Comedy Fringe For a Fiver
Ooh, a Fringe in a credit crunch. We’ve selected 50 of the finest shows you can see for the price of a Royal-Mile-in-August pint. Venue booking information is at the end of the listings.
A-Team – The Musical Scratch presents Hannibal, BA and co like you’ve never seen them before. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5 & Thu 6 Aug, 5.30pm, £5. Tom Allen The very neat and pretty Allen talks about the fairer sex in Women! Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 7.30pm, £5.
Will Andrews The former star of Ugly Kid and Will and Greg shows that he’s anything but a Nitwit. Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 6.50pm, £5.
Dan Atkinson Oo-er. Atkinson is facing Death by a Thousand Pricks this summer. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 9.30pm, £5. BBC Comedy Presents The BBC showcase is a late-night selection of some of the finest comedians you may, or may not yet, worship. Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 11pm, £5.
Des Bishop Bishop combines comedy with Emotional Turmoil in his latest show. Assembly, Thu 6 & Fri 7 Aug, 8.45pm, £5. John Bishop The Liverpudlian is coping with life in Elvis Has Left the Building. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 8pm, £5 .
Kevin Bridges Get set for sharp lines and packed routines in An Hour to Sing For Your Soul. Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 8.45pm, £5.
Cardinal Burns Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns, return to the Fringe. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 5.45pm, £5. Daliso Chaponda An African Perspective: Westerners Calm Down! is a delicious hour of Chaponda’s unique perspective. The Lot, Fri 7 Aug, 7pm, £5.
Bridget Christie Totally barking comedy from the former gossip columnist in My Daily Mail Hell. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 6.30pm, £5. Clever Peter A sketch show with pace, which returns after riding high last year. Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 8.10pm, £5.
Comedy Zone The longest-running showcase of the Festival returns with Jen Brister, Ed Gamble, Chris Ramsey and Gareth Richards. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 10.45pm, £5.
Neil Delamere We’re intrigued how long he can draw out this year’s topic in his show Bookmarks. Assembly @ George Street, Thu 6–Fri 7 Aug, 8.50pm, £5. Pippa Evans The character comedian returns to show us more of her weird and wonderful creations in Your Evening’s Entertainment. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, £5.
Mick Ferry This year Ferry makes his Fringe debut with The Comedy Final. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5 & Thu 6 Aug, 10pm, £5.
Ginger and Black The partnership are here to tell you stuff with stories and comedy and songs in The Extraordinary Life and Times of Harold. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 6pm, £5.
Janey Godley See what’s new in Godley’s World this year. Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 7pm, £5. 48 THE LIST 23 Jul–5 Aug 2009
Wil Hodgson
John Gordillo Get an alternative education with the very accomplished Gordillo in F**konomics which covers insights such as ‘Sex. Man. Consequences.’ Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 8.10pm, £5. Matt Green Intelligent comedy from the highly amusing and terribly baby- faced Green with Truth & Pleasure. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 7.15pm, £5.
Richard Herring After the triumph of his last couple of shows The Headmaster’s Son talks about having a Hitler Moustache. Underbelly, Thu 6 & Fri 7 Aug, 8.40pm, £5.
Wil Hodgson He’s an ex-wrestling punk who collects My Little Ponies and is a damn fine comedian. Who better to perform Punk Folk Tales? Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 8.20pm, £5.
Idiots of Ants If you like your comedy fast, furious and all Radio 4, then this could be the show for you. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 8.15pm. Improverts The Bedlam Theatre improvised troupe are here again for comedy tales and skits plucked out of thin air. Bedlam Theatre, Thu 6–Sat 8 Aug, 12.30am.
Miles Jupp Jupp is back with more well-spoken, withering tales in Telling It Like It Might Be. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 8pm, £5. Russell Kane Human Dressage promises more goodies from the chirpy Essex boy. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5- Sat 8 Aug, 9.20pm, £5.
Helen Keen Genuinely refreshing comedy from the off-beat Keen in The Primitive Methodist Guide to Arctic Survival. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 12.45pm, £5.
Tim Key This year Key’s all about The Slutcracker. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5 & Thu 6. 9.50pm, £5. Shappi Khorsandi She’s a book out, she’s on the telly and the world is in love
with her. Yep, you’ll need to book early to get a seat in her new show The Distracted Activist Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 7.40pm, £5. Lady Garden The all-female Hackney Empire New Act Finalists have breathed fresh life into the sketch show format. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 5.20pm, £5.
