The Definitive Guide to Comedy
**** (out of 5) You’ll likely never see a comedian take to the stage quite like John-Luke Roberts does in his 2022 Fringe show. The title also doubles as a recurring set-up (not a catchphrase, I repeat, not a catchphrase). “There’s a world just like our own, but…” is not …
****1/2 (out of 5) Get ready to see Randy Feltface as you’ve never seen him before. And if looking at him is too much for you, just take his suggestion: “Close your eyes and pretend I’m a podcast.” The purple puppet from Down Under is back at the Fringe for …
**** (out of 5) Zach Zucker is wearing many hats at the Fringe. Zucker’s production company, Stamptown, is helping run multiple shows in Edinburgh this month. He’s hosting a late-night variety showcase (Stamptown Comedy Night) over the next three weekends, in addition to performing as one of the world’s worst …
**** (out of 5) Titus, the FOX sitcom based on the life and stand-up comedy of Christopher Titus, went off the air 20 years ago this week. Perhaps not the first Yank you’d figure to be making his Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2022, but then perhaps you don’t know much …
****1/2 (out of 5) Sometimes it’s best to just take a recommendation from a Fringe performer and see someone else’s show sight unseen, without looking up any of the program descriptions, interviews or previous reviews. That’s how I found myself in The Box late Thursday night, discovering Jordan Gray for …
*** (out of 5) Will Duggan is angry. Angry that the world might be ending in his lifetime. Angry that his talents might not have much practical use in a post-apocalyptic society. Angry at little things such as his first given name, his misadventures auditioning for adverts, and his not-so …
***** (out of 5) For all of the ink spilled this year over whether TikTok stars (or Instagram comedians, or Twitter characters, or insert your own social media platform here) can translate with a live audience, it’s quite stunning and exhilarating to discover that Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher — two …
**** (out of 5) After an initial experience at the Fringe in 2019, Emmy Blotnick became convinced she should return with her own one-person-show for a full run in 2020. She landed upon a simple enough premise: Superstar Jennifer Lopez had put out 30 uniquely different perfumes and colognes. Whip …
Loyiso Gola, aka “the Jon Stewart of South Africa” before his fellow South African comedian Trevor Noah actually replaced Stewart instead on The Daily Show, has a new hour of stand-up out on Netflix. Gola performed indoors in Cape Town with pandemic protocols in place. As I wrote in Decider: …
More like the greatest affable American, am I right? That’s how great Nate Bargatze is, and the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t slow him down from writing and performing a new Netflix hour. Even if it meant performing outside, where helicopters whirred overhead. As I wrote in Decider: As much as I …
