list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
P H O T O :
B E N C A R P E N T E R
CANDY GIGI: IF I HAD A RICH MAN Charismatic show not for the faint of heart ●●●●●
BEASTS PRESENT MR EDINBURGH 2016 Unsubtle mucking-about to little effect ●●●●● EVER MAINARD Chicago-trained comic brings a warm charm to her trashy story ●●●●●
As a former winner of the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality, Candy Gigi knows exactly what’s required to deliver an unexpected, absurd and yet wildly entertaining show. If I Had a Rich Man follows Candy’s quest for love and her Jewish mother’s approval, taking attendees on a bizarre journey from Keith to Benjamin and finally, Mohammed, all played by unassuming members of the audience. The piece is nonsensical throughout, with Candy
regularly pulling up participants to enact scenes from tales of past lovers and read lines which include amusingly excessive references to her beauty and ‘brilliant comedy’. Indeed, the audience becomes an essential element of her act, with much of the hilarity coming from her various demands of the crowd, from playing vegetables as musical instruments to donning chicken outfits, Tina Turner wigs and a nude bodysuit with saggy breasts. With crude and self-deprecating songs set to the music of Fiddler on the Roof, this is not for the faint- hearted or easily offended. But Candy manages to add a strangely appealing charisma to her grotesque persona, living up to the label of ‘everyone’s favourite Yiddish girl’. (Arusa Qureshi) ■ Heroes at the Hive, 226 0000, until 28 Aug (not 16, 23), 1pm, £5 (£4) or Pay What You Want.
What is it about Tom Parry and naked arses? After sending out a publicity photo for the Pappy’s man’s debut solo show last August which contained images of him hanging out at the back, his direction of BEASTS’ latest sketch tomfoolery continues the trend. Ciarán Dowd, the trio’s tall and ungainly Irish member, wears a gym outfit which can best be described as ‘revealing’. Like Bill Murray, Amy Sedaris and Tina Fey before her, Ever Mainard cut her comedy teeth at Chicago’s Second City before moving to LA. Her recap on life so far is delivered with a warm, infectious twitchiness, from gigging at line dancing bars in her native Texas and being clumsily outed by the local newspaper to a failed engagement and ‘energy healing’ sessions with crystals in downtown LA.
What’s also becoming abundantly clear is that Whether driving a pick-up truck with an inbuilt gun
BEASTS are less than vaguely interested in putting on a show that allows even the slightest trace of subtlety to exist. In health and safety-threatening scenes, they clamber over each other, pile across the front rows and chuck squished tomatoes into the crowd and across the stage. It’s all harmless(ish) fun really, but the show’s set-
up of this threesome competing for the crown of Mr Edinburgh is relentless in its pursuit of daftness, not shy in telegraphing most of its moves, and ultimately just a bit tedious. Watching BEASTS and knowing that Parry is involved only makes you yearn for the occasional spot of clever thinking that went into the Pappy’s stage work. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 13), 7pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).
rack as a teenager, or dodging her own Pinterest- styled wedding, she treads a good line between tomboy hillbilly and sweetly gauche storyteller. Her laddier moments seem too performed in places, but it’s also like watching her hone a heartbroken swagger up on stage, finding her feminist feet among body shame anecdotes, while swaying between dread and admiration for all things macho. It’s easy to imagine her opening for Maria Bamford (she already has) and her failed audition for a Rib Crib fast food advert is inspired. Ever Mainard’s authentic, home-cooked character is full of contradiction and charm, and her wise, white-trashy voice is a welcome one. (Claire Sawers) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 28 Aug (not 15), 6.15pm, £10–£12.50 (£9–£11).
CHRIS GETHARD: CAREER SUICIDE Bold Fringe debut which is equally hilarious and horrifying ●●●●●
The recent rise in performers at the Fringe discussing mental illness is a sign of our willingness to finally address a subject that has long been hidden away in the drawer marked ‘last taboos’. But there can be few comedy shows which have quite nailed the minutiae of despair and the bottomless black holes which those affected find themselves in than Chris Gethard’s Career Suicide.
This New Jersey-born comic has been a rising star on the US comedy scene for some time now, having appeared in the likes of Broad City and Parks and Recreation while his own off-kilter cable talk show has enhanced his reputation. None of the plaudits which those projects have brought him really make a dent though when thoughts of self-destruction have accompanied him throughout his life.
Sure, his pills have helped when he realised that self-
medicating via alcohol wasn’t the best idea and he has long used the services of Barb, a therapist he clearly loves but who he admits has no concept of professional boundaries and might not actually be very good at her job.
All of which sounds a little too miserable for a comedy show but Gethard has managed to find the truly hilarious in his life story. The tale of him more or less attempting suicide in a suburban road accident features an angry trucker wearing inappropriate denim shorts while a gaggle of Carmela Sopranos rush to the scene only for Gethard to be morally compromised by his guardian angel. Aided by the lyrics of Morrissey through his darkest times, it’s unlikely that full-blown praise from critics will do much to ease his pain. But acclaim is certainly the least Gethard deserves for psychologically digging out a movingly funny debut hour. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 15), 10pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).
11–18 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 51