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Barry and Stuart: Show and Tell

Martin Miller — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:22:52 +0000

Look out Paul Daniels, avert your hypno-eyes Mr Piffles, for Barry and Stuart are back to bring their dark magic tricks to the Edinburgh crowds and this time they are going to show you just how they do it. With blatant disregard to the magician’s code, Barry and Stuart are going to perform two shows tonight, one “The Show”, a gloriously inventive hour of entertainment and, a little later, you have the option of returning for “the tell”, an in-depth blow by blow account of how every single trick is done. It’s one hell of a gimmick and with magic like this you simply have to return to find out how on Earth they pull it off.
The show itself is as playfully macabre as ever, as blood trickles down their back after sitting on a nail bed, they really have created a suspenseful hour of magic where you aren’t sure just what will happen next.
Barry Jones and Stuart Macleod are brilliant front men, funny and charming yet managing to keep the illusion of danger at the forefront of the audiences mind. But it’s the involvement of modern technology that makes them stand head and shoulders above the rest. They encourage the crowd to go to Twitter and Facebook during the show to aid them in tricks and have a genius use of 3D glasses, were wearing them will, quite literally, make the world Rose-tinted, allowing the coloured powerpoint in the background to show how the trick is done.
It is clever stuff but it does seem a little odd to reveal the tricks during “The Show” and then later in more detail with “The Tell”. However those who choose not to return for the second portion really will miss out. For the “The Tell” is an excellent show in itself, combining new tricks with detailed reveals that really show the huge and impressive knowledge they have for magic.
A thoroughly entertaining, blisteringly energetic show that manages to shock and thrill even at the cost of the mystique.

4/5

Olivia Lee Chats Them Up

Martin Miller — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:45:57 +0000

Festival chat shows are a dime-a-dozen here at the Fringe but only a handful really are able to do the format justice. It’s a tough gig, as you have to be entertaining, quick on your feet, be funny yet let the guests be just as funny… get it wrong and even the strongest personality can crumble. Sadly, despite being in the very likeable hands of Olivia Lee, hilarious in Balls of Steel and Olivia Lee’s Naughty Bits, that’s just what happens tonight.
She’s fun and cheeky but she makes a host of mistakes that rather than get the audience onside have them staring at the floor to avoid her gaze. Poking fun at the crowd is expected, but she’s only been on for five minutes before she’s mocking some one’s clothes, commenting on a lady sitting by herself or making reference to a man being fat. It’s far from offensive but it hardly relaxes the crowd.
Luckily she has three very strong guests to bail her out: Tiffany Stevenson, Chris Martin and Tim FitzHigham. Disappointingly, Lee’s interactions with them is up to no good. Stevenson runs rings around our presenter, giving Lee not a chance to say anything of note except nod in agreement. Chris Martin doesn’t even chat with her instead just gives a small segment of his stand-up routine, but poor Tim FitzHigham gets the worst deal: his fascinating stories are repeatedly interrupted so often that he has to politely ask her to let him finish a story.
A chat show with little chat, this is a weak hour of entertainment, she’s painfully out of her comfort zone and it makes for an equally painful watch.

2/5

An Evening With Henry the Hoover and Friends – Free Fringe

Martin Miller — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:30:54 +0000

A Free Fringe chat show is a perfect opportunity to rifle through the masses of hidden performers in the hope of that one illusive gem of a show. Sadly there is nothing even remotely diamond-like tonight.
MC Sam is our compere: she’s loud, annoying and her opening game of getting the audience to decide if people prefer alcohol to sunshine and ugly kittens goes on forever. Her delivery is too childlike and you can literally feel any enthusiasm being slowly sucked out the room the more she continues. When a heckler shouts ‘When’s Henry the Hoover coming out to sing?’ you can’t help but nod in agreement.
The guests themselves come and go in a blur of mediocrity, with Will and Kate impersonators only managing to get the one or two chuckles. By far the most dire act in the whole show is a nameless comedian who wisely take his flyers away with him so we can’t find out any more details. A smart move since this reviewer would be warning everyone to keep well away. Literally it is ten minutes of laugh-free stand-up where desperate to fill the time he talks about mint and tea tree oil shampoo…not makes jokes about it, just talks about it before confessing he’s a bit hung-over.
Of course this is all filler for the big finale, Steve Aruni and his singing, dancing and saxophone playing Henry the Hoover. Aruni sings dark little songs about his ex-girlfriends and is helped along by the foul mouthed Henry. It’s odd yet kind of entertaining but despite only performing for ten minutes does become repetitive.
At an hour run time its over-long and feels even longer by some fairly atrocious guests. Never the less there is a sort of car-crash appeal to see what is coming next.

