EDINBURGH FRINGE 2003
Lizzie Roper: Through My Keyhole,
Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh
Lizzie Roper burst onto stage like a crazywoman, screwing up her face and
making a lunge for a 20-year-old man in the front row.
Her mad girl persona - if it is indeed just a persona - was as frightening as
compelling. You could imagine her doing almost anything, whether or not it was
likely to get a laugh.
As Roper told of her failed relationships, pubic hair removal and dirty dancing
sessions, she was tremendously emotive, contorting her facial features into the
ugliest conceivable shapes.
The members of audience - once they had got used to being bellowed at - loved
it. Even the young man in the front row gradually warmed to Roper's demands for
sex.
Her characters were also strong, particularly the batty old woman, who abused
all her relations, and sex industry worker who told her tragic tale while
polishing sex toys.
Roper has found something really good here. She is a comedienne who is not
afraid to reveal the negative side of her gender, portraying women in a manner
few would find flattering.
STAR RATING (out of five): ****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Jeremy Lion's Happy
Christmas, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
Drunken children's entertainer Jeremy Lion was extraordinarily funny. Played by
Justin Edwards (the tall one from The Consultants), Lion burped and hiccupped
his way through a truly hilarious hour of Yuletide comedy, assisted on the
keyboards by the morose Leslie (George Cockerill).
Doing a Christmas show at the Fringe in August was hardly an original idea. Big
& Daft did one two years ago and it is very doubtful they were the first.
Yet Edwards brought such freshness and satiric energy to the idea with a
creation so washed-up, hopelessly addicted but well-meaning you could not help
but guffaw.
When he accidentally swallowed a pint of brandy butter at the end of one
brilliant section of the show, members of the audience were crying with
laughter. There were people who couldn't control their mirth and giggled for
minutes after the joke was over.
This shambolic songs, self-dissecting snowman and the Twelve Days of Christmas
finale, which involved him drinking more than 20 glasses of wine in five
minutes, were all exceptionally amusing. The final applause nearly took the
roof off the little Pleasance Hut.
You'd be unlikely to see a funnier show at the 2003 Fringe.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): *****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Miranda Hart - 'It's
All About Me', Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
The premise of this show is that a VIP was expected and so Hart needed to hold
up the start of the performance until he arrived. Meantime, she chatted to the
audience about herself and gave foretastes of the entertainment to come.
A huge poshly-spoken woman in dance pants, Hart proved a commanding presence,
flirting outrageously with a man in the front row, arguing with her technician
Candice (capably played by Anne-Marie Draycott) and demonstrating her mime with
added spoken words.
Her performance was strong and the laughs came thick and fast. However, the
question remained: What was the show parodying? Was it taking the rise out of
posh people, dancers, performers in general or the entire Fringe? Hart's
persona somehow lacked the veracity to be truly hilarious. She made good
comedic use of her big-boned body but relied too heavily on her
desperate-for-a-man act to which she regularly returned.
Overall, the show was also rather ponderous. Although Hart is clearly an able
and appealing performer, there is still work to be done on her material.
STAR RATING (out of five): ***
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Topping
& Butch - Take it Up the Octave, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
This late-night camp cabaret show inevitably appealed to a predominantly gay
audience.
On a straw poll conducted by the performers, two-thirds of the crowd were gay
men and the other one-third straight women or "fag hags" as Topping
& Butch so charmingly called them!
As the only straight man present, this reviewer was surprised how accessible
the show proved to a heterosexual male.
Much of their chat was powered by gay sexual innuendo but the songs were very
witty, superbly performed and universal it their appeal.
Both performers wore bondage gear but were in other respects remarkably
different. Topping is fat and old and with Denis Healy eyebrows; Butch young
and thin with radiant teeth.
The contrast worked in their favour, and there was something quaintly
old-fashioned about their act. In a different time, Noel Coward might have
penned some of the lyrics and Topping & Butch would not have looked out of
place in dinner jackets.
