Imagine if you will a country that bans smoking in enclosed spaces where people work. Imagine the biggest European comedy festival being held in that country’s capital city and building a smoking shelter and enclosing it (and then opening the sides up to be legal). Imagine putting out several tables and chairs and […]
As predicted as far back as last August, Phil Nichol has finally and deservedly won the top prize in comedy and the inaugural IF.comedies award for 2006. The riot is cancelled, justice has been done. Go see him in every show he is ever in; he’s that damn good!
Tonight a great crowd saw Phil Nichol blow people away. The show was the same as two weeks ago except for one small story … that was cut! That’s right, this show missed one piece of the story that we heard a few weeks ago but was off the chart; better than five […]
In 1999 Pål Sletaune rejected the chance to direct American Beauty as he thought the script wasn’t good enough. He was nominated by the trade press Variety way back in 1998 as one of the most exciting directors in the world. This is his third film, all three of which he has written […]
The re-branded comedy awards, now the IF.Commedies, have just announced their shortlist. After the controversial decision to not give the award to Phil Nichol last year (hell, to not even nominate him was a crime), this year the expected winner is … Phil Nichol! Phil wins his first nomination since his 2002 show […]
On the back of the packet it says “Put a smile on your cheeks with Andrex ® lightly moistened toilet tissue to leave you fresher, cleaner and up for anything”. I’m sorry what was that last promise? Maybe innocent people who suddenly feel “up for anything” will think, ‘well, it’s so clean now […]
Three years ago Demetri blew Edinburgh away with his introspective show “If I…” (also the world’s shortest palindrome) and won the Perrier Award. The next year he followed up with a freaky story packed full of jokes about being trapped inside his notebook, “Spiralbound”. Last year he simply delivered “These Are Jokes” without […]
Last year I raved about Phil’s show “Nearly Gay”. This year I, and it seems Stage’s Award Committee, have raved about his acting ability as he is nominated for their Best Actor Award (again) for his performance in Talk Radio. So how does his third daily show stand up? Very similar to […]
I’ve seen an advert for Robin Ince this year and it says on it “Sell Out 2005″. I’m sorry? I saw him last year and there were about 13 people in a venue that holds 50. That got me to thinking. I’ve also seen “Total Sell Out 2005″ on posters too. […]
Last year’s Perrier Newcomer Award Winner returns with a show who’s first song has the chorus “I am, so f***in’ rock”. Do you know what? He is. And a lot more. If you go to see Tim deliver quirky bits of stories or weak jokes in between his songs then don’t […]
Two years ago Sarah was nominated for the Perrier Award (the first female to be nominated since Jenny Eclair won it in 1995 – Lily Savage doesn’t count as a woman!). Last year she travelled and avoided the immediate pressure of a return show with all the due expectation. As she returns this […]
Jim Field Smith, the very same one who shone last night with the rest of Dutch Elm Conservatoire, said to me after this show “Why would you bring a show from London’s West End to Edinburgh?”. Anyone who wants to see it will have seen it so there can only be one reason - […]
So Mel Smith is going to stand up to the might of the Nazis and flout the Smoking Ban during his play then? I think not. You see, when it came down to it, he was just talking big before hand, made a great deal of publicity, and then sensibly obeyed the law […]
I have had the pleasure of testing Gillette’s new Fusion razor for a few days before it becomes available to the public (Monday 7th August). A few weeks ago I was wandering down the road and happened to muse to myself “I wonder when Gillette are going to try to match or beat Wilkinson […]
I was there two years ago when they became the world’s longest running live comedy show. Do you think they’d still be going if they weren’t any good? They sell out each year, they provide a fast paced and fully packed hour of sketches, satire and musical comedy. John Prescott gets a […]
The post for this year’s show says ‘the best comic on the circuit - The Daily Telegraph’. Now while the Daily Torygraph maybe many things, it, like the other broadsheets, knows its art. So with very high hopes I went to see Andrew Maxwell. The phrase “don’t believe the hype” springs to […]
Last year I wrote, having seen Dutch Elm Conservatoire only briefly during the very poor Perrier Award show, that I didn’t think that they should have been nominated for the award. Unlike other people, notably Laura Solon and Jason Manford, it wasn’t due to lack of ability or talent, I just felt they didn’t […]
Not a lot of people know that this South Korean group’s native name translates as “House of Pain”. Okay, maybe not. What I do know for certain is that Jump where won of the stars of last year’s Festival. Didn’t catch them? No, neither did I. The good news for […]
During the “Shock and Awe” era, the group behind this show did hundreds of vox-pop interviews on everything from “How do you know what you know?” to “Can you believe the News or Governments?” and incorporating “Is Tom Cruise gay?”. From the special introduction at the start of the play to explain a few […]
Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard’s story is brought to Edinburgh, but where will we find an actor to play alongside the very powerful Tom Stade. But I thought Tom Stade is a stand-up comic? Yes he is, as too is the small part assigned to Dave Johns. So who’s the other lead […]
Mark Watson’s full title of his show is I’m Worried That I’m Starting to Hate Almost Everyone in the World but that’s just too long for my website. Mark’s performance last year was awarded with a Perrier Newcomer nomination and if you recall I said of him “I have never seen a comic like […]
Two pale, blond, short but muscle-bound athletes stand half naked at the front of the stage. Pierre (the one with the tattoo around his right arm) introduces himself, mostly to the ladies. His brother Pablo then takes the mike and does likewise. What we don’t find out until a lot later is […]
One of the brightest stars of last year’s Festival combines with the director of Jerry Springer the Opera and the comic actor who won 2004’s Perrier Award - Does it really need to advertise? Probably not but they get a review all the same. Talk Radio is a play written in the […]
I’ve seen three *big* comedians perform on massive stages and on two occasions I was sorely disappointed. Last year I saw Omid Djalili perform in the Pleasance Grand (the sports hall) and I was thoroughly unimpressed. I saw Dara O’Brian perform in the Assembly Rooms’ Ballroom in front of 1,000 people and I was shocked […]
Russell starts the show by announcing that the show is basically him wandering from one story or gag to another. Fair enough, I’ve been longing for a hungry comic who has something genuinely interesting to say. Looking back I think it was more than just wandering from story to story, I think he wandered around […]
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