Pleasance Courtyard

21.30

£8.50 – £10.50

14-25 August

At the beginning of the show, things seemed to be promising. A French stand up comedian using the lack of his English skills to make the first laughs. However, things did not continue as expected. Ideas seemed to come from here and there and were ambiguous. I spent the whole hour waiting for the big break of the session, but this unfortunately didn’t happen.

Having watched many stand up comedies over time, I think the audience seems to be mainly interested when stories are about real life of comedians. Impersonating dragons, chicken and batman do not seem age-appropriate. Children might be interested in this kind of show, but for adults, this certainly doesn’t meet their expectations. 2 STARS

Reviewer: Grace

Assembly George Square

14-25 August

£12

21.30

Edinburgh Festivals gladly welcome back the self-confessed whore-lovin, poor-lovin, self-righteous, potty-mouthed & anarchistic american comedic singer-songwriter, Hamell. Two years ago, he won the Herald Angel Award at the for his previous show, ‘The Terrorism of Everyday Life.’ This time round he’s the ‘Happiest man in the World,’ & god bless him, he guy is just pure entertainment. His exxcellent musicianship is played out on a beaten-up 1937 acoustic Gibson guitar, & the delivery of his songs is riveting.

Wide-eyed & swigging redbull after arriving in Edinburgh from New York only a ferw hours previously, Hamell swaggered to work; a cross between Eminem, Beck & Dylan doing Subterranean Homesick Blues, I was completely entranced by his words & almost demonic guitar-work. The root of this, I guess, is the fact he he took mescalin capsules every day between the ages of 13 & 21. He touches on all sorts of subjects for huis music – real down-to-earth stuff, & finished off the show with one of teh best pieces of performance poetry Ive ever heard. Inbetween the songs, he does throw insome pretty cheesy jokes, & like Hamells says, the mix ghe provides is ‘very fringey.’Iif this was his first night & he still had jet-lag, then future punters are in for a right treat! FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Damo Bullen

The Tron

18.20

14-24 August

£7-£10

Danny is Jimmy’s lad, and he’s been trying to better his dad (at anything) for thirty years. Danny is an exponent of the comedy of recognition: any lad brought up in the north of England will recognize Danny’s dilemma. Firstly, the name “lad”, you don’t get a name until you’re better than your dad at something. As a teenager, Danny scores his first hatrick for his team, from behind a hedge one of Jimmy’s mates says: “Well done lad, yer dad had scored four at your age”. Various laddish digressions (including audience participation) are seamlessly integrated into the performance, as are various affectionate jokes related to his dad which are all pulled together at the conclusion of the performance.

Danny is funny. He manages to create a warm and positive response from the audience, and the personal aspect of his show is engaging and interesting, rather than mawkish. The show is well paced and builds up nicely to a video of a penalty shoot out with his dad, which gets the biggest laughs of the night.I had my teenage son with me and he certainly recognized Danny’s dilemma, laughing heartily all night, with occasional knowing glances at me. Of course when Danny does eventually get the better of his dad, does he feel alright? Go and see to find out. You’re guaranteed a good night out. FOUR STARS

Reviewer : Paul Rivers

The Phoenix (Broughton Street)

13-18 / 20-24 August

20.45

Free Fringe

This afternoon I was walking across the top of Broughton Street, when I found myself accosted by a crazy-haired, flyer-waving individual named Victor Pope, shouting, ‘a wet piece of card you’re gonna look at once & then throw away!” So I took the flyer, but instead of throwing it away I decided to give this love-able scamp a chance.

Partnered by a sasquatchesque all-round musician named Roy, Victor proceeds to strum his guitar like a man possessed & croon his way through a series of increasingly funny songs. His subjects often leaves the audience tittering (or leaving the room in the case of Kunt), ranging ftrom pscychotic dentists  & the political persuasion of Jesus. My favorite song, which Ive dug out on you-tube, was called Careers Advice for the Young at Heart.

