All stories by Brian Logan on BroadwayStars

Friday, August 23, 2024

Chloe Petts: How You See Me, How You Don’t review – a former head girl’s life lessons by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe standup delivers another intelligent and compelling hour, exploring sport, gender, trolls and her schooling When Chloe Petts got a regular Saturday morning …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54PM

Reuben Kaye: Live and Intimidating review – the voice of an angel and a devil by Brian Logan

Assembly George Square, EdinburghThe mesmerising Australian comic’s song-laced, sassy and polemical set is a clarion call for queer expression Highest star wattage on the Edinburgh fringe?…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AM

Amy Gledhill: Make Me Look Fit on the Poster review – bawdy comedy delivered with a blush by Brian Logan

Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh This show about body image doesn’t always hold its focus, but Gledhill has a winning mix of northern mockery and good cheer ‘I’ve had some good news, I�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54AM
Thursday, August 22, 2024

Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows review – dotty comedy debut belies a surprise by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghBeyond its larky interactive stunts and impersonations, the standup’s restart-the-show gimmick coheres into an affecting personal story of redemption The Firs…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AM
Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Both halves of the Delightful Sausage on sizzling shortlist for Edinburgh comedy awards by Brian Logan

Sketch duo Amy Gledhill and Chris Cantrill’s solo shows have both been nominated for the fringe’s top prize, alongside acts including LA clown Natalie Palamides For the first time in its…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PM

Elf Lyons: Horses review – playful clip-clop through equine culture by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Part-clown, part-mime and part overgrown child, Lyons leads us through mythic history to reconnect with a lost world of imagination In comedy terms, Elf Lyons …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:02PM

Chris Cantrill: Easily Swayed review – midlife distress call goes from one big laugh to another by Brian Logan

Monkey Barrel @ the Tron, EdinburghOne half of the Delightful Sausage duo undertakes an epic quest with his pals as he deals with middle age Twentysomethings, there is nothing here for you! …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AM
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Ania Magliano: Forgive Me, Father review – winning comedy about commitment and a lost coil by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe standup delivers bullet-proof set-pieces in a masterclass on threading emotional significance through joyful autobiography Last year, a late reveal recast A…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06PM

3 review – knockabout fun as Ambika Mod rejoins her old improv gang by Brian Logan

Assembly George Square, EdinburghNaomi Petersen and Graham Dickson complete the trio who weave a tangled web out of three words suggested by the audience Before she became a star via This Is…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PM

Andrew Doherty: Gay Witch Sex Cult review – the funniest fringe horror since Garth Marenghi by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh In this winning pastiche set at a gender reveal party, Doherty plays a monstrous estate agent battling occult forces Come to a show called Gay Witch Sex Cult, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AM

Olga Koch and Finlay Christie use their privilege as a rich seam of humour | Brian Logan by Brian Logan

One standup asks moral questions about her family’s post-Soviet wealth, the other uses a self-satisfied persona to survey his gilded lifestyle. Both strike comedy gold at Edinburgh fringe …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM
Monday, August 19, 2024

Dan Tiernan: Stomp review – can-smashing comic makes you wince and laugh by Brian Logan

Monkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghThe Mancunian’s sophomore fringe set, addressing his diagnosis of gout, is delivered with feral roars and fine one-liners In these days of intensely autobiog…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM

Bobby Davro is like the clown that time forgot at the Edinburgh festival | Brian Logan by Brian Logan

With a seaside-postcard sensibility, the standup delivers racist and sexist material that jars with the spirit of the fringe As if we didn’t know to expect old-fashioned from Bobby Davro, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM
Sunday, August 18, 2024

Jin Hao Li: Swimming in a Submarine review – soothing meets unsettling in fringe comedy debut by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe standup weaves real-world experiences of racism with whimsy about angler fish and joining the yakuza There are few things more tedious, they say, than liste…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM

Lynn Faces review – offbeat comedy pays punk tribute to Alan Partridge’s PA by Brian Logan

Summerhall, Edinburgh Exploring coercive relationships, Laura Horton’s play features three middle-aged women in ‘snazzy cardigans’ performing a real-time maiden gig ‘This next song i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00AM
Saturday, August 17, 2024

One Man Musical by Flo & Joan review – Andrew Lloyd Webber gets ‘a show about me!’ by Brian Logan

