Thursday, August 27, 2015
Assembly George Square studios, EdinburghThe comedian’s heartfelt story about the shark-infested waters of her teenage life sits uneasily with the truth, but this makes for a gripping expe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:30AMWednesday, August 26, 2015
The comedian’s standout show Lance would be a worthy winner, if he can triumph over four-time nominee James Acaster and the inventive Joseph MorpurgoThe 35th Edinburgh comedy award nominee…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PMUnderbelly Cowgate, EdinburghLike a more manic Woody Allen, the funny standup lives out her anxieties onstage as she presents her unplanned family lifeChannel 4’s hit sitcom Catastrophe fe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghJohn Henry Falle romances mermaids and roars through Beowulf in an enjoyable yet inconsistent performanceNominated this week for the Malcolm Hardee award for co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:04AMTuesday, August 25, 2015
She started at eight years old and is now the youngest comedian to appear on the funniest jokes of the fringe list. But she’s taking fame and stardom in her strideGrace the Child is not ta…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:34PMSome of YouTube’s comedy stars have had millions of hits, but performing on stage is a very different skill – and not all of them are up to the challengeIn any given year in Edinburgh, a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PMStand Comedy Club, EdinburghScorn is scattered liberally in an engaging show that also lets slip a welcome peek at the charismatic entertainer underneath“I am a horrible person,” says Fe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:57PMVoodoo Rooms This show’s bracing lack of sentiment finds a new and compelling angle on the ‘dead dad’ comedy tropeThe “dead dad” comedy show is now much mocked: it’s seen as a cl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:16AMMonday, August 24, 2015
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghThe droll meta-comedy duo explain what a funny sketch is – and have plenty of appealing examples of their ownMeta-comedy double act the Pin impressed on last year�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AMThe world’s biggest comedy festival is an awkward place for Scottish comics to perform. I wish they’d give us more material tailored to their local audienceIs the fringe a Scottish festi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:57AMSunday, August 23, 2015
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghLycett’s scrapbook set of stories and pranks is consistently amusing and greatly enhanced by his playful, laidback mannerOnly on the fringe do you see the sam…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:02PMComedian claims satirists are pulling their punches, teen comedy actor turns on the show that made him a star and Brian Conley Gets Out of thereFrankie Boyle is back in the headlines, after …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:52AMFriday, August 21, 2015
Liquid Room, EdinburghAn interactive golden-age detective movie is created on stage with Deanna Fleysher’s alter-ego Kapinski leaning heavily on the audience for laughsA gumshoe in a mac a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:07AMThursday, August 20, 2015
Comedians rarely repeat material by their peers. But plenty of comics are referencing each other at this year’s fringe – for good and illComedy has no equivalent to the cover version; co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:30PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe Australian comedian’s experiences of anxiety, depression and irritable bowel syndrome are turned to fine comic use in this confident, fast-paced show“I …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:25AMVoodoo Rooms, EdinburghHodgson draws on youthful memories, the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong and northern characters for plentiful laughs and bittersweet sentimentJust do it, cyclist Lanc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AMWednesday, August 19, 2015
Assembly Roxy, EdinburghThe US duo deliver several very funny moments but their show that is let down by its disjointed characters and hard-to-follow plotlineShenoah Allen has created many a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18PMPleasance Grand, EdinburghTwenty standups and wrestlers clamber into the ring and smack down in Max and Ivan’s spectacular sporting-panto free-for-all “Comedians. Wrestlers. Blood.” It…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:01AMThe perception of the festival crowd as entirely middle-class leads standups such as Sarah Callaghan and Kevin J to package their working-class backgrounds as exoticIt’s a cliche that the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:34AMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghBulletproof set-pieces exploring the theme of cultural identity confirm this Bostonian as a talent to watchAlex Edelman won the best newcomer gong at last year�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:34AMTuesday, August 18, 2015
Summerhall, EdinburghIt may not by very funny, but the standup and activist’s vehement, animated piece about the privatisation of public spaces certainly has a lot of convictionPicking up …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:30AMGilded Balloon, EdinburghOptimistic and less militant than in the past, the standup makes a welcome return to the fringe. Unfortunately, it’s with raw, under-rehearsed material“I was emo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:08AMA Desert Island Discs spoof, brooding circus performers who strip naked and a Yoko Ono-inspired love-fest … our critics choose their hot tickets at this year’s fringeO No!In less skilled…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:49AMMonday, August 17, 2015
Comedian Sam Simmons’s rant against ‘relatable’ comics in his Edinburgh show does both him and the festival a disserviceAussie absurdist Sam Simmons is one of the best-loved comedians …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:42PMGilded Balloon, EdinburghNo stage frippery required – this comedy trio are strong enough to stand on their own, with sharp writing and some fine skewering of middle-class moresIt takes con…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:07AMSunday, August 16, 2015
Assembly George Square, EdinburghWith its explorations of identity, Mark Steel’s account of how he traced his birth parents is astonishingWhen the story is extraordinary and the comic’s …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:31AMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghIn Lolly, her first fringe solo show, the up-and-coming comedian introduces many personas with varying degrees of success, but is never short of charismaFrom Ca…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:31AMSaturday, August 15, 2015
Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, EdinburghThe Man Down star delivers a neurotic, convoluted tale of a stowaway cat that channels the Basil Fawlty archetype of the beleaguered EnglishmanTwo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:37AMBanshee Labyrinth, EdinburghWaiting for Gaddot, which enlists Ben Target and Ian Smith in the tale of a love rivalry amid a collapsing gig, could be the underground comedy hit of the fringeI…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:30AMFriday, August 14, 2015
From the attractively impish Matt Winning to the pitch-perfect puerility of Gein’s Family Giftshop, here are seven festival sets I haven’t managed to write about yetOne week down, two to…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:37PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThere’s no one better at constructing a show than Acaster – and half the fun is how emphatically he addresses vanishingly small subjectsSerial award-nominee…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:20AM 
