list.co.uk/comedy PREVIEWS | COMEDY
FESTIVAL REWIND Scone Palace, Perth, Fri 19–Sun 21 Jul
A bastion of heritage culture, Rewind has ostensibly been a nostalgic walk in the park (or stroll around castle grounds) for those able to conjure up memories from the 80s and early 90s UK charts. A strong music line-up remains the festival’s main thrust with the likes of Hazel O’Connor, Bryan Ferry, Foreigner, The Stranglers, Toyah, The Primitives and Midge Ure helping to keep ye ancient songs burning in the heart. A comedy line-up is an intriguing element to such a festival. While the likes of Phill Jupitus, Fred MacAulay and Jimeoin are long in the tooth enough to have forgotten the material they were performing way back when, it’s unlikely they’ll take a leaf out of the musos’ books and dip into their back catalogues in quite the same way.
Emmanuel Sonubi and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd represent change and freshness at Rewind, with the former numbering Russell Kane as a fan (‘a new talent at the door of stand-up, his name’s down and he’s definitely coming in’ quoteth the energetic Essex one). As a father- of-two and a former bouncer, Sonubi should have a way with hecklers, but it’s probably best to just not bother shouting at him. Glasgow’s Macarthur-Boyd looks set to be the next big Scottish thing in stand-up, having ploughed away for a number of years on the circuit, and recently being snapped up by powerhouse comedy agency Off the Kerb. (Brian Donaldson)
MY COMEDY HERO ELEANOR CONWAY The Stand, Edinburgh, Sat 8 Jun; The Stand, Glasgow, Sun 9 Jun
At school, we’d eagerly await a new episode of The Mary Whitehouse Experience and the morning after would run up to each other shouting ‘milky milky’: it still makes me laugh now. The only reason I now don’t do it as an adult is that no one would get the reference and I’d just be a random lady shouting about dairy products to strangers. That show was famous for its catchphrases and the thought of pointing at an object and saying slyly to another person ‘see that? That’s you that is’, still makes me snort. The 90s were a fine time for silly, extreme comedy in a way that you couldn't do now. Watching grown men smash the shit out of each other on Bottom was inherently funny to me, and I often wondered how it was allowed on TV. Absolutely Fabulous was also pivotal for me; it was the first time I’d really seen women behaving badly and being celebrated for it. Personally, I’m pretty sure I embodied some of Patsy through my early adulthood. I sit in the space of women behaving badly and not being ashamed of it. I think often, as women, we are only encouraged to be a ‘little bit’ naughty, in a coquettish way, but Patsy slathered the bad behaviour on and we loved her for it. That, for sure, has definitely stayed with me, especially while writing Walk of Shame: Reality Bites, a show about sober, sexual boundaries and how I don’t have any. (As told to Brian Donaldson)
1 Jun–31 Aug 2019 THE LIST 87