The Definitive Guide to Comedy
⭐⭐⭐⭐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 …
⭐⭐⭐½ Born in Ottawa but based in New York City, Graham Kay is clearly still very much a Canadian at heart. That’d likely be true even if it weren’t for his autistic brother, Pete, who manages to bring out the warmer side of Graham, whether he wants it or not. …
⭐⭐⭐ Netflix made chess thrilling and seductive during the pandemic with The Queen’s Gambit. Kevin James Doyle’s show can’t hope to compete with that. Nor can his game. What he could do, though, is establish a career teaching chess lessons to kids, and somehow parlay that into lucrative opportunities. And …
⭐⭐⭐½ Alice Snedden’s new hour, her first Fringe show since before the pandemic, stands in stark contrast to the hours that precede her in the Pleasance Upstairs space. “A lot of comedians are tackling childhood trauma, but I’m willing to take on cummerbunds.” So expect a much more lighthearted hour …
