22 year old comic, Rhys James won’t thank me for mentioning his age, but he does this himself throughout his patchy show. He is a confident performer but a lack of material lets him down & when he is good he shows potential for greater things. He is clearly quick witted as his adlibs during the show prove but he need to cut out some of the weaker material. Given that he is relatively inexperienced this likely happen.
A promising, self-deprecating comic still learning his trade, the boy comic with one kidney could yet become a man. By the way, Rhys. I enjoyed the poetry. THREE STARS.
I went along to see Geoff Norcott not really knowing what to expect. The show started with the usual crowd participation, finding out where different groups of people came from, which during the festival is quite varied; then Geoff got into his routine which covered a plethora of topics ranging from politics,funny stories about the Taliban and many more. Although’ he started slowly, the pace soon picked up and by the end of the show I was holding my sides and wiping the tears from my eyes with laughter. All and all a great show FOUR STARS
Andrew Lawrence blends his unflinching nihilism with the empathy, sharp wit and observational skills that make him a genuinely great comic .
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He shambles about the stage fiddling with his mic stand like a world weary, misanthropic hobbit with a bad case of the aids, delivering a dialogue on subjects that range from the fact we’ll all end up as fecal soiled corpses, to the cliched dinner parties of middle class middle aged fence straddling accountants, that have morphed into such from the half starved cider fueled students of one’s uni days.
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His audience interaction is good sit in the front row at your peril, you’ve been warned ! An all-round great performance, very enjoyable & highly recommended FIVE STARS
What if Russell and Jo Brand had managed to raise a lovechild in the West Country on a diet of Torvil & Dean, soaps KFC and encouragement? Suzy Bennet could possibly be the result!
From the Phil McIntyre Entertainment group, Suzy was the winner of the Funny Women Award (2012). Her show provides much humour while she tells of her up and down life story with aplomb, self-insight and many a confession, from Butlins Red Coat to a Rehab ‘Holiday’, and much more.
As well as currying sympathy from the audience of some past tragedies, her show also provides laugh out loud moments, one of my favourites was the slide of Great Yarmouth’s waxworks, sadly closed now!
Go along and support her campaign to become a minor celebrity and have her moment on Dancing on Ice, she may even provide you with a lemon cleansing wipe! THREE STARS
I had high expectations for this Channel 4 award winning comedian given the glowing reviews I had read prior to the fully booked Friday evening’s gig at the Pleasance. And yes, he was razor sharp, polished and professional with his delivery, and came across enthusiastic, confident and charismatic. However I would end the positives there. From the kick off I was cringing at the frankly lame and obvious jokes and felt increasingly uncomfortable as he divulged his clear sexual dilemmas on pornography.
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We were left to feel like his therapist at times as he waded through his lust and porn issues with deliberations of whether he should stop wanking over a dead woman’s porn video or not.
An attention seeking sexual therapy session… which was somewhat repetitive. ONE STAR
Lewis Schaffer is not a nice man. He is bitter, sleazy, arrogant, smug, self centred, lazy, misogynistic and possibly even a little bit racist. Not two minutes into the show he was coming on to my mum and telling my mum’s husband and me how terrible and old we both looked. He fished around for gags by desperately begging the audience to come up with suggestions before veering off the topic completely. For a large part of the act you kind of got the impression he was on the verge of total mental collapse. Imagine kind of a cross between Joan Rivers and Charlie Chuck and you’re not far off. Now I’m no fan of Joan Rivers but I have all the time in the world for Charlie Chuck. And it was this side of his routine, the character and madness of Lewis Schaffer that I found the most appealing. His material occasionally veered off into pure shock value and was a tad thin at times but the delivery was so toe curlingly obnoxious that he always won through on pure personality alone.
