list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
NATHANIEL METCALFE Making comedy hay with triviality ●●●●●
AKMAL An engaging but often obvious hour ●●●●● PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON Faux-grumpy yet fun magic show ●●●●●
Enjoy an hour of storytelling at its finest with the curious Nathaniel Metcalfe. Guilty of having a little too much time on his hands, he has developed a series of bizarre fascinations with less-than-gripping subject matters over the years (trivia about ex-Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan, anyone?). He may be little known on these shores but, on Australian TV, Akmal is a familiar face; though not, he notes, quite as ubiquitous as Adam Hills. Much of his material concerns how he moved Down Under at the age of ten with his orthodox Christian parents, leaving his native Egypt behind.
However, Metcalfe’s skilled and confident – but At first unable to speak English (not even ‘peanut
in no way cocky – delivery manages to effortlessly hold the audience’s interest. Who would have thought that misheard retro theme tunes, old-school programmes such as Through the Keyhole and a brief obsession with a modern-day Oompa Loompa could provide quite so many laughs? The self-confessed movie buff’s fresh and clever
approach to picking apart classic film and TV shows from back in the day – items on which most people will already have an opinion, therefore dramatically reducing the risk of anyone not getting it – is nothing short of impressive.
Navigating the Free Fringe successfully can be a tricky business at times, but stumbling across a gem of a show like Enthusiast is a reminder of how worthwhile that search can be. (Katy Spry) ■ Cabaret Voltaire, 226 0000, until 24 Aug, 2.35pm, free.
butter sandwich’), Akmal presents himself as the thick, practical joker in an otherwise educated family (including an academic father and two doctor brothers). It’s a seam of material that he would be wise to mine further, a unique angle from which to conjure some interesting characterisations. However, Akmal falls down with some really obvious gags that have been done by better comedians many times before: the 72 virgins apparently promised to Muslim suicide bombers; how sperm must feel when they hit rubber or tissue rather than an egg.
Still, he invests all of his material with a great
enthusiasm and, coupled with the fact he's a likeable performer, he largely gets away with it, successfully presenting us with an engaging enough hour of entertainment. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 26 Aug, 8.50pm, £11–£12.50 (£10–£11).
His glamorous assistant rolls her eyes whenever his back’s turned; his sidekick is a vacant chihuahua, stealing his limelight with a sleepy thousand-yard- stare; and the guest star is a mindreading goldfish who forgets his lines. In short, Piff the Magic Dragon (a grown man in a scaly onesie) is having a bad day. In real life, John van der Put got tired of his job as a sleight-of-hand magician, grinning through after- dinner trickery, and needed a twist on his magic act. And so, Piff was born: a travelling entertainer whose spectrum of emotions flops between weary and depressed. His deliberately shonky illusions now come with added ennui and a humiliating upstaging from a costumed lapdog.
Piff is a cross between Neil Hamburger’s crowd- disgusted stand-up, and Paul Daniels’ ‘pick a card, any card!’ showmanship (if the latter had fallen on hard times and found himself working in a shopping centre). Although his frustration with audience members not answering fast enough sometimes seems unrehearsed, overall the lo-fi props and effects (cardboard boxes, joke-shop gadgets) work especially well for Piff’s tired, grumpy magic act. (Claire Sawers) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 25 Aug, 7.10pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).
BRENDON BURNS Double-bill from loud yet convivial Aussie
Of the many things you can say about Brendon Burns, being short of words is not one of them. Both the titles and content of his shows at this year’s Fringe are pretty verbose, but there’s a damn sight less of the hectoring, outrageous Burns of old, swapped out for an air of blokey camaraderie. Brendon Burns Hasn’t Heard of You Either (●●●●●) courts the fact that, despite more than three decades in the stand-up game, there are still plenty people who wouldn’t know him from Adam. He’s very candid about his shortcomings, or at least those characteristics that might be perceived as failings by his detractors. His honesty is engaging though, and despite the fact he maybe tries to cram too many elements into his 60 minutes, he succeeds in demonstrating that his heart is in the right place, even if his mouth sometimes isn’t.
During Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana Sit in a Fifty- Seater Around Midnight and Provide the Commentary to Bad Wrestling Matches (●●●●●), he gets to split mic duties with former pro wrestler Cabana, who ends up being just as welcoming a presence as the boisterous Australian.
The pair are enthusiastic about the sport, with Cabana
especially showing a dedicated and encyclopaedic awareness of even its furthest reaches (among the eyebrow-raising highlights on this particular night is a match between an American pro wrestler and a nine-year-old Japanese girl). The atmosphere is once again firmly matey, and when a few audience members nod off due to the lateness of the hour, they’re fondly ribbed rather than bitterly castigated. (Niki Boyle) ■ Brendon Burns Hasn’t Heard of You Either, The Stand, 558 7272, until 25 Aug, 9.40pm, £12 (£11); Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana, The Stand II, 558 7272, until 24 Aug, 11.50pm; The Stand III & IV, 26 Aug, 12.40am, £8.
22 Aug–19 Sep 2013 THE LIST 101
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