But the hilarious finale was bang up to date - a mini-musical about gay
internet dating which made no bones about the lies unscrupulously told in the
gay man's hunt for sex.
STAR RATING (out of five): ****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Tut
Tut, Miss Simpson, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh
Comedy poetry is an acquired taste, and, in the wrong hands, it can be a
horribly painful experience.
Jude Simpson's poems are about her feelings and desires and particularly on the
relationship between men and women. She has an engaging manner and, to her
credit, recites from memory, without the need to clutch a tatty book of poems -
the annoying practice of many comedy poets.
However, listening to her was like enduring the emotional angst of a hormonal
teenager. Her work said nothing new about love or sex and, sadly, was not
particularly funny either.
There was no denying she was able to charm her audience. As the show went on,
you found yourself liking her more and more.
Unfortunately the experiences related in her poems struck no chord with this
reviewer. To find the kind of success John Hegley has enjoyed, Miss Simpson
needs to be more imaginative and - to put it bluntly - pen better and funnier
poems.
STAR RATING (out of five): ***
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Dara O Briain,
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
O Briain is phenomenal. His act goes like a bullet, ripping the audience along
on a comedy adventure.
On it, you learn about the Irishman's balloon safari, his IRA grandmother and
the pitfalls of working as a presenter on Irish TV - all told with an enormous
dollops of charm and vigour.
O Briain is a tremendously impressive stand-up who is adept at getting humour
out of audience members but still leaving them feeling good about themselves.
When a young man made a leap for the door to the toilet (hoping he would not be
picked on), O Briain had a field day, turning the bloke's actions into a
brilliantly spontaneous routine.
There is a child-like quality to O Briain. He can see humour in almost anything
and cannot help laughing at some of his own jokes.
His enthusiasm for his work is infectious and wonderful. It is hard to imagine
him ever dying on stage or facing an audience he could not leave worn out with
laughter.
A comedy gem!
STAR RATING (out of five): *****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
The
Consultants: Boss, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
After being voted Best Perrier Newcomers last year, big things were expected of
this trio of sketch-meisters. They did not disappoint.
The art of the mainstream comedy sketch has seemed, at times, in decline in
recent years. The Consultants are doing their darndest to reverse the trend.
Their ideas are simple: merging management talk and nursery rhymes, using books
titles in a love song about a librarian, dressing up as bumpkins for a
yarn-spinning session, but the sharpness of the writing and the gusto of their
performance are near perfection.
The audience generated gales of laughter at highlights such as the bristling
competition between the absurd storytellers, the increasingly complex and crude
bingo calls and the drunken love song.
My only criticism is that with their level of competence the Consultants could
be more adventurous in their material and actually start to push the boundaries
of comedy a tad.
As a piece of finely-tailored mainstream entertainment however, you could not
fault this show.
STAR RATING (out of five): ****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
James Dowdeswell
Explores Dowdesworld, Pleasance Courtyard Edinburgh
James Dowdeswell looks like a big kid, and has material to match.
He performs routines about cheese-rolling, Harry Potter and his school days in
the West Country, and there's no doubt he is a competent comedian.
His regional accents are superb and his timing is good, but Dowdeswell is let
down by the mediocrity of his stand-up material.
The punchlines of his jokes are often far too obvious, his gags too weak to be
hilarious.
He is at his best when talking honestly about himself. However, as a comedian
Dowdeswell cannot make a long-term career out of pretending to be 15. He needs
more than fresh-faced looks, a silly hair style and a slightly lazy eye to
underpin his persona.
His great strength is his skill at impressions. He might be better off going
down the Rory Bremner route, focusing on his true strengths and not relying so
heavily on his comedy writing.
But for all that, it was a fairly enjoyable performance. The small audience
clearly liked him and that helped to bolster what was middling fare.
