Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Pleasance DomeComedy fans in Edinburgh will have seen the posters reading "Last Show Ever" and shuddered. Perish the thought that this lovable anarcho-sketch-comedy act should call it a day.…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:26AMBy suggesting humour can be captured in a few words, Dave's one-liner award sells Edinburgh fringe comedy shortHow do you annoy a standup comedian? Easy: go up to him or her and say, "tell u…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:45AMPleasance CourtyardI've seldom seen a theatre audience leave with more bemused faces than after David Hasselhoff's opening performance at the Edinburgh Fringe. The Hoff is in town for one we…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMTuesday, August 21, 2012
Pleasance CourtyardWhat's so funny? Louise Ford (one half of double act Ford and Akram) isn't the first character comic to sound out humour on society's maladroit margins. But if her creatio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:17AMGilded BalloonWhat's so funny? The brazen otherness of this Cornish rap duo, doing their own thing, their own way, to a small audience late night – early morning, actually – on the fring…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:14AMMonday, August 20, 2012
Assembly RoomsAmerica's indie comedy scene has supplied some great fringe acts recently, including Perrier-winner Demetri Martin and Flight of the Conchords' Kristen Schaal. Kumail Nanjiani …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:12PMLaughing Horse @ Free SistersWhat's so funny? Trodd en Bratt (that's en as in salmon en croute) is a new double act formed of two cast-members of the improvised hit, Showstoppers, whose sho…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:19PMThursday, August 16, 2012
Gilded Balloon"Saturday night is the worst," Sam Simmons tweeted after this performance, which was half standup, half running battle with the audience. Was this a one-off, or is Simmons this…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWhat's so funny? Growing up mixed race in South Africa was a bit of a hoot – at least if Trevor Noah is to be believed. Noah, now resident in the States, has …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:26AMJust the Tonic at the TronWhat's so funny? Desolation and rage, as rendered by a squat, bald 53-year-old working-class American parading his inadequacies across the stage.Sounds like my cup …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:22AMPleasance Dome, Edinburgh"Political comedy thrives under the Tories," comedian Phill Jupitus said last week – and sure enough, Coalition is the second satirical show (after Chumbawumba's …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AMTuesday, August 14, 2012
The rising price of comedy, Harry Hill post-TV Burp – plus, a new Bill and Ted adventure, and your take on the week's comedyComedy news from EdinburghIt's week two of the fringe, and uneas…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:40AMUnderbellyWhat's so funny? Claudia O'Doherty is an oddball Australian standup ("cheer-jerker", in her own coinage) making her third fringe appearance, this year under the auspices of indie c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:27AMAssembly George SquareThere are themes and gimmicks, bells and whistles in other shows on the fringe, as comics test the boundaries of their art form. But straightforward, autobiographical s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:40AMMonday, August 13, 2012
Pleasance CourtyardWhat's so funny? "Michael Mittermeier is very funny and German. If you don't believe either of these things – go check him out". It must be catching - even Eddie Izzard …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWhat's so funny? The Pin are among this year's one-to-watch sketch troupes, and are – like last year's newbies, Sheeps, alumni of the UK's most gilded comedy …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:52AMFriday, August 10, 2012
Gilded BalloonWhen you think musical comedy, you don't think this. Rubberbandits are an Irish phenomenon heading Britain's way – in revenge for Bloody Sunday and the potato famine, as they…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05AMThursday, August 9, 2012
Pleasance Courtyard"Standup is the only artform that can't be contrived," David Trent tells himself in his debut fringe hour Spontaneous Comedian. That's the paradox: live comedy requires ri…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:08PMJust the Tonic at the CavesThe term character comedy doesn't quite cover what San Francisco standup Will Franken does in an underground cave, late at night on the Fringe. Yes, he flits in an…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AMUnderbellyWhat's so funny? Book clubs, according to Harry Potter actor Jessie Cave. Her Edinburgh debut is a meeting of the spoof book group Bookworms United, inspired, she says, by obsessiv…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:17AMFrom a play about coalition government to a standup show by a journalist, the fringe is finding new takes on political satireA Liberal Democrat party stretched to breaking point by the deman…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:57AMWednesday, August 8, 2012
Pleasance CourtyardAdmit it: we've all Googled ourselves. Few have had Marek Larwood's experience, however, of discovering that the word most frequently linked to his name in searches was "r…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:05PMAssembly, George SquareThe Pajama Men have a head start on other comic acts turning to improv. They first met as improvisers in Albuquerque, and in their terrific series of hit shows they do…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:01PMThe 'spirit of the fringe' is pitted against capitalism as awards director dismisses standup's complaints about commercialisation of Edinburgh comedyBest of this week's newsHalfway through w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:55AMAssembly RoxyWhat's so funny? The radio, if American performer Drennon Davis is to be believed. Davis's beatbox-comedy show, performed with his sidekick Monique Moreau, presents an hour's wo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30AMTuesday, August 7, 2012
GlobePolitical protest, as Chris Coltrane points out in his free fringe show, never used to be much fun. A million people marched against the Iraq war, and the government sent the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:34PMThe Jam House, EdinburghWhat's so funny? The fact that Phill Jupitus first made his name in performance poetry. In the mid-80s, Jupitus traded under the name Porky the Poet, an act that he n…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:29AMMonday, August 6, 2012
Pleasance CourtyardIn this theatre last year, Humphrey Ker had a huge hit with his second world war pastiche Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher. I was reminded of it when watching this enjoyable of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:29PMJust the Tonic at The Caves, EdinburghWhat's so funny? Billy the Mime is the silent, white-faced alter ego of American actor and comedian Steven Banks. If you know him at all, it'll be from …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AMThe Assembly Rooms, EdinburghWhat's so funny? Kristine Levine is being brought to us by the same producer who imported Doug Stanhope, Hans Teeuwen, Maria Bamford and other fine comics to Edi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:29AMSunday, August 5, 2012
Daniel Kitson doesn't do tours, interviews, TV or DVDs. So how a reclusive enigma become the most sought after standup of his generation? As the comic prepares to appear at Edinburgh, Brian&…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PM 
