Pleasance Courtyard

Aug 1-27 (16:45)

Material:    Delivery:   Laughs:  

Something is rotten in Ye Olde London Towne. And its not just the stench of night-soil! New girl Olive Bacon has come up from the country and she has a fine nose for a mystery – and for when her prize pig is in season – which is pretty much constantly! Teaming up with hapless landlocked seaman Teddy Tyrell, the duo go a-witch-hunting through a wildly historically (and geographically) inaccurate Tudor England. All manner of confusion ensues.

It’s Horrible Histories mashed-up with the cast of Made in Chelsea on a Scooby-Doo Mystery. Olive and Teddy meet a queer assortment of characters, including the Stinking Bishop and the retired Witch-Finder General, who has given up cremating young women and now finds release from her crippling PTSD through home-baking!

The tone of GBM tries to marry wordy, quite intricate, humour with the utterly stupid and occasionally base. People seemed to invest in that combination which was very fortunate for us
Read the full interview

With faces made for comedy – check out the great mug shots on their advertising poster – the pair had me laughing from the start. The plot zips along, ably assisted by some nifty (if factually shifty) multimedia in the background. But the belly laughs come from the sparking playfulness between Olive and Teddy. This energetic pair had the audience roaring with laughter, Henry VIII stylee, as they hunted down and finally catch their quarry – and its not what they expected…..

This is the second instalment of the Great British Mysteries – their debut show sold out last year. Be sure to grab a ticket this year, sell your urchins if you have to. If you like your comedy fast and witty, silly and a little bit bawdy you’ll split your doublet and hose at Teddy and Olive. These guys deserve an award of some sort! Or I’ll eat my britches.

Mark MacKenzie

Sweet Novotel
Aug 3-5, 7-12, 14-19, 21-26 (17.40)

Material: Delivery:    Laughs:

Novotel is a great hotel – I’ve stayed there with the wife a couple of times, & they really do make for comfortable stay. They have now opened their doors & their conference rooms to the eternally expanding Fringe, & a great addition it is too. But enough of the venue, what about the comedian? Well, her name is Sonia – Sonia Aste – a soft-spoken yet energy-streaking Spanish lady with a lovely American twang. I got it straight away what kind of comedian she was – the quintessential internationalist. The audience was a microcosm of Europe; the Irish, Germans, British & of course Spanish were all represented. It reminded me very much of a British game show called Going For Gold which was on air between 1987-1996, presented by an Irishman called Henry Kelly. The questions were fairly difficult, & I always thought it unfair that people from the continent had to answer questions in English, it was a bit weird. But the Global Village is putting down roots at a phenomenal rate, & English is now the international lingua franca, with Sonia Aste personifying the spirit.

With Spain being one of the top destination for British tourists, my show shines a light into our cultural differences and what it means to be ‘Made in Spain’. It’s a fast paced show based on a ‘Tapas Menu’, and the audience chooses what they want to order. I wanted to cater to all comedy tastes and like a good Spanish meal, provide a space to share in the fun and laughter.
Read the full interview

The essence of her show is to sprinkle a bit of Spanish sunshine on us all, looking at swirling life situations, & giving us the Spanish take on them. To the audience were handed out a set of maracas, a tamborine & something that looked a giant ribb’d wooden suppository, apparently called a güiro. These were then shook & shimmer’d at the appropriate moments between Aste’s bubblebath performance. I also experienced a new moment in all my Fringeing; Aste was pronouncing a phrase she had heard in Spanish, to which the Spaniards in the audience were laughing before it was translated into English. It was at that point that I realised Sonia’s informal, communicative spirit is the perfect anti-Brexit peace-cry – we Europeans are all the same really, & watching a re-run of Going For Gold or heading to the Novotel in Edinburgh this Fringe at 5.40PM will prove that.

Damo

Pleasance Courtyard
August 9-14, 16-26 (21:00_

Material: Delivery:    Laughs:

I was very impressed with the size of the Pleasance Courtyard’s grand gothic hall, its stunning thick oak beams and its great acoustics. Then the lights dimmed, the curtain pulled back slightly, and there he was our wee ‘Chubster’ to entertain us with his banter, wit and somewhat dubious dance moves! Hal is one of the biggest acts around at this year’s festival.  I had previously see Hal on TV – Live at the Apollo & Have I Got News For You – so I was aware of his pedigree and was hoping for a real treat! I was not disappointed whatsoever, he was absolutely brilliant from start to finish.

