonations of the PVC-loving lawyer and Sven Göran- Eriksson particularly good, especially when she adds them to ridiculous glove puppets for the show’s climax. (Claire Sawers) Gilded Balloon, 622 6552, until 31 Aug (not 12), 6.45pm, £9–£9.50 (£8–£8.50). Felicity Ward: What If There Is No Toilet? ●●●●● This show is not just a knockabout hour of lavatorial humour, as her own convenience-related issues (chronic IBS) are a symptom of wider mental health issues. If it all sounds rather heavy, well, that’s because some of it is, but the state of boundless perkiness which Ward can switch on in front of a crowd means that the horror is often undercut with silliness. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 31 Aug (not 17), 9pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11). Previews until 7 Aug, £6. Foolball ●●●●● You don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy Foolball, a one-man show that charts the rise and fall of the fictional Redstar Belgravia. Rapid costume changes take place before the crowd’s eyes and watching a grown man struggle to get into a pair of trousers is always guaranteed a chuckle. But the boundless enthusiasm is let down by a serious repetition of jokes. (Graeme Connolly) Underbelly, 0844 545 8252, until 31 Aug (not 19), 1.40pm, £8–£9 (£7–£8). Get Ready! Get Set! Ahh F*%k It ●●●●● There’s a certain irony in the fact that Angus Brown came all the way from Australia to do a show about how he never gets round to doing anything. His routine explores why he has very little follow-through but a lot of big ideas. Luckily, Brown had the brainwave, got ready, got set and decided not to fuck
it, with the result being a solid hour of stand-up. (Rebecca Monks) C south, 0845 260 1234, until 31 Aug, 10.15pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£5.50–£7.50). Goose: Kablamo ●●●●● Adam Drake’s not joking when he describes his show as ‘a sweaty one-man cartoon’. The perspiration flies off him like some kind of crazed garden sprinkler as he spins and spasms through this hyper caper of James Bond parody and machine-gun fire puns. Clearly it’s just too manic for some baffled faces in the crowd, his student- friendly material goes down well with the rest. (Claire Sawers) Assembly George Square Theatre, 623 3030, until 30 Aug, 3.20pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9). Howard Read: Man (Work in Progress) ●●●●● ‘Is it possible to be a man without being a dick?’ ponders Read. He’s a self-described ‘work in progress’, a man navigating his way through fatherhood, marriage, monogamy and, here, a front row of boozy Scottish grannies. His observations about the differences between men and women won’t be anything the Fringe hasn’t heard before, but his ever-warm, dark yet at-ease manner helps him carry it off. (Claire Sawers) Banshee Labyrinth, 226 0000, until 22 Aug, 4.20pm, free. In Cahoots: Two White Guys ●●●●● It’s rare these days to see a sketch show that’s just a bunch of broken bits of comedy thrown together simply for the hell of making people laugh. It’s heartening to report that In Cahoots have managed to dream up a show (Two White Guys: 50% accuracy there) with mounds of innovation and originality, tailed by a finale which is extremely clever without sticking its high intelligence too firmly in our faces. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 31 Aug, 7.15pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50). Jeff Green: Happiness ●●●●● Back from his adopted Australia to mark the Gilded Balloon’s anniversary, Green has much nostalgia to wallow in as well as reflecting on the fact that he’s no longer a young man. But where does he (or anyone else) find happiness these days? A consummate comic who still has an eye for a silly situation and a strong punchline. (Brian Donaldson) Gilded Balloon, 622 6552, until 16 Aug, 8.45pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10). Jo Coffey: Curiously Caffeinated ●●●●● Deciding not to do the whole show as herself, instead the 4ft something Coffey brings on a range of other, ‘small special guests’. Punctuating the stand-up with a range of off-the-wall characters proves a good way of breaking up the material in this debut. The stand-out section is a running gag featuring a European tribute to Amy Winehouse with a dog in a wig. (Marissa Burgess) Ciao Roma, 557 3777, until 31 Aug (not 18), 1pm, free. Joel Dommett: Conquer ●●●●● Dommett’s Counting House space is standing-room only and he’s pretty relaxed about the whole affair, already onstage and bopping to music as the would-be audience members fight over seats. Dommett sets up the premise – his new attitude and how it has led to love – before embarking on a series of digressions with a sad bit, a musical bit and some visual aids that somehow all converge in an epiphany-laden finale. (Suzanne Black) Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 667 7533, until 29 Aug (not 28), 9pm, free. John-Luke Roberts: Stdad-up ●●●●● According to John-Luke Roberts when a comedian’s father dies, they have to do a show about it. In an elaborate physical routine, he dresses as his dad but after this the show starts to falter and he loses the well-crafted atmosphere of expectation. Some of his by-now trademark insults he delivers from cards are deliciously cutting. There’s some excellent lines and strong delivery but the later parts feel as though they’re still being devised. (Rowena McIntosh) Voodoo Rooms, 226 0000, until 30 Aug, 6.55pm, free. 13–20 Aug 2015 THE LIST FESTIVAL 55