Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe comic’s unique tale of assimilation and romance-related limbo has a high joke rate and emotional intelligenceI want to tell Omar Badawy to take a breath. This debut moves at a frantic, almost dizzying pace, so much so …
Continue ReadingAssembly George Square Gardens, EdinburghFour clowns stir up a strange stew of ideas about faith in this playful and highly physical comedy‘Anyone ever been born before?” That’s a rare bid for relatable crowd work in this buzzy, bizarre hour by a bunch…
Continue ReadingNominated in three previous years, the rambunctious standup – one half of The Delightful Sausage – wins the prize for his show Rewilding while Marty Gleeson is named best newcomerThe annual Edinburgh comedy award has been won by the standup Chris Cantr…
Continue ReadingMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghCantrill shares his struggles descending into middle age and his awkward interactions with fellow villagers in a fun showNow a four-time nominee for the Edinburgh comedy award, Chris Cantrill is bearing down on James Acas…
Continue ReadingPleasance Dome, EdinburghBehind this grab-bag of papier-mache heads and walkies banter lies a celebration of simply talking to one anotherFirst came Ricky Gervais’s cynical cats; now here are Spencer Jones’s optimistic Dogs. One was tawdry, the other c…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Hopping from a PowerPoint on hairlines to songs about favourite motorways, Towelling’s set is fun but drops a stitch or twoThe route from the classroom to the comedy stage is well travelled, and ex-maths teacher Tom Towel…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghIn his award-nominated show, the standup ruminates on myth and memory with some lovely observations‘There’s a moment when that ends,” muses Li Jin Hao, “and this begins …” As well as being jam-packed with swoonsome one-lin…
Continue ReadingKing’s theatre, Edinburgh The pranks and pratfalls in Geoff Sobelle’s show mark the US’s 250th anniversary with nihilistic excessThey are a forlorn lot, this bunch who shuffle glumly to the front of the stalls. In white face, funeral veils, mismatched …
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Even one of her own bugs takes the mic as the wild card comedian delivers these disconnected bitsThere’s an excellent joke about art school in Marty Gleeson’s show, but even without it, we might guess that the Irish comic…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWatching a man labouring to strike up conversations in the smoking area of a nightclub proves not just funny but also touching and upliftingEver pretended to use your phone to avoid the shame of being Norman No-Mates at a …
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