2/5

Tim Key – Masterslut

Lee McRonald — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:29:43 +0000

Following previous award-winning shows, Tim Key returns with a curious, hit and miss blend of poetry, music, film-clips, stand-up and audience interaction.
The hour is structured around a dozen or so elliptical poems, haiku-like snippets of deadpan oddness and absurdity which have some of the audience laughing like drains, others simply bemused. Is this poetry satire? Or self-indulgence? It’s hard to tell and we have to wonder if the joke’s on us, with Key – resident poet on Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe – often unable to keep a knowing smile off his face, regardless of whether the audience is laughing or not.
The poems themselves are written on the back of soft-porn playing cards. Why? Well, why not. It’s something Key says a lot during his show, and it’s perhaps telling about his absurdist approach. Not to suggest it’s thrown-together; on the contrary, it’s an intelligently written and well orchestrated show, even down to the audience interaction (an on-screen slide identifies where Key will run through the audience, ruffling hair and hugging).
Keys is an aloof yet appealing presence but not all of it works. An audience word-game falls flat, and even Key admits the resulting narrative isn’t a classic. There’s also a bath, which Keys intermittently dunks his head into. Cue previously, beautifully shot and comic images of Key underwater. It is fun – especially his interaction with the audience member charged with drying him off – but after the second or third immersion it seems a bit gimmicky.
Overall, it kind of works and you have to admire the experience, the atmosphere Key has tried to create (the whole thing is scored by an eccentric selection of tracks, anything from classical and what sounds like Russian folk to elevator-style noodlings). There’s something curiously self-satisfied and self-consciously avant-garde about it all, which perhaps explains the hot and cold audience response, but fans of literate, absurdist comedy will find much to enjoy.

3/5

Dr Phil’s Rude Health Show

Martin Miller — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:30:16 +0000

Coming dangerously close to breaking a substantial level of client confidentiality, Private Eye writer and still practising G.P Dr Phil Hammond is here at the Fringe to bring a gloriously entertaining mix of politics and true life recollections.
Pity the poor man or woman who ‘accidentally’ manages to get a foreign object lodged inside themselves, for they will be fair game for his comedy accounts as he rather graphically explains some of his funnier patients and the rather clever methods of removing such objects as a turnip, glass light bulb and a ketchup bottle. Far more than just a recount of patients poor decisions, though, this is actually a very funny and intelligent show, also concerned with the politics of the NHS, covering such themes as alternative therapies, the Scottish death rate, political red tape and the ever increasing costs.
This all could be a bit heavy were Hammond not such an endearing watch. Intelligent and likeable, with just a hint of smut, he keeps the show rattling along at an entertaining pace. Mixing just the right level of puerile humour with chin-stroking thoughts it makes for a thoroughly good show that will make you laugh and cross your legs in horror.

4/5

Jim Smallman: Tattooligan

Ollie Green — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:30:12 +0000

This is not a run of the mill comedy show, but then again, this is not a run of the mill comedian: Smallman tells this tale through society’s views on his tattoos.
A basic concept that sometimes gets confusing, and although the comedy at some points gets lost in translation, the story telling is fascinating. Not knowing what to expect, the tone of the show turns out to be deep and dark, from sagas of loneliness and attempted suicide to the beauty of becoming a parent. Admittedly the format would work better if sectioned under a different category, however the combination of the venue, the structure and the intensity from Jim makes it feel more like a one on one conversation rather than a Fringe show.
Smallman uses simple slide shows to expand and explain themes visually; defiantly needed due to the lack of audience interaction and what sometimes seems like a very self-obsessed shrine to himself. If it’s a laugh you are after, then don’t go and see this show. If you want stories of inspiration, hope and intellect then this is for you. Jim is an intelligent, profound and complex performer…

3/5

Matt Green: Too Much Information

Douglas Calder — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:45:46 +0000

The premise of “Too Much Information” is the best of stand-up hooks, a topic to work around without closing off any material. Green has the advantage of being endearing and likeable. He is the sort of person that people want to find funny, which carries him through his stumbles.
The traditional ceremony of bonding with the crowd is performed, although this time round (either due to a bad night or a bad audience) the warm up doesn’t take. Matt evokes a steady stream of chuckles, and there are a moments of brilliance that almost succeed in tipping the room over the edge. Unfortunately, he never quite finds his tempo. His stage persona is slightly befuddled and disorganised, but he seems to have confused acting scatterbrained with being scatterbrained. The theme of the act is “distraction”, which the audience is constantly reminded of when he wanders off a thread into a snort worthy one liner.
Matt Green is certainly capable of telling a story, but many do not end in punchlines. It’s clear that he is passionate about the subjects of his rants (the Olympics and the banking crisis being two), but they aren’t funny.
As a comedian Matt Green shows signs of having great potential, but he has not matched his act with his stage personality. Too Much Information features a talented stand up with workable material, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