It was none stop laughter from start to finish, you have either got it or you haven’t, and Hal certainly has it and then some! His show was a real mix of material, pontificating upon everything from weight-gain to kids and Brexit. Hal throws in a splash of audience participation, but not much as he prefers to rely on having a poke at the world in general. Hal’s humour is a mix of anecdotes, observations and funny stories, with a bit of doggy dancing thrown in for good measure. As you would expect from someone of his stature his performance was flawless and filled with belly laughs throughout. Chubster is one of the slickest that I have vere seen and I can’t recommend Hal high enough. He is also one for the full family and a very safe and very funny pair of hands, with a sprinkle of something for everyone.

Mark Parker

Just the Tonic @ The Caves

August 2-12, 14-26 (16.55)

Material: Delivery:    Laughs:

I immediately liked this venue – the theatre room at the Caves – as it reminded me of pictures of the Tavern in Liverpool where the Beatles played all those years ago, with exposed bricks and a red stage; our seats were like cheap church pews. As I took my seat I wondered what direction this young comedian, Sam Russell, would take in this, his debut stand-up show at the Edinburgh Fringe. My question was soon answered as he launched into his act and started to tell us his ideas about both personal and general issues, displaying a witty and engaging story-telling technique with a lot of audience interaction. He told us he took a gig in France once where he said he found that his humour had the power to transcend language difficulties.

Russell’s style was a little brash – an essential for comedy – but there are deeper sections too, as he made more serious quips about losing loved ones, of which he said that after the initial funk of loss he would immerse himself in his live stand up. He became more and more entertaining and expressive as the evening went on – we could see him limbering up before our very eyes. His stories were filled with personal and interactional comments on his various theses about how he saw and felt, peppered with jokes. He’s the kind of comedian to tell stories about things that matter to him, perhaps also using the experience of friends.

The show is now about how when we are lucky we need to admit it and embrace it. Don’t always be looking for the next thing you want; wallow in the majesty of the wonderful everyday.
Read The Full Interview

The title of the show, Lucky Bastard, perhaps has two sides to it. On the one hand, it transpires that he has a beautiful Danish wife and a fortunate lifestyle, on the other there is the irony of not being lucky at his friend’s death or at the early training his mother gave him; since he was a child she had told him that there was no God, no Santa and so on. I think that he perhaps found that to be more of a benefit later on in his still young life experience. And his wife and middle class background can very well end up being the butt of his jokes – “my wife didn’t take well to that” or “Glastonbury is a refugee camp”.

A relaxed persona in simple, rebellious jeans and t-shirt and with a pint on the table next to him, Sam Russell had the audience in the palm of his hand and often howling with laughter. A couple of below-the-belt jokes were interspersed with the sincere side of the performance and we could tell that he was willing to be more risky and brash, including a few more risky jokes jabbing his finger at some racial and immigration comments. It was the sort of show that would go down well in any free thinking city. His themes were selected mostly from personal experience, and cunningly written by him as a tool for sculpting his material and his comedic performance.

I have to confess that I didn’t feel entirely safe during this show – I found myself hiding from the spotlight, for a red face wouldn’t save you from being roughly ridiculed and staring at the performer may mean your dignity and your life. What made me happy was that he was just as likely to turn the tables, and the comedy, on himself. My gut laughed a few times, from some of his timeless humour. One of the best was the marathon scene where he reduced himself to an absurd level. He was absolutely flying at that point.

Come and watch this crazy hilarious guy own the stage and offer up his whole personality, literal and metaphysical, for the sole purpose of entertaining you and sending you home with your head full of laughter.

Daniel Donnelly

Jacob Lovick and Tyler Harding are back at the Fringe with their third slice of  maverick mayhem. The Mumble loved having a wee blether with the boys…

Hello Jacob, so where are you both from and where ya at, geographically speaking?
Jacob: Hello! I’ve lived a very adventurous life, in which I was born in London, grew up in London, lived briefly in Birmingham for a period of my life I like to call ‘being at university’, and then moved back to London, where I’m currently still living. In London. Tyler has been slightly more maverick. He’s from Stroud, a Gloucestershire town about as opposite from London as you can get in every conceivable sense. He’s just moved from Birmingham to London too, to be “nearer to me” and “mostly for his job”. What a guy.