It is not an easy watch, definitely don’t take your children (he might kidnap them) and definitely don’t sit in the front row as we foolishly did but if you’re ready for it Lewis Schaffer is one of the most vital shows on the free fringe if not the fringe as a whole. Free until Famous is the name of his show and I raise up the challenge, forget the Ginge, the Minge and the Twinge, give this guy all your money and get him a prime time channel four show right this instant! If only the world were so idiotically brave…
There was a time, somewhere back in the eighties when comedy did what it said on the tin. You’d turn on the TV to see Russ Abbot or Lenny Henry or Les Dennis or Victoria Wood and you and your family would curl up on the sofa, sometime after tea and have a jolly good harmless chortle at their knockabout, silly and occasionally mildly sexist japery. It was a fond time before the likes of Alexi Sayle, Bill Hicks and latterly Stuart Lee came and ruined it for everybody by preaching their leftist, subversive politics, swearing and forcing us to think. I don’t have a family and I quite like thinking so this was kind of a relief for me but for those of you who hark back to simpler times the Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek is probably the show for you.
With their sketches about how tortoises are slow, how homosexuality is funny and how men don’t understand women they will always find an appreciative audience. Proven by the fact they’ve apparently got a BBC show in the pipeline. No doubt filling the same slot Russ Abbot and the like used to fill. Although they’ll have to temper the 2 swear words and one drug reference I counted in the live show. A bit like watching Rolf Harris at Glastonbury. But there’ll be no Yew tree gags here. Definitely suitable for children. In fact, if you ask me, it’s kind of wasted on adults. If this sounds like your Basil Brush, give it a whirl, but for the more progressive minded among you I recommend a performer like Lewis Schaffer, and he’s free!
Red Bastard is the edgy creation of Los Angeles-based, Eric Davis, Deanna Fleysher and Sue Morrison. The surreal blend of uncomfortable truisms and confrontational style is refreshing and engaging. The show kicks off and the Red Bastard is revealed, monster like from the curtains. Shake a DNA cocktail of Quasimodo, Robert Smith and the Joker with a grotesque dervish ballerina and its not even close. The menacing stage persona immediately commands the respect and fear of the audience.
The show is immediately interactive. The audience is this show. The Red Bastard just evokes what’s in the audiences minds like a nightmarish counsellor. He warms the audience up with feet tapping and “sing in my mouth” before moving on to the intended target of our desires and regrets and why we don’t act on our impulses.
A chorus of Happy Birthday outside the tent is met by him and his now disciple audience going outside to add a more raucous chorus to carol anniversary celebrations.
Back to the current business of awaking a populace living in a culture of people trying to please each another he succeeds in making us see the benefit of taking that risk and being yourself, fuck you if you don’t like it. He postulates that being a mirror of other people ends up in a homogeneous, boring population. Carpe Diem! A game of dare-your- neighbour turns the stage into chaos when the darer has to take their own dare. The Red Bastard is rugby tackled and mounted, while another participant pours water over their head. One woman even proposes to her girlfriend (accepted!). Taking risks is good, no regrets.
(from Montreal Fringe)
This performance is genuinely thought-provoking and original. You are never sure whether its comedy or performance art but who likes genres anyway? Red bastard finishes with one final surprise. I’ll keep that to myself, I had to act on my impulse to be secretive. Experience this. Take your dare card on the way out… 4 stars
After being nominated for the Best Comedy Newcomer award at last year’s fringe, it seems like Mr Trent is ready to go one step further with his brilliant new show. Embracing 21st century video technology, he intertwines his personal reflections upon modern life with a clever montage of screen-based images & footage; a slick performance whose interchanges remind one of the traditional comedy duo.
David At Last Year’s Fringe
On occasion his material comes across as highly sophistcated, yet still toilet-based bawdy humour, such as his penis catfood & a staunch refusal to put his nose up his own anus. The rest, however, is filled with a homely vitality that makes you want to get to know the real comic; whose natural abilities were reflected in the constant smiles & laughter that permeated through the audience. A real treat, & this years first Mumble FIVE STAR performance.
Absolute Radio’s Christian O’connell displays a canny knowledge of his audience market and delivers the expected, acceptably edgy routine; working in fingering Darth Vader and the occasional Jimmy Saville reference, whilst basing his show on fulfilling the wish list of his former 13yr old self.
Christian in action down London
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Much of Chris’s humour appealed to the man-child in me. Purposefully immature, though highly enjoyable, he gives a well rehearsed performance with an easy confidence. If you like top gear and the odd big mac then you’ll definitely like this… THREE STARS
Mumble Comedy 