COMEDY listings
COMEDY CLUB REVIEW
Viv & Jill's Comedy Capers
Edinburgh: Gilded Balloon, weekly, Saturdays ‘k at: ‘k
In this new venture, Viv Gee and Jill Peacock plan to bring together different performers from Scotland and beyond every week. Viv and Jill are the comedy comperes, cracking jokes and reading poems between the acts.
The hostesses are funny, have a good rapport and endear themselves quickly to their audience. The poems are a good girlie giggle about men with horrid moustaches and the Spice Girls. Whilst Viv is almost surreal, Jill has an ability to gob lager at strange angles from the corners of her mouth with astounding accuracy.
On Sat 15 November, however. the guest acts were a very mixed bag.
Douglas John MacLean Cairns of Aberdeen opened with an act in which you find yourself singing along to a song about tartan underpants and yelling 'scrotum' at your neighbour, who replies ’gusset' — not such strange behaviour for the Cowgate on a Saturday night.
Ian Kendall followed with skilfully executed magic tricks. Kendall veers uneasily from pompous schoolmasterishness to attempts at being funny. Dutch funnyman Martijn Oosterhuis battled valiantly with cultural and linguistic differences to win the audience over with stories of vomiting while drunk.
The open spot was filled by newcomer Graham Philip. Having rehearsed for hours (it showed) the
MONDAY 1
Glasgow
Eddie Izzard: 'Glorious' Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. 2 Sauchiehall Street. Tickets frotn Centre. Candleriggs. 287 5511. 8pm. £16.50 (£14.50). The cross-dressing master of surreal observational comedy returns to touring after several months swapping nail varnish tips with Uma Thurman and acting tips with Sean Connery. Ralph Fiennes and Black Grape's Sean Ryder during filming of the forthcoming movie version of The ult'wtgors. See Frontlines. page 3.
Clutha Comedy Nights Clutha Vaults. Stockwell Street. The Clutha Comedy
nights have now finished until further notice. Watch this space for arty future developments.
Edinburgh
Stand Up For The Dockers The Tron Ceilidh House. Hunter Square. information: 662 4467. 8—10pm (doors 7.30pm). £5 (£3) admission includes buffet supper. Benefit evening for the long-running Liverpool dockers' catnpaign. with The Stand comedy club lending its support in the form of circuit regulars Susan Morrison. Bill Dewar. Alan McQueen. Angus Cameron. Brian Hennigan and The Stand comedy club‘s resident cotnpere Jane Mackay offering her services as mistress ofceremonies.
RBM Presents
e Rust of
John Shuttleworth
“Totally unmissable”NME
Sunday 7th December at 8pm Queens Hall
Edinburgh
Box Office 0131 668 2019 CC hotline 0131 667 7776
poor wee thing died a death, but that's what open spots are for - keep at it Graham. The evening was rounded off by the talented and energetic Jimmy Mooney from Dundee. He was a real treat, gently mocking Scotland and family life. He knew his audience, and made them laugh.
New acts cutting their teeth is an important and exciting part of the evening, but perhaps shorter slots could be given where quality is uncertain. A little more of Viv and Jill - together and solo -— and more of the improvisations and sketches promised on the flier would pep things up.
Although it's the luck of the draw from a punter's point of view, Viv and Jill are worth the risk. The evening has the potential to become something of an Edinburgh institution. (Stephanie Noblett)
TUESDAY 2
Glasgow
Eddie lzzard: 'Glorious' (ilasgow Royal Concert Hall. 2 Sauchiehall Street. Ticket Centre: 287 5511. 8pm. £16.501L‘l-150). See Mon 1.
Edinburgh
Comedy Network l’leasance Cabaret
‘ Club, ()0 Weasance. Tickets: Ripping
Records. ()1 South Bridge. Edinburgh or on the door on the night. 9.30pm (doors 8pm). £5 (£3). Catch nice-guy comic Adam Bloom away froin the
havoc of the Fringe in this one-off gig ' brought to you by the National Comedy Network.
Dare hostesses: Viv Gee and Jill Peacock
THURSDAY 4 Edinburgh
Christie's Comedy Cellar WJ. Christie & Son. 27—31 West Port. 228 3765. 9.30pm (doors 8.30pm). £4. See Thu 27. Tonight‘s comedy turns include Colin Ramone. James I)onlan and Hugh Reed of the Velvet Underpants. Gordon Brunton comperes.
The Stand Canon‘s Gait. 232 Canongate. Royal Mile. 556 4481. 9—11pm. At least four acts for £4 (£3). ()n tonight's bill: Mancunian stand-up Smug Roberts. man of many faces Neil Shackleton. Geordie Paul Graham. Hamilton hutnourist Craig Mitchell and resident compere Susan Morrison. See review. page 73.
COMEDY CLUB REVIEW New Material Night
Edinburgh: W.l. Christie & Son, Sundays at it as
Ever wondered where jokes come from?
You can’t still believe they arrive fully formed and honed, ready to amuse. The unsavoury truth is that they're born out of desperate late nights and sweaty fumblings in the dark recesses of strange pubs.
Audiences at Christie's have been around a bit. They've played the field and are not averse to a bit of experimentation. They're more than happy to venture out on a Sunday and cram themselves into the aptly named 'Hole' in
search of new sensations.
Regular host Dave Williams must be similarly perverse to return each week to the task of holding the whole enterprise together, with a self-imposed ban on tried and tested material. Some of his own work struggled to survive in the smoky atmosphere and some was tragically stillborn, but he has
energy and genuine wit to spare.
Williams asked the audience to holler anytime they caught an act doing old material and one poor fool did during Jill Peacock’s set. It's not advisable and certainly didn't deter her from reaching for her well~thumbed poetry jotter.
John Flint's short, hit-and-run strategy worked while Stephen Jersey received valuable pointers from the audience as to what they did and didn’t
Greg Fleet: he'll try anything once
find funny.
Of course, that's the point. The venue is cloistered - almost secretive - and the audience supportive. The standing-room-only crowd were drawn by Australian headline act Greg Fleet, who excelled with 40 minutes of mostly new material 'or talking, as I call it'. Fleet was delighted to take the stage as it was the only place in the room you could move two feet without bumping into someone.
Christie’s new material night is a worthwhile trip into the unknown, in an atmosphere where laughs and the occasional whiff of desperation cut through the cigarette fug. You heard it here first. (Rory Ford)
74 THE [181' 21 Nova-4 Dec 1997