Hello Tyler, so how did you & Jacob meet?
Tyler: First year of University. I’d heard rumour that there was a man with an exceptional handshake on my course. Being a massive fan of good handshakes, I sought to find him. And yes, he absolutely does have a fantastic handshake.

Which comedians inspire you, both old skool and on the scene today?
Tyler: I like the double acts that push each other and play with each other – stuff like Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore, or Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, people who make it their aim to make the other laugh or just enjoy it fresh every time, they’re fantastic. On the scene today, Im absolutely in love with Max and Ivan. Truly, truly brilliant.

When did you first realise you could make people laugh?
Jacob: When I was in year 5, there was a guy who had just the best laugh in the world. I won’t mention his name, on the off-chance that he ends up reading this and hasn’t laughed since year 5. It was so, so compelling to try to make him laugh, which would then set other people off and so on. That’s probably still at the heart of it now,

How did you get into comedy?
Jacob: Bafflingly, my school ran a stand-up night. Once. Just once. For good reason. I entered it and did 10 wilfully poorly-judged minutes about wanting to be a DJ. Aged 15. I don’t think I knew what a DJ was. But it must have been an enjoyable enough night because I carried on doing it right through to university and now beyond. Fellow comedians Chris Martin, Rory O’Keeffe and Alexander Fox were all also on the same bill.

Can you describe you relations with Tyler in a single word?
Jacob: Terse.

Can you describe you relations with Jacob in a single word?
Tyler: Yes

What are the key ingredients to a good joke?
Tyler: I absolutely fall about for any kind of surprise in a joke – a ‘pull back and reveal’ or ‘bait and switch’, so for me, that’s what cracks me up.

Just what exactly is LoveHard?
Jacob: It’s a not-at-all sexy fusion of our two surnames and our two sets of opinions about what is funny. It’s two people’s attempts at a foray into comic stories and adventures, and an opportunity for us to live out our dreams of being in the sorts of shows that we create. It’s sort of a sketch show, sort of a play, but mostly just an hour in the day when Tyler and I can spend time together not talking about ourselves.

Can you tell us about your run at the Soho Theatre?
Jacob: We were lucky that our show last year, ‘Murdered by Murder’, went really well and had some lovely five star reviews, most of which were from people we didn’t know. Lee Griffiths from the Soho came and saw us, enjoyed us and programmed us as part of their Soho Rising season at the end of October, for new and undiscovered acts. God it was fun. We didn’t tell them we had a gun in the show (which was made of plastic and marked ‘TOY GUN’), which had to be kept in a locked room at all times, and we forgot to invite any agents or producers. I got overexcited at the start and almost gave away a major plot point. I don’t think we’ve ever been more proud.

This is your third year at the Fringe, what have you learnt about yourselves & your act since 2016?
Tyler: I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that our show isn’t and never was simply a sketch show – our first year it was also a genuine haunted house horror, last year was a murder mystery, and this year’s also an 80s Sci Fi Thriller – so I shouldn’t just be worrying about laughs. It’s ok to have slower moments, to have tense bits, and it’s ok to let the audience enjoy that but without trying to cram on making it funny. If we do, it’ll take away from the rest of the story.

Can you describe in a single sentence the experience of performing at the Fringe?
Jacob: A self-indulgent, over-expensive, mentally-disempowering, under-prepared, hot-bin-scented best month of the year.

You’ve got 20 seconds to sell the show to somebody in the street…
Tyler: We’ve got an 80s Sci-Fi Thriller Comedy. It’s like Stranger Things, Jumanji and The Goonies had a baby. With just two performers playing about 50 characters.

Tales From The Elsewhere

Pravda @ Espionage

August 2-26 (20.45)

Tweets by @lovehardcomedy

Underbelly Cowgate

Aug 2-12/14-19/21-26 (20.00)

At eight PM across Edinburgh during the Fringe, there must be thousands of performers strutting their stuff – none of whom, & I don’t say this lightly, are as absolutely f**king brilliant as Lewis Doherty. What the hell has he created!? Its as if he’s just completely invented the martial art of performance, & the only name I could think of as I sat with my jaw drooping to the floor all goggle-eyed was Ninjacting. Trust me his white dwarf is about to go supernova.

