Adam Vincent – How Not to Kill Yourself When Living in the Suburbs

By Colin Flaherty
Adam Vincent

It’s been I while since I have caught the stand up of Adam Vincent, probably before he moved to London five years ago. His show How Not to Kill Yourself When Living in the Suburbs sees him present his quirky world view to a regularly packed room (my tardiness saw me standing up the back of the dungeon type venue). The title pretty much covers what you can expect – tales and jokes about living in the suburbs – being unfulfilled with your lot and feeling generally frustrated with the world. He tells amusing stories about spousal grumblings, the drudgery of work, free loading mates and technological issues.

Adam regularly presents us with bleak material but his friendly stage manner makes it easily palatable. He tests the boundaries early on but as he plows on regardless, he doesn’t lose anyone. Vincent has a bit of a world weary, downtrodden vibe to him that is delivered with a cheeky smirk. He does mock outrage well and gives us a bit of “having a breakdown on stage” ranting. He talks of anger management issues but his laid back Aussie attitude hides it well outside of the odd comical outburst.

It was a nice touch including some appropriate songs as intro and outro tunes. Singing along the words “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” (the original NOT the Angels version!) is a cathartic release for everyone and hints at what is to follow. This is a note perfect exploration into the dark yet hilarious undercurrent of suburbia.

How Not to Kill Yourself When Living in the Suburbs is on at Laughing Horse @ Espionage until August 27
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/adam-vincent-how-not-to-kill-yourself-when-living-in-the-suburbs

Simon Munnery – Renegade Plumber

By Colin Flaherty
Simon Munnery

There was a time when Simon Munnery concentrated on high concept art pieces (such as Fylm Makker and the La Concepta Restaurant) but over the past couple of years he has gone back to straight stand up. The latest is Renegade Plumber and it is a brilliant offering by the master of surreal satire.

Munnery’s shows are always scatter shot affairs full of random musings but this is one of the few times that he appears to stick to a theme. His centrepiece story has him playing the part of the titular Renegade plumber – creating a solution to heating a tent in a cold climate. Other creative examples of this mad scientist cum performance artist pop up during the show (such as his invented sport “Night-cock” a night time version of shuttlecock) but he also tells of times he bodged together solutions to life’s interpersonal problems.

His stage persona comes across a little “rabbit in the headlights” but his words pack a hilarious punch. Audiences often begin a little wary of his strange world view but quickly warm to his quirky charm. He produces a number of wonderful props to surprise and delight. The inclusion of a lengthy letter from his daughter adds authenticity to a routine…but it all could be a ruse, couldn’t it?

Munnery treats us to some songs that are sung in a manner like Billy Bragg. The first is a protest song about Glasgow’s 1915 rent strike called “Mrs Barbour’s Army”, which is very educational after he comically deciphers the lyrics, and we all join in singing along to the chorus. He later sings some silly football chants about various supermarket chains which are hilarious in their focus and brevity.

The mixture of fascinating stories and surreal one liners in Renegade Plumber make a delightful hour in the presence of a master craftsman of comedy.

Renegade Plumber is on at The Stand 1 until August 28
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/simon-munnery-renegade-plumber

Andrew O’Neill’s Black Magick Fun Hour

By Colin Flaherty
Black magic

A mysterious sombre figure walks through the room, with incense smouldering, reciting an incantation to the Greek God Hermes. As he enters the light of the stage and puts down his accoutrements (as some confused punters quickly depart) he is revealed to be comedian Andrew O’Neill. So begins the Black Magick Fun Hour, the reworking of a show which was to be titled “Andrew O’Neill is Trapped Down a Well”. He has managed to meld that concept into the new one without too many seams showing and produce a humorous look at the cosmic forces around .

The main theme of the show is O’Neill’s dabbling with Black Magick. He explores how the Gods will give you what you ask for, but usually in ways you did not expect. In between stories of various rituals he has performed, living with his cat Ghost (and wife) and some wicked digs at the comedy industry, we get his usual ADHD fuelled flights of random nonsense.

Despite his scary appearance (to the Grannies at least!) O’Neill has a charmingly personable stage persona. Left of centre observations and clever wordplay are always a given at his shows. He prowls the stage when the story needs a bit of menace and puts on silly accents to flesh out the characters in his anecdotes. He is a joy to witness when in full flight.

In a move he considers selling out, a few metal tunes with parody lyrics are performed containing UK-centric references that flew over my head but got plenty of laughs from the surrounding audience.

If you like silly material with plenty of depth to it and a bit of cosmic philosophising, O’Neill is your man. Just don’t go in expecting stage magic (which happens to be what’s on in the other room) or you’ll be quite bewildered.

Black Magick Fun Hour is on at Liquid Room Annexe until August 27
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/andrew-o-neill-s-black-magick-fun-hour-free

Jollyboat – Pirates of the Karaoke

By Colin Flaherty
Jollyboat

Jollyboat (brothers Ed and Tommy) have been kicking around the UK scene since 2010 with their musical comedy. Pirates of the Karaoke is a compilation show comprised of a set chosen by their fans (The Jollyboat Crew), making this the perfect introduction to the duo.

