The Definitive Guide to Comedy
*** 1/2 (out of 5) Sometimes the buzz is a bit much? Sometimes it’s better to experience a debut without any expectations. Because I’d heard plenty of talk beforehand about newcomer John Tothill, from whispers of potential nominations to a testimonial from the stagehand who scanned my QR code that …
**** (out of 5) Kieran Hodgson has written a love letter to Scotland, a big sloppy love letter so Scottish and Gaelic that there’s a big screen alongside the stage providing live closed captioning. He’s a three-time nominee at the Fringe’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and nobody would be surprised if …
*** 1/2 (out of 5) “People forget that you can like boy’s stuff, and also boy’s stuff.” So it is that Emily Walsh has grown up from a tomboy into a Dad Girl who has a husband who’s nice and friendly. Her husband also has become baby crazy. Which presents …
*** 1/2 (out of 5) On the one hand, Sophie Zucker might be both deft and daft by turning an extremely embarrassing hookup into a one-woman musical romcom?! On the other hand, Zucker’s also selling herself short. She’s already much more than just an actress with one line in the …
**** (out of 5) In her official 2023 Fringe show description, Alice Fraser says: “The moment you think you’ve got a handle on things, life throws you a twist.” I’m not going to tell you her latest twist, but the previous twists included the pandemic and her becoming a mother. …
**** (out of 5) If, even after all of these years, you still question why Pierre Novellie has a French first name, even though his last name is Italian and his heritage spans from South Africa to the Isle of Man, well the comedian still will entertain you with the …
**** (out of 5) for the show ** 1/2 for the venue This is a four-star show in a two-and-a-half-star venue. Sometimes the room really can undermine and upstage the act. It means more work for the crowd to get into and stay in a proper mood. More work for …
*** (out of 5) Nicole Travolta has a fascinating story that’s more clever than funny in the delivery. In case you’re wondering, and you most definitely are, her father was “the cheapest Travolta” but the family name still carried a heavy burden even in Orlando because of her famous uncle, …
*** 1/2 (out of 5) **** if you’re British Sometimes I just have to slide the rating scale, knowing when something is for thee, but not so much for me? Simon Brodkin is a prankster who comes off initially as a bit of a wanker, but that combination makes him …
** 1/2 (out of 5) Yuriko Kotani, a Japanese comedian who’s spent almost two decades in the UK, has plenty of TV credits to her name, and even met the king, didn’t seem ready to bring this show to the Fringe. Kotani says if she delivered her routines in Japanese, …
