FESTIVAL COMEDY | Reviews at a Glance Nath Valvo
likeable pair. (Marissa Burgess) Just the Tonic at The Mash House, until 26 Aug (not 14), 2.20pm, £5 or Pay What You Want. JEN WAKEFIELD: GIRL IN DA CORNER ●●●●● Wakefield’s show brings together character comedy and slam poetry over a very slick and accomplished 45 minutes. The premise is that Wakefield is making the shift from a career in teaching to one in broadcasting and performance. For the former, she must decide what label she fits best, and what her USP is. (Craig Angus) Laughing Horse @ The Cellar Monkey, until 27 Aug (not 13, 20), 1.15pm, free.
JOHN ROBERTSON: DOMINANT ●●●●● If you’re looking for an easy way into the weird and wonderful then this show might be just the thing. Robertson is a self-declared oddball: a bondage-loving, musical-theatre aficionado, who dabbles in his own unique take on stand-up comedy. Prepare to be on edge, as he takes many members of the audience to town in an impressively astute and witty manner. (Kenza Marland) The Stand V, until 27 Aug (not 14), 6.15pm, £9 (£8).
JULIETTE BURTON: BUTTERFLY EFFECT ●●●●● There’s a long history of comedy as therapy at the Fringe, and Butterfly Effect follows that tradition with a candid confessional. Burton is a joyful bundle of energy although her enthusiasm is unmatched by the quality of the material. A more disciplined focus on her battles might have made for a more engaging show. (Murray Robertson) Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 27 Aug (not 14), 4.30pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7.50–£8.50). MARK SILCOX: I CAN CURE ●●●●● Silcox presents what he
describes as a two-part lecture focusing first on cough medicine and then on the origins of homosexuality. He further intersperses I Can Cure with erratic diversions on hydrogen, quantum physics and atheism, but there’s no rhyme nor reason to the collapsing structure of what ensues. (Murray Robertson) Ciao Roma, until 28 Aug, 2.10pm, free.
MARNY GODDEN IS ONE TOOTH ●●●●● One Tooth, a punk of indeterminate gender, is questioning their place in the world. Relatively willing volunteers are grabbed from the crowd to help out our unconventional hero and there’s also a bit of good natured corpsing from Godden which only serves to add to the camaraderie in the room. (Marissa Burgess) Heroes @ The Hive, until 27 Aug (not 16), 3.45pm, £5 or Pay What You Want.
MIKE BUBBINS: RETROSEXUAL MALE ●●●●● Even after insisting that he’s not a character comedian, it still takes a few minutes to convince yourself that Welshman Bubbins is not doing all this for an elaborate bet. Dressed head to foot in double paisley, big collars and brown leather jacket, and sporting a killer ‘tache, this Retrosexual Male is the real 70s deal. Once your eyes have got used to the dramatic sight they’re beholding, your ears will be less than impressed with the material he has in store. (Brian Donaldson) Assembly George Square Studios, until 27 Aug, 6.30pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10). NATH VALVO: NOT IN THIS HOUSE ●●●●● This is a thoroughly entertaining take on that most universal of themes, the passing of time and aging. In the hands of Valvo, it feels like a completely fresh topic. Rather than getting overly bogged down in
the existential stuff, he spends a lot of time discussing how his parents are bored of him now he’s grown up, and would sooner be out in the garden or on the town than hang out with their son. (Craig Angus) Assembly George Square Studios, until 27 Aug (not 15), 9pm, £10.50–£12 (£9.50–£11).
PAT CAHILL: THE FISHERMAN ●●●●● In a crowded downstairs room at the Fringe, Cahill is as far away from the calming open waters where he indulges his passion of fishing as it could get. There’s a touch of the Sean Locks about Cahill as he taps into his dafter side to play us his lengthy edited snippets of vocalists such as Dolores O’Riordan and Enrique Iglesias. (Brian Donaldson) Heroes @ Monkey Barrel, until 27 Aug (not 16), 2.50pm, £5 or Pay What You Want. PELICAN: THE CAT MAN CURSE ●●●●● Edinburgh has witnessed some fantastic sketch comedy shows in recent years, and Pelican’s The Cat Man Curse is up there with the best of them. It’s a fast-paced effort that commits to a proper story and is a joy to watch. (Craig Angus) Bedlam Theatre, until 28 Aug (not 16, 23), 8pm, £8 (£6).