Clad all in black with a microphone taped to his cheek, he plunges into the seedy side of Shadowtown. Wolf is a cop trying to figure out what happened to his partner, & is the main of many characters Doherty creates to tell this classical noir tale, all accompanied by his own vocal sound-effects & top-notch physicality. Each of the myriad ‘actors’ are completely distinguishable; with different voices, eyes, body language, etc. It was phenomenal what he was doing. It wasn’t all about the characters, tho’, for the way he invoked a disused apartment block with coo-cooing & fluttering birds was pure art.

I really wanted to show audiences something that they never thought would be possible on stage. It’s an extremely ambitious show and it’s just me and a chair when you really look at the bare bones of it. I’m trying to draw a clear picture of what I want the audience to see and then they get to colour it in themselves.
Read the full interview

Lewis Doherty learnt his craft with the inimitable Laughing Stock, but he must have been to Mount Parnassus recently or something, because what he’s doing now is just so transcendentally pioneering. He’s got the wings of Hermes in his heels. From first moment to last, we were all transfixed. Ten minutes from the end I could actually feel the standing ovation coming, that’s something I have never felt before & a curious sensation indeed. All of a sudden he had stopp’d, & there was no ovation… for about four seconds, as everyone recovered from their trance… then of course all were upstanding in a rush of applause. Like lemmings we were approaching the cliff of appreciation, where we were all happy to fling ourselves at the mercy of Doherty’s oceanic talent.

Damo

Laughing Horse @ Espionage
Aug 7-26 (14:45)

Material: Delivery:    Laughs:

I got a surprise when I found that the venue for this show was a small bar named ‘Kasbar’. With 10 minutes to go and the crowd gathering, I had no idea what to expect, but took a seat and waited expectantly. Opposite the bar a right-on looking guy in a white cap and resort type t-shirt was twiddling with his small mixing desk and testing the mic in preparation for the show. I started to settle in.

Of course, it turned out that the guy was our host for the evening, Andy Quirk, who, along with his long-time stage partner, Anna J, proceeded to entertain us for 45 action packed minutes, blending rap, heavy metal, dance and comedy on the theme of the show’s title ‘First World Problems’. I was immediately put into a good mood as I focused on the lyrics, which we could make out with ease. The performers certainly knew how to work an audience and with each song encouraged us to ‘raise the bar’ as we sang along and jived in our seats with ever increasing exuberance. At one point they had one member of the audience on the floor doing the splits…

Andy’s take on things was hilarious partly because of his east London accent and also the irrepressible energy of his persona, which somehow melded into the perfect way to express complex reactions to what it is like to live in the first world. In the almost exotic setting of the bar with people having cocktails, the show is half Spanish resort, half cruise at sea type entertainment, with a raw edge. It shows the quirky variety of the Fringe and the power of Fringe entertainment.

The 45 minutes flew by in a flash, taking us on a whistle stop tour around the problems of modern life, from ‘tales of the unexpected’ to Orwellian-type double speak, and taking in references to eighties music when I realised the similarity of the garb of these two as eighties musical artists, mixed with a nineties appeal as well. There was irony, honesty, satire, sex. In fact it was the sense of irony and quick delivery that made Quirk stand out, yet his frequent self-deprecating gestures drew us in and created a kind of bond between performer and audience. This guy is sharp, make no mistake, with many strings to his bow. I found myself wondering what else he may have done in the field of more classical theatre. On top of all this, Anna J was a wonderful partner, whose interactions and Love Island inspired tale of heartbreak towards the end further enhanced the experience.

This show is enticing, funny, surprising, even therapeutic.  If you want to chill for a while out of the dense crowds while being thoroughly entertained, I would suggest you come in and take a peek – just be prepared to join in!

Daniel Donnelly

The Wee Coo
August 1-27 (21.20)

Material: Delivery:    Laughs:

Eli Matthewson is an edgy Kiwi comic, clearly popular down that way on account of the New Zealand news crew filming the set & the Antipodean laughter which filled the room. This was the Underbelly’s intimate Wee Coo, which has an especial acoustic quality of being able to distinctify every person’s individual chortles, giggles & guffaws, I loved that. These laughs, by the way, were as regular as a heart scanner. As Eli rips thro’ his set; come every pause, without fail, a beep of laughter shot up into the room from all quarters.

