The Definitive Guide to Comedy
***1/2 (out of 5) Robin Tran performed as a New Face at Montreal’s Just For Laughs in 2021, and has appeared on two seasons of Comedy Central’s Roast Battle as well as Netflix’s That’s My Time With David Letterman. Of course, Tran can roast herself quite well, too, describing herself …
**** (out of 5) TikTok’s learning machine is so impressive. How impressive? It began sending me videos from Avital Ash within days of me signing up for the app in late 2021. I only just saw her perform live for the first time here in Edinburgh, where the LA-based comedian …
***** (out of 5) Holy shit, she’s good. That’s the first thing I typed into my Notes app after Krystal Evans had finished her hour on Tuesday night. Evans is from Sequim, a small town atop Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, and she begins with plenty of jokes about growing up …
**** (out of 5) Nominated already for best show earlier this year at the Melbourne festival for this hour, and a previous multiple nominee in Edinburgh, Tom Ballard has returned with this hour, only here and now it has simultaneously taken on both a darker turn and a loosey-goosey one. …
**** (out of 5) Garrett Millerick has been coming to the Fringe for 22 years now, and at first glance, nothing seems different at all, except for his physical looks, having dropped a bunch of weight this year. He had weighed in at 20 stone, with a reputation preceding him …
**** (out of 5) What makes a comedian become a climate change activist in his mid-40s? For Stuart Goldsmith, it’s in part because he’s now a father of two, kids aged 7 and 4. But also, Goldsmith considers himself a problem solver, and a bit of a narc. The ongoing …
**1/2 (out of 5) Soup is comfort food. It’s cheap, easy, and served up just for you and your individual needs. Alison Spittle is not only part of a WhatsApp Soup Group, but also feels she’s soup-worthy enough to determine your personality just on the basis of what type of …
**** (out of 5) Milo Edwards returns to the Fringe this year with a show that deliberately takes on at least one specifically influential comedy critic who described him last summer as displaying “a typical lack of sentimentality.” It wasn’t me. But the two less-than-stellar reviews Edwards did receive decidedly …
***1/2 (out of 5) There’s Martin Urbano the man and comedian. And then there’s “Martin Urbano” on this comeback tour after apologizing for, what now? To be clear, the comedy show you’re seeing at Fringe is a straight-up parody of stand-up comedy, particularly the brand of “edgy” male comedian stubbornly …
**** (out of 5) Eden Sher starred as Sue Heck, the middle child on ABC’s The Middle, for nine seasons and 215 episodes from 2009-2018. A spin-off was even explored for her character afterward. Then the pandemic hit, and Sher unexpectedly found herself expecting identical twins. In a surprisingly emotional …
