list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
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STUART GOLDSMITH: END OF Priceless musings on a different life ●●●●●
LAUREN PATTISON: PEACHY A joyful hour about life’s curious turns ●●●●● LARRY DEAN: BAMPOT Assortment of the hilarious and the hack ●●●●●
It’s so often the case for comedians that when life takes a turn for the ordinary, there’s only so much inspiration you can glean from going to work and looking after your kids. Despite being recently married and with a second child on the way, those events certainly haven’t removed Stuart Goldsmith’s talent for crafting a gag. Indeed, he derives material from his toddler son, having no friends anymore and stopping at a petrol station for a snack on the way home from a gig. In many other comics’ hands it could seem pedestrian, but Goldsmith is still endlessly inventive.
This hour is truly a comedy masterclass, mining the intriguing within the mundane; there’s a vicious take down of the Little Miss kids’ books while his description of attempting to reach for his second pain au chocolat in the car is priceless: or ‘pathetic’ as his young son might say.
Lauren Pattison admits that she had a job on her hands to replicate last year’s debut success of Lady Muck which featured heartache aplenty. After all, she’s disarmingly happy now (no longer seeking to be dubbed ‘the Taylor Swift of comedy’), the ultimate barrier to creating meaningful art. The Geordie comic singlehandedly dismantles that theory with a follow-up show that is a strong mix about honesty (she strategically saves one story that will put her in a bad light for right at the end), fear (snakes) and love across the class divide.
Having decided that being in a couple was not for her while she continues to shimmy up the comedy ladder, Pattison stumbled into a relationship with a posh lad which has left her spinning. But what could put more of a strain on such a fledgling partnership as one of the pair having to head to the other side of the world for a job?
His analogies too are intelligent and evocative So, a large core of this hour has Pattison telling of
whether it’s passing on life advice back down the line like Shackleton’s team shouting to each other as they cross the Antarctic or a suitable Play-Doh style punishment for sex offenders. Thankfully, Stuart Goldsmith has still got it. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Liquid Room Warehouse, until 26 Aug (not 16), 2.50pm, donations. her adventures in Australia as her stand-up career thrived. While mum might still need some convincing that her daughter can take care of herself out in that big, bad world, the comedy universe is a better place for having Lauren Pattison in it. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug, 7pm, £9–£12 (£8–£11).
There have been many incidences down the years when comedians had to rewrite their Fringe show due to an unforeseen development that made their pre-prepared hour largely redundant. When Larry Dean confides in us about the recent break-up with his Australian boyfriend (his dad doesn’t know about it, so keep mum, OK?), he was relieved to go over his material and realise that the routines worked perfectly well whether he was in a relationship or not.
The 2013 Scottish Comedian of the Year kicks off with the slightly hack observation that a Glaswegian accent sounds innately threatening even when its owner is voicing something perfectly benign. He’s on firmer ground when discussing his own menacing eyes and mimicking his father’s facial quirks, but it’s only when he gets into the story of that recently ended partnership that Bampot truly takes off. Aided and abetted by anecdotal diversions into his own experiences of child therapy and the perils and pitfalls of relieving yourself sexually in a train station toilet, the laughter and bonhomie keep on flowing. And the heartfelt finale will have any Larry Dean sceptics left in the room resolutely on his team. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Assembly Checkpoint, until 26 Aug (not 15), 5pm, £8.
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LOST VOICE GUY: INSPIRATION PORN A passionate cry against preconceptions ●●●●●
Having won this year’s Britain’s Got Talent, comedian Lee Ridley (better known as Lost Voice Guy) is one of the Fringe’s hottest tickets. The comedian has cerebral palsy which has left him unable to speak, and so he presents his show using a pre-written script which he performs using a computer-generated voice through an iPad. He opens Inspiration Porn with a video produced by Channel 4 for their Paralympics coverage before puncturing its inspiring message with a superbly pithy put-down. A rapturous welcome greets Ridley as he takes to the stage for what he inaccurately describes as ‘a man standing still for an hour’. Banish any misconceptions you may have that this is a family- friendly hour: Inspiration Porn is a resolutely adult show littered with judiciously employed profanities and sexual peccadilloes, and Ridley deftly plays on his audience’s fears about what they can and can’t laugh at, to glorious effect. He precisely measures the timing of his delivery, and he’s a compelling presence on stage: gesturing, dancing, and grinning with relish at his best lines.
With all his material delivered in the same, slightly robotic tone, it’s a testament to his impeccable writing that he’s able to engagingly express subtlety and nuance throughout sections of long-form storytelling. There’s pathos, too, in his material, particularly the heartfelt story of a failed romance.
Before a wonderful pre-recorded sketch brings things to a
close, Ridley passionately argues against the UK government’s sanctions against disabled people. He recounts some statistics of the number of people who have died due to Tory policy, and he decries a society that simply ‘sees you as a fire hazard’. As well as being a consummate comedian, Lost Voice Guy has plenty to say. (Murray Robertson) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug, 4pm; 15 Aug, 7.30pm, £9–£12 (£8–£11).
15–27 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 45