STAR RATING (out of five): ***
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Fred Macauley, Gilded
Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh
Through his TV work, MacAuley is a big name in Scotland, and known to a lesser
degree throughout the UK. So it was no surprise to find his audience was
predominantly Scottish, and he responded with a lot of Scotland-related gags.
It was good material. His yarn about the Scots working classes he had met on a
low-cost flight to London was strong and his labelling of the characteristics
of people from different parts of Scotland was very funny.
He made hay with a man in the front row who could not stop giggling and spun
into a routine about things Scotland had given the world. One helpful punter
shouted: "John Leslie" which was apt, as Leslie and his girlfriend
happened to be in the audience, something MacAuley either did not know or,
decently, decided to completely ignore.
There was nothing particularly special about his act. In many ways he could
afford to be more adventurous in his approach. But this was a solid and amusing
performance from an accomplished performer.
STAR RATING (out of five): ***
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Dyball
and Kerr- We Will Roof You, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
As a character comedy double act, Dyball and Kerr appeared to have plenty going
for them, at least on paper. The show's concept - two country roofers trying
their hands at showbiz - looked attractive, and the publicity material was
appealing.
In practice, however, the show was hugely disappointing. The script was weak,
with gags about Chunky the landlord and his famous multi-meat platters
stretched well beyond their natural lifespan. The songs also grew tiresome and
the show developed a repetitive feel.
As performers, Dyball and Kerr were not bad but didn't look convincing as
roofers. A few years back, Al Murray shaved his head to play the Pub Landlord.
Dyball and Kerr could not even be bothered to grow their own sidebacks,
sticking on what were plainly strips of false hair.
The entire show had a thrown-together feel, padded out by parodies of
impressions. Their audience interaction was good, winning some of the biggest
laughs, but it was not enough.
At the end, one punter loudly remarked: "Was that it?" You could
understand his frustration.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): **
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Birds, Underbelly,
Edinburgh
Comic Phil Zimmerman has hit upon the idea of doing an eclectic set on birds.
While his co-stars, principally stutterer Jaik Campbell (pictured) and Steve
Williams, decided to base their material on the more traditional issue of
getting laid, Zimmerman chose his personal obsession with and terror of
pigeons.
The trio are an affable and talented bunch, but I believe Campbell should make
more of his genuine stutter.
As it is, it has led to a hilarious observational routine about attending an
event staged by the National Stammerers Association. Apparently the bar queues
were horrendously long!
Campbell's material is first rate but he needs to sharpen up his presentation
and make stammering his comedic raison d'etre.
Zimmerman was excellent as always - all made stares and off-the-wall asides.
But, like the others, he suffered from the low audience numbers at this venue
which is not doing its performers any favours.
That's a shame because Birds is a show well worth seeing.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): ****
August 2003
Ben Dowell
An
Evening with Munn and Diamond, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh
The publicity material for this show warned festival-goers to "expect the
unexpected" which, perhaps, should have been an omen for what was to come.
However, this reviewer did not expect to see two Welsh women screaming abuse at
each other in the comedy equivalent of a headbanging session.
The concept of their show was not an unfamiliar one: a rich Sloanie woman vying
with a working-class bolshie one. What marked out Munn and Diamond was their
remarkable lack of script, terrible timing and thoroughly low production
values.
Few Fringe flops could have been as painfully poor. Hearing them bickering
about use of the Welsh language, S4C and rap music was like listening to a
greatly-amplified recording of a thousand paint scrapers while standing naked
in sleet. It hardly needs to be said they performed to a silent and
shell-shocked audience numbering around half a dozen.
Munn and Diamond need to ask themselves a couple of tough questions: Should we
continue with this double act? Are we cut out for comedy?
If they decide to carry on, it is vital they work much harder on their writing
and performing before making a return to the Fringe.
STAR RATING (out of five): *
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Tommy Tiernan: Tell
Me A Story, The Pod, Edinburgh
The King of Comedy is back! From start to finish, this show by the great Irish
storyteller was outstanding, beautifully delivered and absolutely hilarious.
