The Definitive Guide to Comedy
⭐⭐⭐½ Alex Hines is prepared to do the most, even if she has the least. “Shooting for production and I landed in a shipping container!” Hines proclaims early in her show in one of the many makeshift stages at the Fringe. But that’s what makes it Fringe, baby?!? The location …
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Through the sheer force of population, India’s numbers are boosting their stand-up comedians to become among the most popular on YouTube. But none of them are as thoroughly Indian nor as thoroughly global as Vir Das, and he has the International Emmy award to prove it. But that award …
⭐⭐⭐½ This is a four-star show in the making. Just not the day I saw it. Let me explain? On my main Edinburgh review page, I’ve aggregated all of my reviews, and also explained my own particular star system, in which 3.5 is reserved for good shows that you can …
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Olga Koch presented a thoroughly enjoyable hour about relationships and turning 30 last year in Edinburgh, but this year’s hour is next level. Koch, a Best Newcomer nominee in 2018, has allowed herself to become at once more vulnerable onstage whilst also coming across both more posh and polished …
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Larry Dean has made the Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist at three previous Fringes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if gets another Best Show nomination in 2024, too. It’s surprising to hear Dean say he hasn’t quite connected with American audiences, because his faculty with voices and his command of …
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Abby Wambaugh has fun mom energy. And Wambaugh is a fun mom, coming up with games such as “Scare The Banana” to get one of their kids that also will delight all of the other kids in the neighborhood and the Attic of Pleasance Courtyard, too. This American born-and-bred …
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Edinburgh’s Best Newcomer winner with “LAID” in 2017, Natalie Palamides’s follow-up, “NATE,” eventually made its way to Netflix as a special presented by Amy Poehler. The first special took the school project of projecting motherhood through practicing maternal instincts with eggs to clownish heights. Her second special showed us …
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read my full review in The Daily Beast. An excerpt: From the opening moments of the musical—where she’s not waiting in the wings, but rather bounding up and down the aisles to greet audience members while wearing angelic wings—to a closing singalong where Mulvaney proclaims she’s a woman born …
⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I only learn from shame.” So says comedian Abi Clarke, who feels that being known as a content creator rather than as a comedian is shameful, to be sure. Nevertheless, Clarke will share with us the video that first went viral for her and put her on the proper …
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kyle Ayers is working on being present, which is something we all should do but definitely trickier for him. Why is not hard to say. It’s Trigeminal Neuralgia, a rare nerve disorder that’s also sometimes referred to as Suicide Disease, because his condition means he’s constantly feeling electrocutions in …
