The Frank Carson Story: Mike McCabe, Le Monde (Shanghai), Edinburgh Fringe 2026

By Ollie Wilson

It was great to see Mike McCabe perform, although not so great to see how he was faring with his venue.

Almost ten minutes after the gig was supposed to start, the audience was still waiting in a dirty gully, locked out, and when we tried to enter were told off. Moreover, even when the show got underway, it was marred by terrible technical mishaps, with sounds effects frequently played far too loud or at the wrong time, and the wrong pictures appearing on the screen. Unfortunate McCabe remonstrated with the guy in the tech box.

That said, it was superb to hear Mike McCabe tell the jokes of the legendary Frank Carson, his late friend, and recap on some of the great man's life story. It was very interesting. And good to hear about 1970s TV show The Comedians, on which Frank and Mike performed. Indeed, their accents and material sounded pretty similar.

But with technical issues ruining much of the show (why didn't they do a proper tech run?), it ended early. A crying shame! Therefore, I am giving four stars for Mike McCabe, but only one star for this nightclub venue.  

Star rating: ****

Laughing Stock, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe 2026

 By Ollie Wilson and Laura King

This was a fast-paced medley of American comedians - and their neuroses.

Compere Charley Lanyon did a great job warming up the audience, despite a 'catastrophic' hangover drinking all night with a gang of Glaswegians and, accidentally, awakening on a couch in Leith. He also had a surreal tip for how to best to snort in the hot tub - another clue to his lifestyle!

It was a very lively and loud audience for a 10.30pm gig and a particularly vociferous Scottish heckler in the front row featured through the show. To be fair, he was funny and, on the whole, the stand-ups worked with him rather than against for the benefit of the gig. 

First turn up, the glabrous Jason Greene, had good material about baldness and evil and getting older. Next was a real treat: a double act. Not any double act either, but a male-female, long-term married couple double act, Anna Vocino and Loren Tarquinio, They were good and she particularly had great comedy timing. And it takes balls for a middle-aged couple with a grown-up kid to stand on stage and talk about their sex life, 'watching a porn' and fantasies in bed (She said: 'eating ass'. He said routinely: 'Noted.' 

Our favourite act was Jon Dunn from Alabama - a bear of a man - who has turned his autism diagnosis into comedy gold. He was large, but not as fat as he once was (an impressive 24 stone!). Indeed, he was managing both his autism and his weight to ensure he never ran out of material!

The closing act, Wally Baram, has a lot of stage presence and managed to humiliate the heckler into an uncharacteristic silence! But, for some reason, her crowd work went better than her set!

Overall, a fine show!

Star rating: ****

The Bloody Ballad of Betty Davies, Assembly Rooms Roxy, Edinburgh Fringe 2026

 By Ollie Wilson

This is an excellent and entertaining musical based around the dwindling years of Bette Davies when the fading film star accepted a role in the 1975 movie Burnt Offerings, co-starring with Karen Black and hellraiser Oliver Reed.

The supernatural story puzzled me a tad at times but the performances of the five-strong cast were all extremely good and the music very enjoyable. Davies has a torrid time in particular with Reed who is vile on set, in the story. This I can relate to, having physically wrestled with a very drunken Oliver Reed at a showbiz event in the early 1990s! Reed was a strong guy! And I liked the way he was played on stage in this production.

Artistic director John P. McEneny, who wrote the book, and composer and lyric-writer Rob Parker can feel very proud of what has been achieved here. 

There were some great tunes and great lines such as 'artists don't retire, it's not a job!' or the gay guy saying to Bette: 'You weren't just entertainment, you were permission!'

It was a shame only 17 people were in the audience. This show deserves a bigger crowd!

Star rating: *****

Huge Davies: Sleep Paralysis Princess, Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh Fringe 2026

 By Ollie Wilson

An incredible show! Huge Davies entered from the back wearing a chef's hat and playing a keyboard, which was supported by a strap around his neck, and sang a series of comments in a kind of Gregorian chant. It was remarkably funny!

Huge then went into the National Trust and gay people, the 'allegations' against him, a rat writing his act, racism ('the crowd [us] look racist'), Dennis Sausages, his chronic insomnia, Billy Baggins, Henry VIII, working in a shoe shop. It's hard to describe how Huge Davies is so f***ing funny; he just is! 

Absolutely brilliant! The packed audience pretty wet themselves laughing!

Star rating: *****

Ali Brice: This Is The Way We Brush Our Teeth, Hoots Potterow, Edinburgh Fringe 2026

By Ollie Wilson

In almost 30 years covering comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe, I have never attended the same show twice - so this is a first.

It only happened because I met Ali Brice who was out flyering and, with typical depressive funk, like Flanders from The Simpsons on anti-depressants, said he was going to cancel that last night's show because he hadn't sold any tickets. 'Don't do that,' I said. 'If you promise to go ahead, I will review it.' We shook on it.

I'd first met Ali Bruce, a charity social media manager, a few days earlier, when his act had largely consisted of amplifying my laugh and getting my companion at that gig to fix his lighting! You see, he doesn't have what you might call comedy material to fall back on and relies heavily on the audience to provide the entertainment for the evening. For reasons no one can quite understand, Brice is the hapless catalyst for hilarity.

On my second visit, he was also inadvertently very funny, although he seemed morose and eager to get the show over with. The audience - almost a capacity crowd - ended up talking to each other as he observed them from the stage. 

Ali Brice is like a human car crash on a stage and, for reasons that are, I suspect, very British, we all find this terribly amusing. 

Indeed, Brice has hit on something special that is very hard to discern but is amazing when it works. That's why I am giving him five stars.

Star rating: *****