Tiernan's comparison of how Mass is said in Australia and Africa was
wonderfully funny, and his description of his three-year-old son's world was
magical.
His material sounds totally true to life - even though some of it may not be -
and is told with tremendous energy and an infectious sense of fun.
He even talked dirty. His finale, on trying anal sex with his girlfriend for
the first time, had an hysterically-funny punchline which you could not see
coming.
Only one grumble: the mediocre sound on that night was annoying as occasionally
you could not hear clearly at the back.
But you couldn't pick fault with Tiernan's comedy brilliance.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): *****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Alfie Joey's
Mini-Caberet, Alfie Joey's Red Escort, Edinburgh
Few comedians would be courageous enough to stage an Edinburgh show in their
car.
But encouraged by Perrier Award winner Daniel Kitson, that is exactly what
Alfie Joey has done.
And what a total delight it proved! An audience of four crammed into his Red
Escort, parked a stone's throw from the Pleasance Courtyard.
Alfie sat in the driver's seat and got us all chatting before kicking off the
show.
He had devised a format in which each audience member asked him questions about
his life from laminated cards.
The humour sprang from the stories attached to those aspects of his life and
related experiences of the audience.
It was one of the few truly interactive experiences at the Edinburgh Fringe. For
once, the audience had as much opportunity to talk as the performer, who
brought out the best in them.
The hour flitted past. Former monk Joey's genius is that he brings out the best
in people - because he thinks the best of them.
The audience, two Irish women - a mother and daughter - and shy young man from
Bournemouth, clearly enjoyed the show enormously.
And they were highly amused by the occasional altercation between Alfie and a
passing traffic warden who could not understand the car was a registered venue!
The event ended with Alfie giving everyone in the audience - all four of us - a
souvenir key ring.
We left feeling we had made new friends.
Comedy magic!
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): *****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Andrew Clover, Supercub,
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
This has to be one of the maddest shows at the Fringe.
Although called Supercub and featuring a cub's uniform, it was all over the
place. At times you felt Clover's material was totally random.
He is clearly a talented improviser, although it was hard to tell what was
improvised and what, if anything scripted.
The audience numbered around a dozen in a cavernous venue but, far from putting
him off, Clover seemed to enjoy his failure to pull a bigger crowd.
You had the impression almost anything could come out of mouth - creative,
funny, obscene, profane.
And when Clover asked an American in the audience to squirt him with a giant
watergun if he overstepped the mark, it was no surprise he ended up soaked to
the skin.
Crazily funny!
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): ****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
The Dinks, Pleasance
Courtyard, Edinburgh
This show has been a victim of the Fringe hype machine.
From the amount of fuss its promoters has been making about it, I assumed it
would be very good, which made it all the more disappointing.
On the night I went, six members of the audience walked out - more than I have
ever known quit a show during my six years covering the Fringe.
In fairness, it seemed slightly surprisingly. The show was somewhat less than
mediocre rather than being an out-and-out stinker.
The Dinks - established stand-ups Tony Law, Dan Antopolski and Craig Campbell -
are a kind of Big & Daft in search of a decent script.
Law has most of the funny lines and certainly is the star of the outfit.
His convincing performance bolstered a gang show desperately lacking a good
plot and in need of a tough director.
The real problem with it was Dan Antopolski. He may be an accomplished
stand-up, but he can't act for toffee.
Desperate Dan stumbled his way through his part, looking decidedly hesitant and
uncomfortable in any dialogue with the others.
And when the gratuitious nudity started, you knew this was a production in deep
trouble.
Overall the show had an over-confident and arrogant feel to it. But as the six
who fled during the performance might testify, not everyone is taken in by
bluster and hype.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): **
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Rob Brydon - Marion
and Geoff, Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
This is a brilliant show.
Rob Brydon totally triumphed as he brought his Marion and Geoff TV character -
divorcee Keith - to the Edinburgh stage for the first time.