Victor also mixes things up with a couple of hilarious poems & a pastiche parady of Fifty Shades of Grey, which I didn’t quite get cos I haven’t read the book, but the girls beside me were tittering all the way through.  These, combined with the pretty decent standard of musician for a comedy singer, & the sheer uniqueness of his material has earned the fellow FIVE STARS.

Reviewer : Simon Sumner

Pleasance Courtyard

Aug 10-24,

21:45 pm- 22:45 pm

Prices: £ 8.5o- 9.5o

The Canadian John Hastings took the audience through an autobiographical ‘adventure,’ commencing with his childhood & concluding with his becomeing a stand-up comedian in London. It was all rather reminiscent of Wordsworth’s epic poem, the Prelude. On the way, John described how he was bullied as a fat child, the drunken nights in London and a story with the Megabus. There were some funny bits particularly when it comes to the cultural differences between Canada and the UK. For me, the way he described his entry via the UK borders was probably my only amusing part of the show.

On the other hand, there was a bit too much shouting. It looked more like a theatrical performance than a stand-up comedy. He tended to spice up the show by intimidating the audience. However, this made the session uncomfortable. In addition I am not sure about whether people from audience who he swore at found it acceptable – & taking off his shirt while describing a drunken night did not make the bit funnier and more exiting.

This was an average show with too much noise. Some parts demonstrated his potential, which I believe could be improved upon by a tad better writing. TWO STARS 

Reviewer: Grace

Assembly Roxy

2-24 August

21.30

£8-£10

Tony Roberts is a wise-cracking, highly amiable sorcerer from Australia. This occasional escapologist now finds himself in Edinburgh performing some amazing, & I mean amazing, card tricks. After twenty minutes of funny introductions to his life & world – like the time he asked his wife to play a game – guess the flavour of his flavoured condoms, & she said cheese & onion & he said he hadn’t put one on yet – he asked two members of the audience onto the stage to be his assistants. 

There follows a series of card-tricks that literally leaves the audience gasping. He has the ability to click his fingers & change cards right before your eyes. The highlight for me was after a comprehensive shuffle of the deck, he managed to deal out in sequence every level of hand in texas hold em poker, concluding with the final hand of the 2005 World Series of Poker.

Tony’s comedy is a little bit dodgy at times, & occasionaly he finds himself the only one laughing in the room. ‘That one’s for me,’ he’d quickly quip & swiftly move on with his show. But it hardly matters, for his magic is the true star of the show, or should or say FIVE STARS.

Reviewer : Damo Bullen

Ace Dome

11-25 Aug (not 12)

17.20

£8.50-£12

With an introduction of How Deep is Your Love, the tone seemed to be set for the show. Slow-moving gags directed at relationships left us wondering where the laughs would come from, but his Glaswegian take on relationships started to throw up a good few laughs and allowed the audience to finally engage . A show that everyone could relate to when it comes to the  love of your life. As stand up goes, the pace was a bit shuffly, and was more like story telling at some points – but whenever the right points were hit the audience were in fits off laughter!

I sensed the audience left the room feeling the good factor, but maybe a few more laughs would have sealed an extra star. Indeed, as the couple behind me were leaving, I overheard them they arguing  in a very heated manner about the show and its contents, with both having complete opposite takes on it! For me, it will have to be THREE STARS.

Reviewer : Spud

Stand 4

14.20

12-24 August

£7-£8

Born in India, Sameena Zehra moved to London where she picked up both the accent & the native British wit. The crux of her show is a ‘cull-list,’ where she targets the certain ‘undesirables’ of society in order to cleanse humanity. I mean, its a little brutal, but the subject provides Sameena with an interesting angle to approach her comedy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eTcPL84oNs

Visceral & honest, she connects well with the audience, touches a wide range of subjects & litters her quite intelligent patter with genuine jokes. If one is looking for thought-provoking comedy,  Sameena is a good bet. THREE STARS

Reviewer : Damo Bullen