about the trials and tribulations of being follicly-chalienged through muSIC. sketches and slide- shows.
Unsurprisingly the audience was composed of mostly men trying to find solace in having baldy nuts. However. the show was painfully slow and not particularly amusing. with a tediously long 70s disco scene that c0uld knock out an insomniac. There are a few fairly good impersonations of Robert De Niro. Billy Connolly and Sean Connery. but they don't lead anywhere. and. much like this show. they prove to be pointless.
(Carolyn Aiken)
I Pleasance. 5:36 6:350. until 26 Aug. 5.45pm. $38—$10 (F7410).
CLUB MOZART WITH RAINER HERSCH
Join club 50 to dead 0.
The indisputably talented Rainer Hersch is quick to pomt Out his physical likeness to DaVid Essex — perhaps this. along With a fanbase gleaned from appearances on Radio 4 and Classic FM. is why his shows are so full of the middle-aged. Nothing wrong With that. but it might be why Hersch feels he can get away With old puns and lazy material that relies on musical gadgets. It also makes it strange that his Subject matter is really quite childish — baSIcally. "music is funny!‘
DeSpite inspired vocal interpretations of Mozart operas. and the fact that he undoubtedly knows his arias from his elbow. Club Mozart's musical stand-up doesn‘t quite gel.
(Jan F Zeschky)
I Assembly Rooms, 226 2428, until 26 Aug. 7.50pm, 16960—57050 (88.50—29.50).
JASON BYRNE
Crash and Byrne .0
Gosh. how original: a comedian who comes on stage. picks on the audience. makes up some cod surreal drawn-out gag involvn’ig the spectators he picks
on and then Winds everything up With a t0uch of role-playing that makes Graham Norton look like a genius.
Why this comedian is so popular is a genuine mystery. His material is incredibly weak. and the expenenceis tantamount to being harassed by a neurotic lrish whinge for a very long hour. One of the very few cases where yOU really do know someone down yOur local who is funnier than the one you have just paid over the odds to see. (Paul Date;
I Pleasance. 556 6550. until 26 Aug, 8pm. 5772.50 (fl 7;.
ANDREW MAXWELL
Irish guy makes smiling COO
Andew Maxwell is a charmer and he knows it. Without Wishing to resort to racial cliches. his knoWing methods. when on point. induce comedy hysteria. And While the punchline might be pretty obVious or sometimes a helluva long time coming. he keeps smiles firmly affixed With a constant stream of l)ello\.'~./ing. sgueaking and ranting. Borne out of the funny in the pubfunny on the stage ethos. Maxwell's material does suffer at the hand of his erratic delivery — one minute he's hilarious. the next tlli()()ll’li0nat)ly serious — blunting the audience into embarrassed silence at points. But his Willingness to wrestle contentious issues (sectarianism. 1 1 September) to the ground and kick a comedy seven bells out of them has to be saluted. (Mark Robertson) I Gilded Balloon, 226 2757, until 26 Aug. 9.30pm, £8-£9 (57—58). AULD REEKIE’S OXTERS Scots history at its worst 0. Who can forget a Scottie Mel Gibson proclaiming 'I luv ewe' to Catherine McCormack in Bi'aveheart? Yep. Scottish history depicted at its best — stupefied (sometimes
unintentionally}, self- effacing and highly
watchable. Let's face it. we Scots are pros at taking — or haVing — the piss taken out of us. We might have lost a battle or two. but we're proud of Our origins.
Which only adds to the resounding disappointment that is Susan Morrison's historical ramblings. Taking us back hundreds of centuries. she warbles on about whores. pickled lords and fishWives. before concocting some marmalade gunk a la Delia Smith. As a compere. Morrison's infectious patter goes down a treat — but this is truly uninspired stuff. (Anna Millarl I The Stand. 5:38 7272. until 26 Aug. 5.40pm. 5‘6 (5.23;.
MEN IN COATS
Silence is far from golden
Most folk who have gone along unwillingly to MiC (reviewers, basically) have admitted that they'd
FOLK THE WORLD
Mellow Kiwi fruitfulness COO
Whoever programmed this delightful New Zealand duo into the graveyard midnight hour deserves to be banished to the deepest darkest recesses of the Gilded Balloon caves until next August. Performing their tongue-in-cheek. cleverly scribed folk parodies. interspersed With Charming. self-effaCing banter. at a time when most people are either too drunk or too tired to appreCiate it. wasn't the best move. Nevertheless. what Folk the World lack in audience interest. they more than compensate for in delivery. Armed With just two gtiitars.
melodic harmonies. oodles of deadpan charisma and an odd mouth organ. they serve up an entertaining collection of ditties and dialogue that are in danger of giving the musty old world of traditional mUSlC a good name. GraCious. iMaureen Ellisl
I Gilded Balloon. 226 275 7. until 26 Aug. 77.45pm, 28.50—89.50 (USO—£8.50).
BACHMAN AND EVANS
Aka Hislop and Davies? .00
This slick English double act perform their show in a special DVD edition stylee. complete with a northern Big Brother sound-a-like providing a running commentary.
feed!
The story concerns a love/hate friendship. The underdog becomes jealous of his successful mate and gains superhero powers via Ribena (or Rib-e—na). The other guy then becomes his evil nemesis and oh, the iapes and tomfoolery commence.
Their performance is immaculate and packed with plenty of witty gags. It isn‘t pish yourself funny. but it's thoroughly entertaining nevertheless. The duo also have a frightening resemblance to Ian Hislop and Alan Davies which will certainly freak you out after a few beers. (Carolyn Aiken) I Pleasance, 556 6550, until 26 Aug, 71.75pm, 88—53 70 (£7—E9).
rather see a mime artist have their innards removed with a spoon and slowly turned on a spit than watch them do their silent thing for a solid hour. OK, I’m paraphrasing. Me, there are few things I like better in life than watching someone fall down a manhole. So, it pains me to say that Men in Coats are far from being the natural heirs to Marceau, Marx or Marchetto. Which is not to say that they’re far from talented. The parka-donning duo have neat visual gags coming out of their comedy ears, but few of them haven’t been seen before or better. When you’ve seen one man’s head with exaggeratedly short limbs doing funny dances once, you’ve seen it a
million times.
After the initial intrigue and amusement, it strikes you that with a bit of practice, a lot of nerve and big enough impediments for the audience to see what’s really going on, you too could produce you very own Men in Coats show. That said, they’ll probably scoop a Perrier.
By far the most tedious part of the show is when the pair take a breather for a cuppa. Hilarious antics with sugar culminates in a prolonged sequence with orange pips being spat out one
by one. By bloody one. Harpo Marx was doing much the same thing with cutlery 60 years ago. It’s come to a not very
pretty pass when this is
considered innovation at
the Fringe. (Brian Donaldson)
I P/(2.'is.’iiice.
5:36 6550. until 26 AUJ. 9.45pm, CQ—E 70
(28—59).
Your mime is up
2222 Augie Sep‘ 2002??“ LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 49 ‘ .u‘ .