Assembly George Square (The Box)

21-24 August

£10-£11

22.00

Shirley & Shirley & sassy, sexy, young, scream-out load comedy duo from ‘sahf o’ the river,’ whose hour of hilarity is a white-knuckle ride of sketches, skits, impersonations & sheer silly fun. I mean, the taller Shirley was giving an ‘air’ blow-job while her dad was in the audience, which shows these girls have no fear when it comes to subject matters & daredevil delivery. Another example was when they impersonated two gay Italians, & got two butch lads from the audience to bob from a bucket of water – but not for apples, for sex toys!

As I was watching their show, I couldn’t help but think this was themost fun I’d had with any of the ‘comedy’ shows, a matter of saving the best til last, perhaps. At the show commenced, they asked the audience who had seen them before, & uprose a glorious roar of happiness. the rest – myself included – were virgins. Come the end, I overheard a coupel of guys go, “if they were on next year would you come back?” – “yeah definitely!” I have to say, I agree.

Reviewer – Damo Bullen

Gilded Balloon

20-25 August

15.00

£5

Back in 1966, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker & Jack Bruce formed the iconic British rock band, Cream, a supergroup of musicians who had moved on from their former bands. In the same fashion, three of the our recent student comedy elite have convereged upon each other to deliver an impressive hour of quick-fire comedy sketches. Just as Ginger Baker drove the Cream sound on with his pounding drums, so has Minor Delay’s own red-haired genius, Harry Michell (Footlights President 2012), written & directed this set of short sketches which arrive in our comedy laps in a relentlessly funny fashion.

Michell uses the traditional punch-line with aplomb, & is well supported by Abi Tedder (Footlights President 2010) and Joe Barnes (Leeds Tealights President 2012). The three of them are each given a chair on the stage, flanked by the quite pretty Héloïse Werner (violin) & Amelia Drew (cello), who whip out a pieces of Werner’s own classically influcenced music inbetween the sketches. Although the show seems better placed for radio, watching the three comics strut their Thalian stuff is an intimately entertaining experience. FOUR STARS

Reviewer : Damo Bullen

The Caves

19-24 August

20.00

£6-£7

My take on Mark Simmons: A comedian that has the old school one liner joke show. The show opens with a bombardment off one liner jokes and a few facts of life, leaving the audience a bit bemused as to where this show will take them, Mark proceeds to get undressed. What next !! Adolf Hitler with a Badger as a moustache ? Who would have thought of it.. Mark Simmons did. As the show goes on, the one liners keep coming leaving you a bit exhausted, “not too many one liners please” I heard a member of the audience mumble.

Mark held his ground well, especially when one member of the audience was texting, stretching and yawning and totally oblivious to Mark, whom was talking to him for 5 minutes ” one of the better laughs of the night” and by this time Mark was in his slippers and evening wear!! Was funny, well written but a bit long on the one liners. Would give an honest THREE STARS for a well thought-out show and would go see him next year with improvement on my mind…

Reviewer : Spud

Pleasance Courtyard

19-25 August

15.15

£8-£9

Catriona Knox is one sexy cookie, who grabs the audience by the balls & doesnt let go til all are abuzz to the comedy gold-dust she scatters about, what is definietly, her room. The show she has brought to Edinburgh this year allows her to unveil her wide range of voices, from the 1940’s English housewife, to a rabble-rousing American evangelist.

Throughout her show she used the same guy from the audience as her comedy stooge, who too had to take on different roles to complement Knox’s relentlessly amusing slices of the world. A real treat this one, & I feel that from now on no trip to the Fringe would be complete without checking out Knox. FOUR STARS.

Reviewer – Damo Bullen

Assembly Rooms – Ballroom – George Street

31^st July- 24^th August (not 11^th)

£16

20.55pm

We feel the electric buzz and excitement build as we walk into the grandeur of the Assembly Rooms Ballroom through an atmospheric colour spectrum of smoky haze spewing over the massive chandeliers. The expectation and anticipation is high and rising from the star of BBC1’s Live at the Apollo and Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow as the room packs out with enthusiastic Friday night excited bubbling tourists.

His enigmatic voice-over has the audience rolling with laughter before he even arrives on stage which instils a positive confidence as to what colourful treats lay ahead from this particular comedic cookie jar….And we are treated nonetheless to a bounty of comedy as this sexy, charismatic, fuckin mental psycho that he is, bounces on stage in an ‘extravaganza of awesomeness’ theatrically claiming his mum fucked Zeus.  Indeed, Sir, she may well have! His dry, skeptical humour is peppered with witty improvs keeping it feeling fresh and spontaneous throughout his one hour alternative show. His favoured topics for this evening cover drugs, age and parenthood as he showers us with his delightful observations in charming proportions. Bill Hicks meets Billy Connelly meets Spaghetti Western …on fireworks! Cracking comedy genius! FOUR STARS

Reviewer Teri Welsh

This is the first time that I have had the opportunity to bare witness to such a vast array of theater and performance art. It has given me a real insight into just how high the bar has been raised.The competitive aspect to the Fringe is massive.So much brilliance with a standard price of a Tenner per show Tensions are beginning to show, as Artists know at this stage whether they will break even or not.For the wealthy this really disnae matter.For the struggling genius,its a steep ball curve in the right direction. Divine says.Dinnae Give Up.The Show Ain’t Over Till The Fat Lady Sings. 8 days to go.Good Time! Divinexxx

16-25 August

£9-£10

Assembly Roxy

£9-£10

Calypso Nights is a brilliant example of cutting edge comedy, Dj Juan Vesuvius (aka Barnie Duncan)  introduces us to his maracas one by one in a hilarious example of high concept performance art. The Sexy Dj introduces us to his musical repertoire. He didn’t have to do much to entertain his up for it crowd. Everyone laughed. It was so much fun. Celebrity Stand Ups could learn a lot from this fine example of clowning. He threw a party at the end too.

Calypso Nights was Ace.
Four Stars. 
LoveDivinexx

Reviwer : Mark ‘Divine’ Calvert

Pleasance Below

16-25 August

£9.50-£10.50

20.30

I know what people were thinking. What!! A Russian comedian at the Edinburgh Festival. What next, Putin turning up in his 1970s Action Man suit.   No, just a normal guy from Moscow called Igor Meerson who was here to take us on a journey through his world of English and Russian Language, using many proverbs along the way.  From his first word he had the audience hooked with his Russian / English accent and rolled out the show from there. Not wanting to talk about politics he proceeded to hand out fruit to the audience which in his native land Russia has been sanctioned due to problems his comedy act has caused back home… quickly reminding the audience he is Russian and giving him the right to poison people. 

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy  was his introduction to the proverbs  of the English language and bringing  many a laugh with his Russian versions of it.  This well put together show was fast paced, witty, intelligent and best off all Funny.  Inviting the audience up on to the stage for a shot of Russian vodka was a great end to a exhilarating show.  This is one Comedian to watch out for.  FOUR STARS

Reviewer : Spud