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghGeorge Fouracres portrays the impresario as a haughty squire, while the comedy duo play keyboard and drums ‘Is this show a legal minefield? Yes it is. But on we go…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:01PM

Sheeps: The Giggle Bunch (That’s Our Name for You) review – still crazily funny after all these years by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghIn what they bill as their farewell to the fringe, the sketch group address woke-phobic dads, the apocalypse and AI in typically rich and wild style A standup c…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PM

Rose Matafeo: On and On and On review – a star-crossed love life laid hilariously bare by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghTV success has only sharpened the Starstruck creator’s punches as she overshares about the indignities of dating, her fine gags closer to the bleeding edge th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AM
Friday, August 16, 2024

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins review – brilliantly ticklish riff on a stack of literary tomes by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Dressed as the publisher’s emblem, in orange flippers and not much else, the ingenious comic delivers a dizzy series of droll visual routines Some shows have…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:45PM
Thursday, August 15, 2024

Stevie Martin: Clout review – ingenious and silly tech-comedy by Brian Logan

Monkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghThe Massive Dad star riffs on the benefits of making comedy online, buoyed by arch good humour and high-quality gags within gags Stevie Martin’s show weighs …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00AM
Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Lou Wall: The Bisexual’s Lament review – diary of despair with a list of 69 things to laugh about by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe Australian comedian’s rocky 2023 is explored in PowerPoint, SMS exchanges, rap, musical comedy and online videos The year 2023 was the worst of Lou Wall�…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:01PM

John Tothill: Thank God This Lasts Forever review – skint bon vivant risks it all for comedy by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe irrepressible aesthete, and lapsed primary school teacher, underwent medical trials to fund this effervescent show – and has since been hospitalised There…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AM

Rachel Kaly: Hospital Hour review – trauma-comedy reaches new extreme by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Witnessing 9/11 from school as a six-year-old is one of many mental distresses recounted in the New York comic’s often piercingly bleak set Whenever you thin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:10AM
Monday, August 12, 2024

Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going to Do One (1) Backflip review – joyous and ingenious by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe American standup and sitcom writer delivers a show of ticklish suspense that somersaults with invention and surprise Not all comedy shows need weighty theme…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:10PM

The truth about life as a privileged comedian: ‘I knew if it all went wrong I could call my parents’ by Brian Logan

Standup Olga Koch, whose dad was once the deputy prime minister of Russia, is weighing in on the debate about class and wealth in the industry in an unusual way – by addressing it head-on …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:00AM

Josephine Lacey: Autism Mama review – unlike any other show at Edinburgh fringe by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe straight-talking comic’s debut hour is cheerfully rude and glowing with maternal love, as she describes parenting a son with autism At a festival with 3,6…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:25AM

At the Edinburgh festival, an extraordinary show lays bare the enormity of grief | Brian Logan by Brian Logan

Or What’s Left of Us by Sh!t Theatre is a playful and starkly profound hour in which the duo share their bereavements and stir reflections of our own When someone you love dies, the grief …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00AM
Sunday, August 11, 2024

Zoë Coombs Marr: Every Single Thing in My Whole Entire Life review – an act of heroic overreach by Brian Logan

Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh Armed with spreadsheets and her usual playfulness, the comic attempts to evaluate the worth of her life so far Has autobiographical comedy reached its apotheo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:37AM

Alfie Brown: Open Hearted Human Enquiry review – ‘cancelled’ comic offers complicated mea culpa by Brian Logan

Just the Tonic at the Caves, EdinburghBrown engages in good faith with questions of guilt and remorse, while perceiving bad faith in his critics’ responses to an old routine that included …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:52AM

Hannah Platt: Defence Mechanism review – body dysmorphia comedy is sharp enough to draw blood by Brian Logan

Pleasance Courtyard , EdinburghMaking her fringe debut, the comic performs a droll, unsentimental and occasionally heart-stopping pas de deux with the critical voice in her head Hannah Platt…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:27AM
Saturday, August 10, 2024

Luke Rollason review – shock-haired standard bearer of UK clown boom riffs on fairytales by Brian Logan

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghRapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and a lot of toilet roll feature as the star Disney+ comedy Extraordinary explores wishes and their fulfilment All very well being part o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:00AM