http://www.phillg.com The thoughts and experiences of Phill Gillespie Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:21:38 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yep, I called it correct. Brendon Burns has won the second If.comedy Award for his show So I Suppose This Is Offensive Now. If only there was a Monday performance I could catch him at... He'll reprise it for one night only next year though, as all ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/brendon-burns-scoops-ifcom-comedy-award/ Well, you've seen my predictions, now here is what a group of strangers has come up with - and their selections couldn't be any stranger to me! The official 2007 if.comeddies Awards will be decided from the following people: Nominations for the top Award: Andrew Lawrence (dark comedy insulting others); ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/and-the-official-nominees-for-the-ifcom-eddies-are/ Two thirds of the festival gone and we are only a few days from the official nominations for the second If.com Eddies Awards. I'm delighted to reveal my informed choices for who should be in contention: Outsiders for the main award are two of last year's nominees David ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/the-second-annual-ifcom-eddies-awards-week-one-of-fringe-07/ Lawrence is an Australian of Chinese decent with a dodgy tracksuit, an excessive beard and diminutive stature and all he want to be is as cool as his elder brother who is a bass guitarist in a band. Being a master at a Rubik's cube and Sudoku he's some ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/lawrence-leung-learns-to-breakdance/ Paul delivered a stunning show last year talking about his life as a gay Asian doctor obsessed with football (and Liverpool). How could he possibly match that award-nominated show? Well he has and it’s great. Paul has a strange style where he technically rants about things that ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/paul-sinha-%e2%80%93-king-of-the-world/ Is Frank the greatest British stand-up ever? Quite possibly, he does have the quickest comic mind as amply demonstrated this evening. He comes out into the intimate atmosphere of the Cabaret Bar with almost 200 people ready to hang off his every word (and two eager beavers sitting ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/frank-skinner-%e2%80%93-stand-up/ For the 2007/8 season, Sky have redesigned their on-screen graphics and moved the info bar containing the score and time to the bottom left of the screen, from the top left where all other broadcasters have it. The new position in the bottom left of the screen means that ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/its-time-to-take-action-against-sky-sports-no-more-bottom-left-blue-info-bar/ Russell Howard put in a great high energy show last year with a killer joke about the Queen (on of the best of the festival) and deserved his nomination for the If.com Eddie Award. With such expectation he returns to Edinburgh playing in the Cabaret Bar right after Frank ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/russell-howard-adventures/ Phil Nichol stars in a new play, the only one this year since he put in two great performances last year as the madcap host of Talk Radio and the quiet brother in True West. Sadly his role is not the lead and not really of great significance, giving ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/killer-joe/ I loved Punt and Dennis as a teenager, I thought their material was great and just the right level of satire. Needless to say I was happy to pay a large amount of money to see them live and in the flesh. After a good opening gag, Steven ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/punt-and-dennis-%e2%80%93-stuff-and-nonsense/ What more can be said about this institution of topical sketch comedy? Four stars for the past three years from me and oh, four stars again! As always an excellent blend of sketches, musical comedy and one liners. This year the team of four (plus pianist) take ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/newsrevue-2007/ A parody of Scientology. That's all I read before leaping to buy tickets for this show. Now I know it's also a musical comedy set in the present day when Xenu is released from prison and comes to destroy Earth. It's a quick moving production with some ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/xenu-is-loose-only-scientology-can-save-us-now/ This is an 80 minute satire on the West and its destruction of the world. There, I summed it up inside 10 seconds. Basically Fatboy has an insatiable appetite for food and money (and the occasional killing) and his wife is fuelling him (physically and mentally) and feeding ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/fatboy/ I saw Tom Stade perform last year but not his stand up act, it was as the intimidating brother of Phil Nichol in True West. His comic personality is so markedly different from the brute he played then - it's as if he is performing whilst high. Tom ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/tom-stade-setlist/ The belated winner of the inaugural If.com Eddy award (he should have won the final P*rrier Award for his show Nearly Gay) Phil Nichol returns with another hour of hectic story telling and guitar playing. This year his story is about idols and hero worship, so clearly demonstrated by ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/phil-nichol-hiro-worship/ There are all sorts of warnings and disclaimers about Jim Jeffries about the language he uses and him doing offensive comedy. I think these warnings may put people off seeing an observant, interesting and above all funny comedian. As Jim often closes a show with, 'if you've been ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/jim-jeffries-30/ Okay, one week into the festival - who's hot and more importantly who's going to be up for the awards? I have to believe Nina Conti has to be a strong bet for the best Newcomer Award. Her show's really funny and packed full of a wide range ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/the-second-annual-ifcom-eddies-awards/ Stop - it's David O'Doherty time! Last year's If.com Eddies Award Nominee returns with another good show with stronger dialogue but probably slightly weaker songs (although he did an encore of Slightly Super Human Powers). He couldn't re-do last year's gag in his intro song FAQ for the ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/david-odoherty-its-david-odoherty-time/ Finally, she's back in Edinburgh! Nina Conti and her exceptionally talented partner, Monk (the Monkey), to deliver more mischief. One of the key aspects to Nina's performance is the cheekiness of Monk and her embarrassed and innocent reaction. In her first full length Edinburgh show Nina let's ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/nina-conti-complete-and-utter-conti/ Pete Firman is a good stage magician employing slight of hand tricks and some good skills (card reading, forced selection) to deliver an entertaining hour of magic and humorous patter. He's nowhere near the level of Jerry Sadowitz in either aspect but good entertainment for adults nonetheless. His ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/pete-firman-hokum/ Gamarjobat are a couple of Japanese visual comics that can entertain people of all ages all around the world with their physical comedy without words. I saw them two years ago putting on a good performance and I though this year it was probably worth going to see them ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/gamarjobat-rock-roll-penguin/ It is rare that I agree with Kate Copstick, lead arts critic for the tabloid newspaper The Scotsman. She has been right on Phil Nichol and Demtri Martin amongst others but she inevitably give big name comics, i.e. those on TV, good reviews no matter how they actually perform. ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/simon-amstell-no-self/ Two years ago Will Adamsdale appeared in Edinburgh with a short-run show called Jackson's Way. It got noticed and with a bit of help from Stewart Lee the show got extended and out of nowhere Will landed the main comedy award the then Perrier Award. Will's new show ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/will-adamsdale-the-human-computer/ There was a lot of talk about Josie Long last year when she scooped the inaugural If.com Eddies Best Newcomer award. The Evening Standard describe her as "the most distinctive comic of her generation and too delightfully indiosyncratic to be mainstream". Once you learn that the Evening Standard ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/josie-long-tryin-is-good/ When Paul Merton walked out a few metres on stage in front of me I was in heaven! I was a big fan of his stand-up and really enjoyed his show although I'm less keen on his improvisation work but that's just because of the strength of his surreal ... http://www.phillg.com/2007_08/paul-merton-his-impro-chums/