Eli is gay, & beams his out pride, not constantly & only a tad gratuitous, but as a simple part of his life alongside his mum, dad, Auntie Kath & boyfriend, who all get wee cameos as we go. His comedy is of the ticklish type, reaching out like an octopus & making us all squiggle in our seats as we laugh. The section on Grinder-driving was especially & intensely peerless. As we ride his comedy rodeo, we learn some fun facts; like Auckland being built on fifty cute volcanoes, & also the absolute adorability of pubic crabs. This is the perfect stand-up show for those who want a bit of cheekiness as well as genuine laughs, & with Eli’s strands deftly collected together into a bubbling denoument, I left the Wee Coo in a state of complete fulfillment.

Damo

Best pals Rachel Wheeley & Nicola Houghton are up from Tooting with some proper funny stuff, but they’re only here ’til Sunday…

Hello Nicola, so where are you both from and where ya at, geographically speaking?
Nicola: Nicola grew up in Radcliffe near Manchester, and Rachel at Eton College, the poshest school in the world. However since then we have both moved to sunny Tooting in South West London

When did you first realise you could make people laugh?
Nicola: I remember the defining moment, aged 16 in a GCSE drama class, where we were to improvise a play about the plague village in the 1600s. I remember thinking it was a bit dry and coming up with a comic character that was a mother of one of the villagers. I remember making the room laugh and thinking it was the best feeling in the world, and that I wanted to do more.

How did you get into comedy?
Nicola: A mere 20 years after that event, I finally got on stage to do my first gig. I had grown up surrounded by comedy in that there was a lot of story tellers in my family, coupled with northern humour. Plus I grew up in Manchester where it rains a lot. We spent our summer holidays watching films by Norman Wisdom, George Formby, Laurel and Hardy and Will Hay. We had our family holiday in Scarborough a few years on the run and ended up seeing the Chuckle Brothers at the Corner Cafe there. I was thinking of those days this week with the passing of Barry Chuckle.

How did you meet Rachel?
Nicola: We met at a mother and baby group in Tooting. Not a place many comics will have bumped into each other! Neither of us were comedians then, that came later when we needed a plan to get out of bedtime.

Hi Rachel so do you guys socialise much as families?
Rachel: We haven’t yet but Nicola and I like to hang out and write together and of course we run the Tooting comedy club so we hang out a lot for that, talking about acts we love. I think we will hang out more after the Fringe, we’ve got to know each other so well up here!

You’ve got three famous figures from history coming round for dinner. Who would they be & what would you cook; starter, mains & dessert?
Nicola: Margaret Rutherford, John Wesley & Jesus. Hmm, bit of an odd mix – might be best if they came on different days. Prawn cocktail with bread and butter followed by Steak pudding and chips with bread and butter, followed by apple crumble and custard.

The kids are out with their dad at the movies, you’ve got the house to yourself for three, maybe three & a half hours, what do you do?
Rachel: Without a shadow of a doubt I’d spend the first couple of hours getting on with a bunch of cleaning and washing, of which there is always a mountain (I have three kids) and then I would treat myself to a nap. I wish I had a more interesting answer 🙂

Where & when did the idea for Meet in the Middle originate?
Nicola: Rach and I run a comedy club in Tooting, Comedy at the Wheatsheaf. We’d decided to take something up to Edinburgh together, so we met for a coffee to come up with an idea for the show. I had sugar in mine, Rach didn’t and it grew from there.

You were shortlisted for the BBC New Comedy Award in 2018, how did that feel?
Rachel: Exciting. I sent a recording of a performance at Comedy at the Wheatsheaf, the night Nicola and I run in Tooting and was lucky enough to be invited to regional heats. It was fun to tell everyone to listen on the radio. My Mum has listened a few times on iplayer and keeps sending me laughing emojis.

You’re bringing a show to this year’s Fringe – can you tell us about it?
Rachel: Nicola Houghton & Rachel Wheeley: Meet in the Middle – Nicola and I are neighbours in Tooting, but we’re from very different backgrounds. Nicola grew up in Radcliffe near Manchester in the North of England, Rach at Eton College, the poshest school in the world. We both find middle class London bizarre, for different reasons!

Would the show appeal to non-Brits at the Fringe & why?
Rachel: Yes! We’re covering two very different parts of Britain in the show. Non-Brits can find out all about where Prince William went to school, and what it’s like growing up in the North of England – they may be inspired to visit Manchester!

