willingly to believe she has experimented with all other available options, as she bares her experiences on diverse topics such as S&M, the top five positions in the Karma Sutra – aided by two able volunteers – and the vagaries of sex, good, bad and non- existent. She’s also well-versed in sexual etiquette, applying wordplay to foreplay dos and don’ts, considers old wives’ sex myths and imagines pre- telephone epistolary sex.
Goggin’s tales are titillatingly tangible, and her delivery so warmly engaging, open and conspiratorial, there’s not a whole lot to dislike. Just don’t take your mother. Unless of course your mother is a kinky saucebox who welcomes scenes of hilarious and graphic embarrassment. (Peggy Hughes) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 30 Aug (not 23), 1.30pm, £7–£8 (£6–£7).
NEXT ISSUE OUT WEDNESDAY 18 AUGUST
KEITH FARNAN Facts to gasp at and jokes to die for ●●●●● One thing you can be certain of with Keith Farnan is that he doesn’t just knock up a show on the train to Edinburgh. Actually, it’s unlikely that any of the comics do that, but it’s a phrase that’s been doing the rounds for years. With two well-received Fringe shows about the death penalty
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
and racism behind him, he’s now moving onto the despicable way that women are still treated in so-called civilised societies. With an array of facts (did you know that Rwanda has the largest percentage of women MPs than anywhere else in the world?) and a blizzard of cracking gags, Farnan will make you think hard and laugh even harder.
The tragic news is that this genial Irish juggernaut will be leaving the festival temporarily to be filmed for the next series of that Comedy Roadshow thing with the posh bloke in the suit. See Farnan now while he’s still playing rooms which appear to have ancient diseases dripping down the walls. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Underbelly, 08445 458 252, until 29 Aug, 6.20pm, £9–£10.50 (£6.50–£9.50).
Festival Comedy
Online Booking Fringe www.edfringe.com International Festival www.eif.co.uk Book Festival www.edbookfest.co.uk Art Festival www.edinburghartfestival.org GARY DELANEY The Basil Brush of stand-up ●●●●●
The Ronseal of comedy, Gary Delaney deals in one-liners, so if it’s a machine gun approach to punchlines you’re after, that’s exactly what you’ll get. In an hour of one-liners, however, there’s always the risk that you’re getting quantity over quality and here, some of the weaker jokes water down the overall performance. The gags oscillate between too close to cliché and a slightly more mischievous, resourceful breed. When the humour has a playful, rascally edge, Delaney pops in a Wind in the Willows pun, and shows the audience his handiwork vandalising Wikipedia, but a tendency to rake over generic joke topics in a predictable way outweighs these moments. Although a spot of audience
interaction and technical titillation inject some life into the show and stop it from falling flaccid, the delivery isn’t dynamic and is overwhelmingly unexciting. Delaney used to write jokes for Basil Brush, and there’s the sense that if the posh fox had been telling the gags, this would have been far more exciting. Boom boom! (Rebecca Ross) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 16), 8.30pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7.50–£8.50).
GEMMA GOGGIN Hilarious and graphic sex tales ●●●●● Bridget Jones meets Victoria Coren in the formidably busty and bright-eyed form of Gemma Goggin, a woman in her 30th year seeking desperate and dubious routes to love. After all, there can’t be too many acts self-funding a show to Edinburgh with a view to just getting laid? The audience are led
38 THE LIST 12–19 Aug 2010
KEVIN BRIDGES Rising star effortlessly wins over the home crowd ●●●●●
Kevin Bridges’ rapid rise to superstardom appears to have surprised no one as much as Bridges himself. As he ambles onstage to excited chants of ‘Kevin! Kevin!’ there’s an air of bemusement to the youthful funnyman, as though he can’t quite believe that you can sell out the largest space at the Assembly Rooms off the back of a few successful appearances on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow.
Elements of the crowd treat him with an alarming familiarity. ‘Nice haircut!’ shouts one woman, a compatriot of Bridges from Clydebank. Another audience member buys the comic a pint. ‘Does everyone in here know each other?’ asks Kevin. ‘Have I just been booked for someone’s 40th or something?’ Thankfully, on this evidence, hitting paydirt hasn’t done anything to inflate Bridges’ ego at the expense of his
talent. A large part of his appeal is in giving the impression of talking off-the-cuff, as though putting the world to rights around the pub table. Bemoaning the fact that he’s only 23 and doesn’t have any serious addictions under his belt to use as material, he instead focuses his sardonic observational material on media absurdities, such as the round-the-clock coverage of the Raoul Moat episode (‘they had some great guests on: Paul Gascoigne’) and the career resurrection of Noel Edmonds.
But his most popular material, understandably enough, has a localised flavour, whether discussing the perils of talking to an automated ticket machine in a Glasgow accent, or comparing Spring Break parties in US High School movies to the phenomenon of Glasgow High School ‘empties’ in the Easter holidays. The home crowd goes wild. (Allan Radcliffe) ■ Assembly Rooms, 623 3030, until 30 Aug (not 16), 8.55pm, £14–£16 (£13–£15).