2/5

Andrew Doyle’s Crash Course in Depravity

Zander Bruce — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:44:03 +0000

Unforgiving, uncompromising and unapologetic. Forget toilet humour – this is darkroom humour. Befitting, then, for the venue, which looks like a students union fetish club, or “Fritzel’s basement” according to Doyle.
The writing here is so intensely sharp and clever that most of it goes completely over the heads of the majority of the audience. Oh, to have been privy to the rehearsal discussions between Doyle and director Scott Capurro (Fringe stalwart and pioneering gay stand-up) as they concocted this bacchanalian feast of sumptuously inappropriate ribaldry.
This isn’t just filth for its own sake and it doesn’t feel like a contrived list of vulgarities strewn together for mere shock value. It is an alternative viewpoint of our world of celebrity, media and false morality – albeit one from a sticky black leather-covered horse vault.
CCID hearkens back to when Fringe shows were unique, fierce secret little pockets of joy and shock, laughter and desperation. Doyle holds nothing back, throwing his (or his character’s) entire living sweating being into the gaping void of the audience’s incredulity. It is the crossroads of Art, Comedy, Sleaze and Humanity. For a fun game beforehand, try to guess which punters will walk out and how long it will take them.
An hour with Andrew Doyle on stage feels like the most bizarre and intense gaydar/grindr meet you can possibly have. If in doubt, ask box office to issue you with a safe word

5/5

Tom Goodliffe: The Good Liffe

Adrian G. Velazquez — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 09:30:09 +0000

Tom Goodliffe has heard it all before: that he is cute, lovely, friendly, charming, adorable and sweet. And so he proves to be – a good-natured comedian in the vein of Jarlath Regan or even Adam Hills; one who smiles, laughs and grins the whole way through his routine. Of course, charm alone isn’t enough if the material isn’t up to scratch, but thankfully Goodliffe is also funny.
In all fairness his material isn’t going to break any molds, but he manages to lift it into something appealing by virtue of this contagious warmth.
His maths rap gets the biggest laugh of the hour, because of its inventiveness and the utterly silliness of the idea itself. His list of things he hates is also amusing, and even when treading water with more mediocre material, he stills has the audience chuckling away with him.
Goodliffe frequently refers to his own jokes, whether his delight at them getting a laugh, or even a pun that hasn’t worked, which perhaps highlights his relative inexperience on the comedy circuit. It doesn’t spoil the show but it does come across as a bit amateurish and uncertain of his own material.
Happily, he doesn’t need to be worried because on the basis of this year’s material he is clearly on the right path. Entertaining, if not outstanding.

3/5

Gemma Goggin: Double G

Adrian G. Velazquez — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:52:13 +0000

To the tune of Mika’s Big Girls, curvaceous Gemma Goggin enters the stage and it is clear from the get-go that she is a fun loving, sassy gal. The theme of her 2011 show is – you guessed it – breasts. Indeed, she’s quite proud of her own, sharing intimate knowledge with the audience and even, once or twice, inviting us to peek at them (always covered, of course, it is not that kind of show!).
Goggin’s enthusiasm is contagious, her hearty laughter a joy to hear. Her banter with the audience is also of a high standard. The delivery of her material is amusing, although the show sometimes feels less like stand-up than a university lecture, utilising as it does a powerpoint element.
Herein lies the main problem: although Goggin is extremely likeable, her material under-performs, bringing the routine down. A pub quiz style section grates more than it amuses and drags on for too long. Audience interaction is always fun and interesting but forced questioning not so much.
By the end, when the measuring tapes come out in an invitation to measure one’s own breasts, the comedy has all but been abandoned. As an audience, we should be more interested in what she has to say than on the cup-size of female punters (and even adventurous males!). The lecturing tone doesn’t help, nor does the fact that none of these public measurements comes with any witty or even entertaining commentary.
Goggin is a fun girl, but she is let down by some run of the mill material. Maybe she is better suited for a late-night, post watershed audience, where she can let rip the raunchier persona that seems to be waiting to get out.

3/5