FESTIVAL COMEDY REVIEWS
JO CAULFIELD An accessible but overly safe let-down ●●●●● Perhaps it is with a more mature audience in mind – a glance around the room suggests this may not be far off the mark – but there’s something very traditional about Edinburgh resident and Fringe veteran Jo Caulfield’s style of comedy. Returning once more, this time with Thinking Bad Thoughts, Caulfield is able to talk marriage, careers and dating through sepia-tinted specs whilst ensuring that the show remains accessible to all. Stylistically, her onstage persona is fairly reserved and brimming with semi-playful jibes towards indi- viduals she has encountered in recent times with Aberdonians, the checkout girl at her local Morrisons and er, men, all being targeted. Surprisingly for a stand-up performer with such a wealth of experience, the delivery of the show is at times something of a let-down as Caulfield struggles to get to grips with her routines. Minor errors aside however, the biting delivery of such fittingly cynical content presents the ideal opportunity to see the world through Caulfield’s eyes. (Jamie Cameron) ■ The Stand, 558 7272, until 26 Aug, 8.15pm, £10 (£9).
NISH KUMAR An astute and positive debut ●●●●●
Nish Kumar has been kicking around the Fringe for a few years on various projects (most notably alongside Tom Neenan in Gentlemen of Leisure), but this superb hour marks an astute solo debut. Biding time before launching himself as an Edinburgh stand-up has clearly paid off as he appears to have every trick in the book at his disposal. His delivery and manner are highly confident but he stirs in just the right amount of vulnerability to make his tales of insecurity, naivety and failure feel wholly credible. It seems every second male comic has their ‘dad story’ to impart these days, but very few will
be delivered with such glorious abandon as this, as Kumar notes the bond that he shares with his father, a close relationship that has been sorely tested by the odd inappropriate choice for their regular trip to the cinema. But at its core, this is another show about identity as the Croydon comic unapologetically hands us a ‘left-leaning Guardian’ polemic in which racists are continually put to the sword while he amusingly notes the various nationalities which people have mistaken him to be. But there’s more to Kumar than political grandstanding as he muses on why men of violence tend to be drawn towards him, why he is still obsessed with Buffy and the bizarre incident which forged his ambition to be a cop’s wise-cracking sidekick. His love of words and their malleability is infec- tious and he receives laughter each time he adds ‘man’ to an adjective in order to create a daft new noun. And the positivity expressed in the room when he tells us the puns on his name which he could have wielded for his debut show name suggests that his follow-up title might just have been coined this August. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Underbelly, Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, until 27 Aug, 8.20pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9).
BEARD Promising debut from ‘young upstarts’ ●●●●●
Cambridge just keeps on churning the comedy tal- ent out. Rosa Robson is a Pembroke Player (former participants include messrs Idle, Oddie and Cook) while Matilda Wnek is a Footlights ‘general mem- ber’. Together they are Beard, a fuzzy, comforting, occasionally scratchy duo who are adept actors with a happy knack for avoiding the kind of clichéd set- ups that many of their contemporaries on the Fringe are prone to. With little in the way of props and nothing in the
way of costumes to fling on in-between scenes, they merely rely on strong writing and a comic physicality which both wield to excellent effect. The opening scene of a wander up some baronial stairs glancing at a series of painfully posh family portraits (Robson pulls some extraordinary faces here) is inspired as is the end routine which takes place in opposite flats as a robbery unfolds: here, Wnek pulls off the best grandfather clock impersonation you’ll ever see. And if there’s a better dubbed Spanish soap opera scene this August, get me there now. A very prom- ising start. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Assembly Hall, 623 3030, until 27 Aug, 4pm, £8–£10 (£7–£9).
MAGNUS BETNER Always look on the bleak side of life ●●●●●
In one shaven-headed, tattooed man appears to be encapsulated the downbeat, morose nature of the Scandic peoples. Letting us know that everything he says on stage is absolutely true, who couldn’t feel worried about his suicidal thoughts? But it’s OK, he wouldn’t put his young daughter through the pain of losing her father that way, he’ll probably wait til she’s in her early 20s before ‘checking out’.
It might not sound the most obvious framework for a storming comedy set, but without these dark musings, Magnus Betnér would most likely be a very different, and less powerful, comic. Much of his material veers towards the blacker side of life, and the news stories which touch on tragedy and terror are the main source for his work. He really has no time for Julian Assange, suicide bombers, the Batman killer and Michael McIntyre, but has words of praise for the zoo animals who have recently been fighting back: such as the gorilla in Prague and the tiger in Copenhagen. Betnér may not be a bundle of joy, but his comedy is among the sharpest and most vital on the Fringe. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, until 26 Aug (not 16), 8.45pm, £10 (£9).
40 THE LIST 16–23 Aug 2012