list.co.uk/festival Festival Comedy
TOP5 ADDY VAN DER BORGH’S MUMBO JUMBO
COLIN HOULT Monsters to villains in one fell swoop
‘What we have is a cabaret from hell, of lost souls; they’re all there for wicked crimes they’ve done in real life.’ No, it’s not Nick Clegg describing a Cabinet meeting, this is Colin Hoult (formerly of Colin and Fergus) chatting about his follow-up to 2009’s gruesomely successful character adventure, Carnival of Monsters. In the second part of a planned trilogy (which will culminate with ‘heroes’) he tackles villains. ‘They’re telling tales about these dictators and criminals and serial killers. But it’s not irritatingly dark. I hate things that are dark just to be dark, I’ll just throw in some dark things. I don’t even like the word “dark”.’ What Hoult, who in a previous acting life has worked with Liza Minnelli and appeared in a mobile phone advert with David Beckham, does like are creations such as the Beatles’ White album, which crams in ‘loads of mad stuff’. Closer to home, if farther back in time, he recalls his mum making ‘these quite mental advent calendars, which had drawers with something in them. Sometimes it would just be a crap sweet and other times it would be some interesting stuff she’d got from a charity shop. That’s what I like to think the show is: packed with weird things.’
Online Booking Fringe www.edfringe.com International Festival www.eif.co.uk Book Festival www.edbookfest.co.uk Art Festival www.edinburghartfestival.org
(Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug, 4.45pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7–£8). Previews until 6 Aug, £5.
BROAD COMEDY American sketch sextet with high aims
If Broad Comedy could achieve one thing with their work, what would it be? ‘Orgasm. Wait, we’ve done that.’ So says the charmingly cheeky Katie Goodman, an actress/writer/director who, along with her husband, playwright and actor Soren Kisiel, came up with the concept of these six side-splittingly funny women known for their sketch comedy, musical satire, left-wing politics, women’s issues and x-rated japes. ‘Seriously, I think we want to kick the culture’s ass a bit about what women can and cannot say,’ she explains.
This is Broad Comedy’s debut Fringe appearance and Goodman is giddy at the prospect of bringing the show’s ‘high-energy, smart, sexy, silly fun’ to Edinburgh, promising ‘a lot of songs and some rap mostly focusing on women’s issues and the state of the world. We lampoon American politics and cultural shenanigans like the abstinence-only education movement, parenting, and basically do it all in a raunchy-but-smart way. I love quick punches. Get in, say your shit, get out. I think that’s what we do. We have been wanting to come to the festival for about ten years. What the hell has taken us so long?’ (Camilla Pia) ■ Assembly Rooms, 623 3030, 7–29 Aug (not 17), 9.45pm, £12–£14 (£11–£13). Previews 5 & 6 Aug, £5.
‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ is not strictly true, especially in a fight, but there is some truth in it. Words, as we know, can be very powerful, especially when put together in the right order. Here are five words and their more honest and thus mightier definitions . . .
Twin A town or city that looks nothing like another town or city somewhere else in the world. Visitors from one of these towns can be seen walking around their ‘twin’ town with a look of grave disappointment and confusion etched on their faces.
Courtesy A type of call made by a company representative to sell something the receiver of the call neither wants nor needs. However, since all calls should contain a certain amount of courtesy, one wonders what a non-courtesy call is like: ‘Oi knobhead, if you want anything from this company, get off your arse and call us back now!’
Friend A person you are connected with on a networking site such as Facebook, whom you hardly know and may not even have ever met. Although you usually never speak to them in person, you will have occasion to LOL with them, and even LYAO. Footstool A pouf, as in ‘I went round to my gay friend Tony’s house last night and sat on his lovely leather pouf.’
Emergency A word sometimes used in instances where there is little or no emergency in order to give something gravitas, eg Emergency Budget, which is not officially part of the emergency services, as it is not possible to dial 999 and ask for a Chancellor of the Exchequer to be sent to your house. (Interview by Brian Donaldson) ■ The Stand II, 558 7272, 6–29 Aug (not 16), 5.25pm, £8 (£7). Preview 5 Aug, 6.20pm, £7 (£6).
5–12 Aug 2010 THE LIST 43