Josh Glanc: Family Man review – fun and games with an avuncular oddball

Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh The Australian standup, nominated for the Edinburgh comedy award, delivers a restlessly zany sequence of songs and thumbnail sketchesPromising a set more memorable than your wedding, Josh Glanc (rhymes with romance) open…

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Reuben Kaye: Live and Intimidating review – the voice of an angel and a devil

Assembly George Square, EdinburghThe mesmerising Australian comic’s song-laced, sassy and polemical set is a clarion call for queer expressionHighest star wattage on the Edinburgh fringe? Give that award to Reuben Kaye right away. Best comedy show? Wel…

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Jobsworth review – caffeinated black comedy with a stupendous performance

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghActor-playwright Libby Rodliffe plays plate-spinning Bea, desperately working several jobs, in a monologue co-written with Isley LynnJobsworth is billed as a riotous comedy about a woman, Bea, juggling multiple jobs, some …

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Amy Gledhill: Make Me Look Fit on the Poster review – bawdy comedy delivered with a blush

Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh This show about body image doesn’t always hold its focus, but Gledhill has a winning mix of northern mockery and good cheer‘I’ve had some good news, I’ve had some prosecco.” Today’s performance finds Amy Gledhill in a ce…

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Rob Copland: Gimme (One With Everything) review – mesmeric controlled chaos

Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh It starts with boundless energy … then gathers momentum, as this comic’s silliness builds a tale of desperate ambitionRob Copland rockets into the room, pure energy. We’re clapping, he’s dancing. He’s clapping, someone else…

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Wankernomics: As Per My Last Email review – humdrum office hellscape

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThese games lampooning business jargon and CV exaggeration are relatable and initially amusing but soon start to dragA grabby title and a clear concept sell tickets at the Edinburgh fringe. Australian comedy duo James Schl…

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Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows review – dotty comedy debut belies a surprise

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghBeyond its larky interactive stunts and impersonations, the standup’s restart-the-show gimmick coheres into an affecting personal story of redemptionThe First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows, Abby Wambaugh titles her fringe debut. I…

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Show Pony review – what happens when the circus says goodbye to you?

Summerhall, EdinburghIn a compelling collaboration with Bryony Kimmings, the German company Still Hungry deconstruct, satirise and celebrate the circusThree women are remembering their introduction to the circus as children. It offered not just a world…

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Elf Lyons: Horses review – playful clip-clop through equine culture

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Part-clown, part-mime and part overgrown child, Lyons leads us through mythic history to reconnect with a lost world of imaginationIn comedy terms, Elf Lyons has always been less of a thoroughbred, more of a breed apart –…

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House of Life review – glittering benediction from a joyously funky double act

Underbelly, Cowgate, Edinburgh A sequinned ‘RaveRend’ and his sidekick Trev help the audience banish sadness in this ebullient hourAnointed with glitter paint, taking our seats to a score of dirty funk licks, we are not so much an audience as a congreg…

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