You’ve got 20 seconds to sell the show to somebody in the street…
Rachel: Eton College meets fish and chips – come and see us, it’s funny, and free!

Meet In The Middle

Bar Bados

August 4-11 (18.00)

Tweets by @RachelWheeley

Tweets by @NicolaHoughton_

The Mumble go out & about around the Free Fringe & PWYL shows spread all across Edinburgh

Nicky Wilkson: Happy
Aug 2-26: Laughing Horse @ Espionage (14.00)

Read her interview here

Nicky Wilkson, one half of the acclaimed duo, The Kagools, stands like Bob Dylan in his Subterranean Homesick Blues video, flicking through a white pad on which are written the things which make her happy. As we join her lovely dream, Nicky makes everyone feel cool & inclusive, & is not shy with the free pork pies. We play game shows such as the fairly insane mechanics behind Pass the Bingo & also Hanky Panky, which is not as sexy as it sounds. She also plays the spoons extraordinarily well, & the general vibe is one of watching Biggles in biplane strafing the audience with her cheeky parlour room funathon. In this instance, Nicky is a children’s entertainer for adults & no-one left the room without their fun levels topped up for the day.

Nathaniel Metcalfe: Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian & Caricature
Aug 2-26: The Counting House (13:10)

Read his interview here

Nathaniel Metcalfe is making his comeback. Four years ago, in the flushes of comedy success, his girlfriend dumped him on the last day of the Fringe. ‘At least my bags were packed,’ he quips, but this is no lament for lost love, for the fellow is clearly over the trauma & is ready to rock once more. As a comedian, the sensitive Metcalfe reminds me of a swan gliding effortlessly through his material. There are funny gags, there is clever nostalgia, there is self-deprecation, there is a Jeremy Irons video & there is a bell rang by the celebrated James Macaster, Metcalfe’s wingman, whenever our comedian goes off tangent. A pleasant session is this, an early & tasty appetizer for a full day at the Fringe.

Kevin: Matviw: Self Defence For Cowards
Laughing Horse @ The Place Hotel
Aug 2-26th (18.45)

Read his interview here

Kevin Matviw is from Canada, & is also a very brave man. Composing & performing a solo sketch show is a difficult artform, yet he does it so enthusiastically well! As he adds sound effects triggered by a foot pedal, Kevin invites the audience in on most occasions. It is rare that everyone wants to get up & make a fool of themselves during a show, but it felt like everyone in the audience were chomping at the bit to get involved. Self Defence For Cowards rolls thro’ multiple set pieces of various levels absurdity, the highlight of which was his 70s cop show, in which audience member Terry played an even more enthusiastic part. This is a perfect show for a few pals or a family who want to sit down together in a more relaxed frame of mind than having to listen to a soliloquizing comedian of random quality. Kevin has quality &, in the current climate, a quite unique show which is well worth a watch.

Suzanne Lea Shepherd: You’re Okay!
Bar 50: August 15-26 (16.45)

Read her interview here

For those who want to feel a proper part of the international comedy community, then go see Suzanne Lea Shepherd, who brings her distinctly American-toned material to Edinburgh. Audience friendly from the off, the central slam-dunk theme of her solo show is one wild family Thanksgiving, drunk on boxed wine in a strip-club with her parents, from which her epic & witty observations digress. We are also entertained by the grand scheme of relationships & her place in it – sometimes with an awkward viscerality – but definitely true to life & clearly true to herself. Both brutal & affectionate, Suzanne is a heady cocktail of  humor & storytelling, & at a concisely-timed forty-five minutes, You’re Okay! is an excellent way to spend your freestylin’ day.

Nathan Cassidy: If I Caused the Financial Crash of 2008
August 2-26th : The Caves (20:00)

Read his interview here

If there’s one thing you can guarantee every Fringe, its Nathan Cassidy coming up with a completely fresh show, so fertile is his comedy imagination. This year we have a pinballing blast through his year’ of working as a banker, where one loose comment might have unleashed the great financial crash of 2008. Looking snappy as a gigolo, his suave rock’n’roll comedy persona beams us through his worldscape with unforgettable energy. Satirical, sarcastic, cunning & clever, Cassidy is a different animal to most comedians in Edinburgh right now, a perfectly intellectual & above all funny antidote to some of the nonsense being babbled all day across Edinburgh.