Performing at the fringe can cost a fortune – little wonder so many comics bunk in together. We drop in on Jon Richardson, Rose Matafeo and Josie Long, among others, to see how they liveIt is the world’s biggest comedy festival, with jokes cracked all …
Continue ReadingJessie Cave’s intimate standup, a beatbox Frankenstein and a twist on the star-crossed lovers are among the Edinburgh shows we’ve previously reviewed. Here’s what we said …Pleasance Courtyard Continue reading…
Continue ReadingRose Matafeo, a rising comedy star from New Zealand who won the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s top prize last summer, made her U.S. TV debut as a stand-up Thursday night on Conan. Check her out!
Continue ReadingCongratulations to Rose Matafeo, the New Zealand comedian who has won the 2018 Best Comedy Show Award at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe for her monthlong performance of “Horndog.” The other top awards from this year’s Ed Fringe went to Ciaran Dowd, Best Newcomer 2018, for his show, “Don Rodolfo,” and the panel prize went to […]
Continue ReadingThe Kiwi standup thoroughly deserves her success with an uproarious, emotionally intimate and feminist show
With the triumph of Rose Matafeo in this year’s Edinburgh Comedy awards, a sub-par shortlist has been redeemed. Matafeo’s show Horndog is another cracking show from a born comedian, a high-energy, high-anxiety New Zealander whose party-comedy mixes emotional intimacy and uproarious good fun with a thread of unshowy feminism. For me, Horndog wasn’t quite as exhilarating at its 2017 predecessor, Sassy Best Friend. But I couldn’t be happier to see Matafeo’s victory. She becomes the fifth solo female standup and the first solo person of colour to win the main award. Her win will hopefully open out her excellent and accessible work to a wider audience.
It might even boost her self-confidence, too. Ironically, given her prodigious talent – honed since she started standup as a 15-year-old – I’ve never interviewed a comedian so reluctant to speak well of herself. There’s plenty of that self-mortification on display in Horndog, which chronicles Matafeo’s barely functioning love- and sex-life. From teenage crushes on Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos via her struggles to focus on masturbation to emotional near-collapse in the closing stages, the show is a hoot. It also features a routine about sleazy male behaviour in comedy, giving it membership of the large club of 2018 standup shows with a #MeToo dimension.
Continue ReadingNew Zealander’s show about sex and modern social mores scoops top comedy gong
New Zealander Rose Matafeo has won the coveted best comedy show award at the Edinburgh fringe festival.
Steve Coogan, one of Matafeo’s comic heroes, presented her with the £10,000 prize at a ceremony in Edinburgh on Saturday.
Related: Young women are smashing it at Edinburgh as the #MeToo legacy kicks in | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Related: Edinburgh award champ Rose Matafeo’s Horndog is a comedy smash
Continue ReadingNew Zealander’s show about sex and modern social mores scoops top comedy gong
New Zealander Rose Matafeo has won the coveted best comedy show award at the Edinburgh fringe festival.
Steve Coogan, one of Matafeo’s comic heroes, presented her with the £10,000 prize at a ceremony in Edinburgh on Saturday.
Related: Young women are smashing it at Edinburgh as the #MeToo legacy kicks in | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Related: Edinburgh award champ Rose Matafeo’s Horndog is a comedy smash
Continue ReadingAfter three weeks of show, and heading into the final week of the Edinburgh Fringe, we have our nominees for the best of the fest! Alex Edelman is proving his Best Newcomer win was no fluke, winning over the Scots once more, this time nominated for Best Comedy Show. In this category, too, is Rose […]
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