The Definitive Guide to Comedy
**** 1/2 (out of 5) Delightfully demented! In her Edinburgh Fringe debut, Lorna Rose Treen has landed upon some innovative ways to introduce her characters to the audience, as well as ways in which to incorporate audience members into her forays into foolishness. At one point, Treen even leaves a …
**** 1/2 (out of 5) Phil Ellis was the first comedian I saw performing onstage at this year’s Fringe, but watching him MC Chortle’s Fast Fringe and watching him front his own showpiece are two entirely different experiences. For the latter is an absurd romp that really kicks the rest …
**** (out of 5) Ian Smith is crushing at the early hour booked for him in The Tron basement, and he makes a meal of it right from the start, mocking the venue’s own thoughts about its legacy. As for Smith, he comes from the small port town of Goole …
**** (out of 5) You can reframe history or your life to boost your self-esteem, and especially for the sake of comedy. Olga Koch is not only interested in that aspect of her life at age 30, but also how parasocial relationships have become entirely too commonplace now. Especially the …
***** (out of 5) I’d seen Julia Masli last year, in her clown show CHOOSH!, which covers her travels from Estonia to London, and which she is reviving here again this Fringe (my review). But nothing could’ve prepared me for what she has accomplished with her newest show, an absolute …
**** (out of 5) “A villain is just a victim whose story hasn’t been told.” The story at the heart of Kiran Deol’s hour makes no bones about the fact that she was the victim of a brutal attack, a stranger smashing a bottle into her face, unprovoked, late one night …
***1/2 (out of 5) You want mayhem? You’re gonna get served up some mayhem in what may prove to be the most frivolous hour of your Fring. Megan Stalter broke through our small screens playing desperately deluded characters, much like Kayla, the aspiring agent’s assistant she portrays on the award-winning …
***1/2 (out of 5) Reuben Solo was one of the first comedians to successfully show up on my For You Page feed on TikTok and migrate over to my Following feed. The Aussie had a love for playing multiple characters spinning themselves dizzy into linguistic and philosophic wormholes, and I …
*** (out of 5) Adele Cliff has several joke-writing awards to her credit, but coming into 2023, she figured she needed something bigger, bolder. She wanted a big show, so she made a series of 2023 resolutions only to break her own arm, sort of, in January. That’s gotten her …
**** (out of 5) Amy Webber is treating her first Fringe (and she says her first full comedy show, too?!) as a job interview. She leans into this thematically, presenting her CV, skills and qualifications. That opera degree, she figures she finally can put to good use, writing custom songs …