Brydon is a very clever performer who managed to have his cake and eat it,
denying his ability to respond quickly to audience comments while proving just
the opposite.
The self-effacing and over-optimistic outlook of the character was itself
funny, quite apart from the sharpness of his lines and occasional hilarious use
of accents. It takes a great performer to do an American accent while still
sounding Welsh.
The way he used slides was also very sharp. Even the way they had been written
was true to Keith's character and won laughs.
All ages and many nationalities enjoyed a show that was popular but far
distinctly quirky in its sense of humour.
A smasher!
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): *****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Die,
Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh
Brand X Promotions' latest ghoulish offering is as compelling as it bizarre.
The puppetry, singing, acting and sickness of the humour are remarkable, as a
story of life in hell is told.
It is chilling but, at times, hilarious experience. Dead Elvis and the Rotting
Brat Pack spring to mind.
It is not for the sensitive or faint-hearted.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): ****
August 2003
Chris Wilson
Mark Felgate -
Freelance Fool, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh
Ventriloquist-without-a dummy Mark Felgate is without a doubt a talented
performer.
His voice-throwing skills are superb and comedy timing is excellent.
Unfortunately he was let down in this full-length show by insufficient
high-quality material.
Felgate had perhaps enough top gags for a first-rate half-an-hour show.
Spinning it out to twice that time span was stretching the comedy envelope too
far.
All the same, there were some strong ideas there and his use of slides was
imaginative to the point of surreality.
What the genial Mark needs to do is the keep the best material from this show
and enrich it with new gags throughout the coming year to make a triumphant
return to the Fringe in 2004.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): ***
August 2003
Chris Wilson
September
2002 – July 2003
Rob Rouse and James Holmes,
Barnstormers Comedy, Lewes, East Sussex
What a marvellous club this is, bringing some of my favourite young comics to
within a five-minute walk of my home!
The big cheeses on the Christmas bill were Rob Rouse and James Holmes -
stand-ups with very different styles and equally innovative takes on their
craft.
Holmes is a shock joker, hitting the audience hard with an account of his
gayness and, curiously, details of what he won't do in bed.
His delivery is friendly and confident, so the crowd liked him, despite its
clear discomfort with his material.
It seemed that would have gone down a storm down the road in Brighton is still
able to shock slightly in-land.
Despite that, Holmes is a strong and original act - a showbiz-obsessed queen
with a hugely-affable take on life.
Rob Rouse also has a pleasant and natural style which gives him a whooping
headstart over many comics.
His substantial stage experience and gift for improvisation make him an
all-weather comedian who is never likely to die on stage.
But he is at his strongest when doing his stand-up or musical routines and
revealing the wicked streak behind the big grin.
A top night!
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): ****
Chris Wilson
Barnstormers Comedy,
Lewes, East Sussex
THIS monthly comedy club in a former church is coming on in leaps and bounds.
It pulled an audience of at least 70 people - all of whom were up for a Sunday
night of comedy. Compere Kevin Precious warmed them up beautifully in his
trademark deadpan style.
First act on was David Haddingham who is a very competent performer with some
good jokes. Some of his material, however, seemed a little puerile and weak -
and you were also left with the impression that he was not putting his all into
the gig.
On the other hand, comedy magician Mandy Muden was really going for it. She
raised the energy level in the room considerably with a high-pace succession of
daft, failed tricks and silly gags.
Perhaps she overdid her persona - "slapper in desperate need of a
shag" - and tried too hard to find gay men in the audience (why?) but it
was an enjoyable performance all the same.
The undoubted highlight of the show was Hal Cruttenden.
Hal just gets better and better. . . he has fantastic delivery, a real feeling
for its audience and superb material.
He lifted the roof of this creaky old church of a venue - and made it a
memorable night. It becomes clearer by the day that Hal is going to be star.
SHOW STAR RATING (out of five): ****
Chris Wilson
