Anyone been/going to the Edinburgh festivals?

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

I spent this weekend at the Fringe. If you're going, you might like to read this not very comprehensive guide first...

John Hegley’s kids show “I am a Potato", at the Pleasance Dome… BRILLIANT even though I didn’t have any children to take with me. I wasn’t the only childless adult there, either!

“Barbara the Vampire Slayer” at Pod Deco. VERY GOOD, especially the jokes about Stockport, where I used to work. Nice bit of multimedia going on, which is a rare thing in stand-up.

“Crime Drama Featuring Women” at the Gilded Balloon. VERY VERY FUNNY… a play that basically takes the rise out of all cop shows. I liked it because I have a (very) soft spot for posh girls who are funny. If you don’t, you might not.

Craig Hill at Pod Deco… ALSO VERY FUNNY but a lot of the humour might be lost on people who aren’t Scottish/don’t know Scotland that well. Has a tremendous stage presence. Already quite hard to get tickets… I sneaked in by getting some returns.

Shazia Mirza at the Pleasance Dome… INTRIGUING BUT WIDE OF THE COMEDY MARK. She makes a lot of very sensible, thought-provoking comments and is occasionally funny. But she seemed very nervous and her timing was well out. Perhaps she’ll improve as the festival moves on.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

did you watch the nancy cartwright sketch??

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

Sadly not. I would have loved to. But I wasn't there for that long... I turned up early on Saturday morning, got a programme, then just had to run around for tickets to stuff I thought I'd like.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

ah ok fair do's i would love to see her live - i bet she's so funny

 

[jmc]

up there in a couple of weeks, cheers for the guide

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

I went up last year. Saw Jeff Mirza - Walking With Muslims, A Comedy Jihad. Not sure if he is any relation to Shazia though. His show was very funny, lots of Comical Ali jokes.

Also saw Rob Newman from The Mary Whitehouse Experience, a lot of his act was very very political but some moments of it were extremely funny.

Jon Shuttleworth who was no-where near as funny as I remembered him being.

And finally Boothby Graffoe, best of the lot, brilliant show, the bloke his quite insane. If anyone is up there this year and he is on go see him you wont be disapointed.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

Further to BAG's post earlier, I heard a review of Nancy Cartwright on Radio Scotland this morning... they were damning her with faint praise a little I thought.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that NSC's own Comedy Steve has a show on. I'll try and get to see it if I go back before the end of the fringe, which I might.