Festival COMEDY
TIM KEY Comedy Award winner brings us an excellent work-in-progress
I f Tim Key’s 2011 Masterslut could have been dubbed his ‘bath show’, it looks like his next venture will be viewed as the ‘bed show’. This Work-in-Slutgress (man, he has really painted himself in a corner with the old Slut branding) that he is parading before us during the last leg of the Fringe is already shaping up as one of the clear comedy highlights of next year’s festival.
Many elements of the hour as it stands will be familiar to long-serving Key-ites: the power games chit-chat with his sound and vision facilitator (where once there was Fletch, there now appears to be Clancy), the verse written on cards that are duly flung around when finished or not even read from, the tenderly unobtrusive soundtrack (was that a bit of tinkling from The Killing?) and some
banter with his crowd that veers from the blokey to the mildly intimidating. So, what of this bed, then? As the crowd troop in, Key is lounging around on it, reading a bit, smiling at the incomers and waiting for silence to come. Our ‘poetical babe’ admits to loving a bed but hating bedtime (always did) and he lists the diverse folks who have passed through this very one. Without giving anything away, his scratcher (the only other available one-word synonym for ‘bed’) houses a surprise or two and is the focus for another memorable set- piece in a Tim Key Fringe extravaganza. (Brian Donaldson)
Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 25 Aug, 9.45pm, £12.
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HITLIST THE BEST COMEDY EVENTS
✽ Nick Helm The blistering show we always knew this One Man Mega Myth was capable of. But will the judges agree? Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 26 Aug, 4pm, £11–£14 (£9–£12).
✽ Alexei Sayle Perhaps the best comeback in the world ever as the alt-comedy king
shows the pretenders how it’s done. See review, page 100. The Stand III & IV, 558 7272, until 25 Aug, 6pm, £12.
✽ Pajama Men With Just the Two of Each of Us, the New Mexico duo deliver another
intoxicatingly brilliant masterwork of physical fun. Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, until 26 Aug, 9pm, £13–£15 (£12–£14).
✽ Tim Key A work-in-progress which bodes truly great things. See preview, left. See
details, left.
✽ Bridget Christie Feminism has never been so funny as it is in the very capable hands of this assured comic. The Stand, 558 7272, until 25 Aug, 11.10am, £10 (£9).
✽ The Pin Could the sketch show finally be saved? Looks like it as the Pin boys totally nail the form. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 26 Aug, 6.15pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).
✽ John Lloyd The comedy producer steps into the limelight with a wonderfully, witty,
anecdote-heavy show. Underbelly, Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, until 24 Aug, 4.40pm, £11–£13 (£10–£12).
✽ Richard Herring Another fabulous show from the Fringe veteran, this time tackling
death. See review, page 107. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 25 Aug, 8pm, £12–£14 (£11–£12).
22 Aug–19 Sep 2013 THE LIST 99