The Definitive Guide to Comedy
*** 1/2 (out of 5) Anyone in the stand-up comedy business can testify to receiving that first big laugh or wave of laughter from an audience, and getting hooked on the feeling, and chasing it for the rest of their lives like a drug addiction. Well, Nick Pupo knows exactly …
*** 1/2 (out of 5) “News flash: comedian has mental health problems. That’s a hot take!” But Spencer Jones is properly loopy, with the loop pedal to demonstrate his penchant for singing along with masks, cardboard cutouts and plenty of props. The two-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee has returned to …
**** 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 …
