Festival Comedy list.co.uk/festival
Telephone Booking Fringe 0131 226 0000 International Festival 0131 473 2000 Book Festival 0845 373 5888 Art Festival 07500 461 332 SIMON AMSTELL How to Do Nothing in a very funny way ●●●●●
Hypochondria, bulimia, dyslexia, paranoia; as stand-up material goes, it doesn’t exactly smack of a fun night out. Yet, in the hands of curly-topped Simon Amstell, neuroses and human failings are spun into a warm, intelligent and engaging hour of laughs, mostly at his own expense. Although his brand of weird, sarcastic humour as a presenter on Channel 4’s Popworld, or his biting digs on Never Mind the Buzzcocks normally expertly pointed the finger of fun at others, in Do Nothing he is much more interested in revealing the cracks in his own personality, then crawling inside them to find a few leftfield insights.
His ‘inauthentic sycophant’ of a grandma, and his taste for vulnerable ‘ill-thin’ boys are also covered, as he sifts through family life, dating and loneliness. For someone claiming to be wracked with anxiety and house- party phobia, Amstell is certainly not a clumsy performer on stage. Although a couple of accidental slip-ups in his set seemed to have been suspiciously well-polished, he pulls off the role of a charming ‘genius recluse’ like a very quietly confident natural. A likeable loser, with a heart-winning routine. (Claire Sawers) ■ The Bongo Club, 557 2827, until 30 Aug, 8.40pm, £14–£15 (£12–£13).
HELEN KEEN Underwhelming guide to Arctic survival ●●●●● It’s not often that a bibliography of research material is handed out to a comedy audience, but this is all part of Helen Keen’s thoughtful show. Keen wants to verify the historic aspects of
her Arctic routine, but she has been a little too enthusiastic. The hour’s journey to the North Pole, in which she discusses the hardships of survival with added decoration of props, is so light in jokes it comes across as a well-meaning children’s show. Keen’s ancestor, Charles Overy
Cobb, travelled to the Arctic in the 19th century in what turned into a treacherous and deadly journey. She is able to recount episodes of the ship’s adventures from the published journal of the on-board doctor, yet the events are told in a factual rather than dramatic manner and Keen’s gentle storytelling style makes even cannibalism sound like a jaunt in the park. The result is a survival guide which falls between funny comedy and interesting history, whilst not fully satisfying either. Asides in literary humour prove a saving grace for Keen, in an otherwise underwhelming show. (Emma Lennox) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 31 Aug, 12.45pm, £9 (£8).
ALEX AND HELEN’S RADIO NOWHERE Silly, surreal and sarcastic fun ●●●●●
Like a sort of sarcastic, deadpan orphan Annie, Helen Cripps and her comedy partner Alex Nash show real potential in this mini-comedy drama about a village radio show. Utterly crap phone-ins and jingles, not to mention visual gags and ‘I Saw You’ notices – which lose the fundamental element of anonymity in a village of only ten people – make for very dire radio, but a clever backdrop for their cast of characters.
Nash does a good job of acting dopey, and is incensed when Cripps points out he is basically ‘chumless’ apart from her. ‘I have a glut of chums. A surfeit, a backlog of chums,’ he protests, totally unconvincingly. The Cambridge Footlights graduates’ humour leans towards the stupid, and sometimes surreal end of the spectrum, with some amusing British observational stuff about Polish
handymen ‘factotums’ and rural, Northern coupledom. A few jokes fall flat, and some of their friendly abuse is hit and miss or dragged out too long, but overall, this is a road that is bound to take the real life Alex and Helen somewhere good. (Claire Sawers) ■ The Caves, 208 0882, until 30 Aug, 3pm, £8.50 (£7.50). NEXT ISSUE OUT WEDNESDAY 9 SEPTEMBER
HANS TEEUWEN Certified genius or just plain certifiable? ●●●●●
For the uninitiated and the unprepared, putting yourself in the hands of Dutch absurdist Hans Teeuwen is a strange, hypnotic and unsettling experience. He strolls onto the stage looking like the clean shaven brother of Nick Cave and launches into the strangest tribute to Michael Jackson you are ever likely to bear witness to; yet this is just easing you into what comes next.
Teeuwen is a ‘cabaretier’, a Dutch tradition whereby the performer is a one man cabaret, as opposed to straightforward stand-up. The show itself is a combination of non-sequiturs, musical interludes, theatre of the grotesque and what appears more like performance art than comedy, all of which is punctuated with random sounds and accompanying facial tics. While it appears ridiculous and unfocused there is no question that there is a fierce intelligence at
work behind it all. He claims his comedy is apolitical and that he doesn’t want to ‘give people a message’ but a section in which he repeats the word ‘jew’ then ‘muslim’ while experimenting with tone and challenging our reaction each time is most definitely social commentary. Teeuwen is no stranger to members of his audience walking out confused and/or disgusted (tonight is no exception) but he readily admits that he’s trying to challenge the concepts and boundaries of what comedy is and this makes for fascinating and sometimes uncomfortable viewing. Highly provocative, the show at times does indeed border on the genius but there is also more than a hint of self-indulgence and gratification going on. Whatever your take, it’s certainly an experience that stays with you – even if not entirely as a positive memory. (Gordon Eldrett) ■ Udderbelly’s Pasture, 0844 545 8252, 26–28 Aug, 11.35pm, £14.50 (£12.50).
70 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 27 Aug–10 Sep 2009