Lloyd Langford Welsh-boy Langford has written for such chirpy offerings as Never Mind the Buzzcocks but things might get moany with his show Every Day I Have The Blues. An astute performer. Wed 1–Sat 4 Aug, 8.15pm, £5.
Andrew Lawrence Mr Lawrence is known for dark, twisted streets of comedy dimly lit with weird anecdotes and creepy songs, but Soul-Crushing Vicissitudes of Fortune is apparently about luck. How chirpy. Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 9.35pm, £5.
Zoe Lyons Expect no-nonsense comedy littered with tight punchlines in Miss Machismo. Pleasance Courtyard, Thu 2 Aug, 8pm, £5. Rebus McTaggart Only a short run so move fast to catch our favourite police- based Fringe act. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Fri 7 Aug, 7pm, £5.
Sarah Millican Millican’s talking about the sexes in Typical Woman, and she gets a gold star in advance for the fab poster. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 7.30pm, £5.
Patrick Monahan Cheek and charm from Monahan with this year’s show Cowboys and Iranians. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Fri 7 & Sat 8 Aug, 9.15pm, £5.
Justin Moorhouse Moorhouse is this year using his storytelling prowess to tackle seven tales in his show . . . umm . . . Seven. Pleasance Dome, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 9.40pm, £5. David O’Doherty Last year’s winner of The Big Fancy Award returns avec keyboard to warm your soul and make you skip all the way home. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 10.30pm, £5.
www.list.co.uk/theatre
Penny Dreadfuls They always sell out, and little wonder with their unique blend of sketch show/theatre/Victorian mystery that has to be seen to be appreciated. 2009 sees the Dreadfuls perform The Never Man. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 8.30pm, £5. Jarlath Regan Relax in the company of the softly-spoken Regan. Let’s hope Man of Very Little Mystery is another one of his verbal massages. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 8–Sat 8 Aug, 4pm, £5.
Jon Richardson He’s constantly worried, has the stage-persona of a fretful old man and we love him for it. This might be his biggest year yet, with his successful 6 Music Show and growing legion of fans, so rush for This Guy at Night. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8. 8.30pm, £5. Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Two squeaky sock puppets telling jokes and singing songs. This year the theatre Goes to Hollywood. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 10.15pm, £5.
Laura Solon Top-notch character comedy from the star of Radio 4’s Talking and Not Talking, Solon is dispatching a new bunch of creations in Rabbit Faced Story Soup. Assembly@George Street, Thu 6–Sat 8 Aug, 5.05pm, £5.
Andrew Stanley The world of eBay is being tackled by Stanley in On Sale Now, a show inspired by trying to buy a laptop online. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 9.30pm, £5. Tiffany Stevenson Stevenson has shot up the comedy ladder in the few years she’s been performing, and we’re intrigued by her show Along Came a Spider. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5 & Thu 6 Aug, 5.45pm, £5.
Eleanor Tiernan Breathless comedy, addressing the theme of Trouble, with what we can only hope is the same top- notch material and twinkly performances she’s been dishing out so far. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5–Fri 7 Aug, 7pm, £5.
Danielle Ward Dark material but chipper delivery, Ward is a whole bunch of contradictions but, hell, it seems to be working. This year, Danielle Ward Lies, the minx. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 9.45pm, £5. Felicity Ward Felicity Ward’s Ugly As a Child Variety Show went down a storm at Melbourne this year, and we’re very excited to see what all the fuss is about. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wed 5 & Thu 6 Aug, 9.15pm, £5.
Rosie Wilby Funny Women finalist Wilby follows on her scientific theme from last year with geeky props galore in The Science of Sex. Sweet Grassmarket, Thu 6 Aug, 7.30pm, £5. Tom Wrigglesworth This charming comedian discusses restoring train karma with his Open Return Letter to Richard Branson. Pleasance Courtyard, Wed 5–Sat 8 Aug, 7pm, £5.
BOOKING INFORMATION
www.edfringe.com Assembly 0131 623 3030.
Gilded Balloon Teviot 0131 622 6552.
The Lot 0131 225 9922. Pleasance 0131 556 6550.
Sweet Grassmarket 0870 241 0136. Underbelly 08445 458 252.