The art of improv is in the air as comedians have battled blackouts and other interruptions – with the result of rekindling the festival’s spiritWalking around Edinburgh this month, you might have noticed the unusual number of standup comedians perform…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Dressed as the publisher’s emblem, in orange flippers and not much else, the ingenious comic delivers a dizzy series of droll visual routinesSome shows have “Edinburgh fringe” scored through them as if through a stick of …
Continue ReadingZoo Southside, EdinburghAcrobatics, juggling and carpentry are fixed together in a humorous and lightly unsettling production in the Made in Germany showcase Power drill? Check. Hammers? Present and correct. Chainsaw? Fully charged. But it’s best not t…
Continue ReadingPleasance Dome, EdinburghThis unfunny spoof of Glasgow’s dismal Wonka-themed attraction is as short of ideas as the event that inspired itHow we laughed at Willy’s Chocolate Experience, a family attraction so bad it left children in tears. What nerve t…
Continue ReadingMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghThe Massive Dad star riffs on the benefits of making comedy online, buoyed by arch good humour and high-quality gags within gagsStevie Martin’s show weighs up the differences between live and online comedy. Her career beg…
Continue ReadingCancel culture, faltering fatherhood and the life of a tennis champ are dramatised as standups including Ivo Graham, Anna Morris and Adam Riches take a theatrical path this summerSam Kissajukian spent 10 years on the Australian standup circuit but incr…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe Australian comedian’s rocky 2023 is explored in PowerPoint, SMS exchanges, rap, musical comedy and online videosThe year 2023 was the worst of Lou Wall’s life, they tell us, at the start of a set recently shortlisted f…
Continue ReadingThere are benefits and perils in talking about your personal experiences – as Richard Gadd found after his TV show went viral. So how are Edinburgh acts handling it this year?‘If you’re not in an OK place, you’re just re-traumatising yourself,” says An…
Continue ReadingEnjoy a good one-liner? Here are some of the best rib-ticklers from the annual comedy extravaganzaOlaf Falafel: My desire to spontaneously sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight is always just a whim away.Jack Skipper: I failed RE. Couldn’t believe it when I fou…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe straight-talking comic’s debut hour is cheerfully rude and glowing with maternal love, as she describes parenting a son with autismAt a festival with 3,600 shows, some will feel samey. But no other performance is likel…
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