PHIL JERROD: SUBMERGED ●●●●● Unashamedly and self- admittedly average, Jerrod flings pot-shots at beauty standards, obesity, Brexit, the divide between baby- boomers and millennials, and those perennial butts of the joke, hipsters. Drawing deep from the well of self- deprecation and peppering his routine with asides about how certain types of comedy are constructed, he also offers a bit more insight than your usual stand- up hour. (Suzanne Black) Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug (not 14), 8.30pm, £7.50–£10 (£6.50–£9).
SEAN PATTON: NUMBER ONE ●●●●● A storytelling wizard with the conspiratorial bonhomie of Glenn Wool, Sean Patton should be top of anyone’s list of go-sees this month with this vivid, lurid and ultimately very moving analysis of love, loss and colossal flatulence. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug (not 14), 8.15pm, £9–£10 (£6.50–£9). SINDHU VEE: IGUANA MUM ●●●●● ‘Iguana mum’ isn’t really an iguana, nor is it the name of a weird parenting attitude like ‘tiger mom’. Instead, Sindhu Vee is a comedian, a wife and a mother. After bemoaning how certain sources of comedy material are inapplicable to her life situation, she follows the old adage of ‘write what you know’, turning the focus to domestic matters. (Suzanne Black) Laughing Horse @ Cabaret Voltaire, until 27 Aug (not 14), 6pm, free.
SUZI RUFFELL: KEEPING IT CLASSY ●●●●● Slick as a massive oil spillage, Ruffell really does keep it classy as she considers her own family,
her journey into the middle-classes and that time she was accidentally dubbed a racist on TV. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug (not 14), 9.45pm, £7.50–£10 (£6.50–£9). TERRY ALDERTON: ALL CRAZY NOW ●●●●● With Alderton unable to make it to his stage on time (he does show up later), we are introduced to Chops Not Ham, a musical duo which, curiously, also goes by the name of Johns. Clad in threadbare rock-band vests, the camp pair (Alderton and Johnny Spurlring) thrust us headfirst into a toxic stew of awful tunes about cornflakes, moustaches and pole- vaulting chickens. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug (not 14), 10.40pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10).
TESSA COATES: PRIMATES ●●●●● In her first solo show, the gags are liberally spread with Coates employing an easy, off-the-cuff style and there are some big laughs in here including a cracking routine about JK Rowling before she was famous. In this promising debut, there are also a couple of imaginative analogies employed too, particularly evolution as presented as the stages of a party. (Marissa Burgess) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug, 3.30pm, £7–£9 (£6–£8). TEZ ILYAS: TEZTIFY ●●●●● There’s no sheepish shuffle onto the stage for Ilyas. Bounding into the space, dishing out the double high- fives and christening his audience ‘Tezpians’, he’s a confident comedian keen to get started. Having recently moved from London back to his home in the North, he has spent more time around both his family, and racism, which drive the narrative of Teztify. (Rowena McIntosh) Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug (not 16), 8.30pm, £10-£12 (£8-£10).
TOM ALLEN: ABSOLUTELY ●●●●● There’s little pretence to Allen. His material is delivered with warmth and in a manner that makes it relatable for everyone in the room. He could have gone bigger for his tenth year at the Fringe, but by using his cheeky eccentricity to simply speak his mind, the hour flies by. (Louise Stoddart) Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug (not 14), 8pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£12).
TOM WARD: LOVE MACHINE ●●●●● Ward’s initial impression as a purveyor of self-pitying gags about his lack of luck in love and difficult childhood belies a more nuanced performance in which he plays around with words, the experience of sex and his love of music in a way that undercuts machismo, lad culture and the drug- fuelled masculinity of 90s Manchester. (Suzanne Black) Just the Tonic at The Tron, until 27 Aug (not 14), 3.40pm, £7 or Pay What You Want. 10–17 Aug 2017 THE LIST FESTIVAL 62