Starting out with a medley of popular songs rewritten with the pirate theme used in their advertising, you would probably expect similar songs for the rest of the hour. This was possibly the case in the early days, but they have clearly expanded their repertoire to include various nerdy pursuits (including Dungeons and Dragons, computers and Game Of Thrones) as well as more mainstream themes such as Jesus, love songs and X-Factor. They explain up top that if you’re not particularly geeky, you’ll probably enjoy half of the tunes at least.

With Ed handling guitar duties and Tommy providing running commentary about some of the lyrics, the boys play some funny toe tapping tunes. They may not have the angelic voices of other acts but they harmonise well enough to impress. Their bio has them employing the standard comedic duo traits to the act (the cute one vs the smart one) but when they’re just banging out the tunes for us, there is not really enough banter aside from a few cheeky remarks here and there.

The songs are often accompanied by PowerPoint slides with cute cartoons representing the songs. A couple of tunes use the screen to provide karaoke lyrics for the crowd to sing along and another uses clever keyboard symbols to point out the pun jokes. Unfortunately, due to the set up of the room, the screen isn’t clearly visible from behind the fourth row.

This afternoon Free Fringe show is the perfect aperitif for Jollyboat’s new show Why Do Nerds Suddenly Appear? later in the evening. Get out your hook and cutlass and have a hilarious rockin’ time.

Pirates of the Karaoke is on at Liquid Room Annexe until August 27

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jollyboat-pirates-of-the-karaoke

This show is free (donation)

Jayde Adams is Jayded

By Lisa Clark
Jayde Adams

Jayde Adams enters the space dressed like a vaudeville hobo with a battered old fashioned suitcase. Silently she produces a box of chocolates and has some fun eliciting laughs from the audience without speaking a word. Mime, one of the many unexpected talents that Jayde unveils throughout in her bid to win over the audience. She succeeds in spades.

If you don’t know Forrest Gump the opening might be a bit of a mystery, but she soon explains it and the other films she has memorised by heart, Edward Scissorhands and Phantom of the Opera, all with leading men who are shunned by society. All are about shunned outsiders who people run from but turn out to have unique talents that endear them to people and romance, eventually ensues. As we learn more about Jayde’s life, it’s not surprising to learn why she relates to these characters.

Its always surprising to discover that someone so bubbly and good with audience banter on stage can be so lacking in self-esteem off stage. Jayde brings an audience member on stage to live out one of the scenes from her favourite films and does a great job in making her feel comfortable and cared for. The joke is shared and never cruel.  Like many of us Jayde has discovered that she spent too much time in her 20s trying to impress people who were not kind to her and were just not worth her time and love.

Jayde’s natural talents are many, some of them blow the audience’s minds, some of them are a little rough around the edges, but she’s only been performing in the comedy world for a very short while and has buckets of potential. She manages to tell some very sad stories in creative ways while keeping things fairly light and funny throughout. The audience is won over pretty early and stays with her for the whole ride.

The highlight for me was the song ‘No More Ms Nice Jayde’ which was a powerful original song that had me weeping. I think I related to this a little too much and this is the key really, if you can relate to where Jayde is coming from, if you’ve ever been made to feel like a freak or been betrayed by those you love, this show is for you.

Jayde Adams is Jayded is on at Pleasance Courtyard until August 28

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jayde-adams-is-jayded

Jenny Collier – Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Jen

By Colin Flaherty
>Jenny Collier

Despite the advertising DO NOT go into this show expecting material about JK Rowling’s universe. Definitely DO NOT bring along the kiddies as she had exactly one joke referencing Harry Potter and it is quite filthy. Instead what we got was self deprecating stand up from Jenny Collier that raised plenty of titters but not the guffaws she was expecting.

Covering topics such as growing up in small town Wales, bodily grooming and dating, Collier isn’t afraid to get graphic and is constantly apologetic for it. I’m sure hearing such confronting talk from such a sweet looking young woman has some humorous appeal and there are plenty of interesting ideas here, but a lot of it doesn’t have strong punchlines yet.

Collier has a pleasant stage presence and can certainly keep the audiences’ attention but there was something a little off with her delivery. On occasion she clearly expected to get bigger laughs with her jokes which threw her and resulted in lines trailing off with little impact. It was almost as if she was already defeated before the words left her mouth.

The material didn’t always land, particularly when her questions about whether the audience either participated in or even knew about what she is about to talk about were met with silence. She was forced to plow on with her prepared lines half heartedly rather than change tact. I’m not sure if it was due to a rather timid crowd or the early timeslot that created this strained dynamic on the evening I attended.

Still it’s extremely early in the Fringe so she’ll be fine tuning things as the season progresses. If you’re not overly sensitive and have a few drinks in you, this is an enjoyable an hour in Jenny’s company.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Jen is on at Laughing Horse @ Espionage until August 27
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jenny-collier-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-jen

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Jen is on at Laughing Horse @ Espionage until August 27

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jenny-collier-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-jen