Tag: Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Mark Olver – dancing about architecture (Comedians talking about Comedy)

By Ron Bingham

This was not your normal chat show. Starting with the news that advertised guest Dan Antopolski had gone missing, it then meandered around how the comedians on the stage; Josh Widdicombe, John Robins and Eric Lampaert, had started their day. John confessed to breaking his egg yolk and throwing a bowl of soup at the wall, then had to spend five minutes explaining how these two facts were not directly related. He did give the tip that to spice up any vegetarian meal, you should just crush up salt & vinegar crisps into it (how about the meaty flavours? there’s no real meat….). At this point three young Chinese people in the audience apologised, haltingly explained they don’t understand English, and left. Mark Olver, the host, criticised his flyer crew, but I think if you can sell a chat show to people who don’t understand the language, you probably deserve a medal.

Mark then steered the conversation deftly towards the comedians on stage and their feelings about the state of their careers. Eric (who the UK viewers will know from the Sky broadband ad, where he is picked on by Bruce Willis) gave a lot of good tips about how to approach casting calls and told a few scary stories about bad gigs. Josh tried to explain that, although he is famous off the telly and stuff now, he is still working on his career and trying not to be confused with Jon Richardson (by name or voice rather than in looks, I’m guessing). John did some excellent impressions of the others on stage and got in some very funny interjections on his fellow comics.

At one point of the show, when Eric started talking about Bruce Willis, the comics and audience were asked who was the most famous person they’d met, and the girl in front of me said Alan Rickman, as she’d been one of the schoolchildren in the Harry Potter films. Doesn’t that make her famous too? I suppose half of Edinburgh featured in the films at some point.

The hour went by very quickly and the intimate show was more inviting to it’s small audience than usual to become involved in what might have been a private conversation about the comedians, than the usual chat show with a given a scripted set of jokes or simply PR about shows to see. If you love comedy and the people who perform it, this is an excellent show to see. Mark is a very relaxed and unobtrusive host, allowing the comedians full rein to explain their views and letting the conversation flow. The guests (who are listed on the flyer) for the next few weeks are quite impressive and if I didn’t have to leave, I would becoming back to see it again.

Dancing About Architecture is on at the Assembly Checkpoint on Mon-Thu ​at 1.45pm

For info and Bookings: https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/mark-olver-dancing-about-architecture

How to make a killing in Bollywood – NLP Theatre Company

By Ron Bingham

This is a play billed as comedy and, while the first half is a fun filled romp with dancing and singing, the second half of the show is much darker as the dreams turn sour. The play concerns two Scottish Indians (Raza and Gurjit) who are childhood friends. They had dreams of being actors but are now stuck working in the fast food shop owned by the Gurjit’s family. One day Raza decides he has to give his dream one last chance and persuades Gurjit to come with him to Mumbai to try out in a Bollywood movie. There are entertaining scenes at the fast food parlour, the visa office and the airport, which include some energetic dancing and some naked male torso’s.

When they arrive in India, they experience culture shock, meet a couple of people who may be able to help them fulfil the dream, and eventually find that sometimes friends aren’t all they are meant to be. Raza loses his temper at what he thinks is the ultimate betrayal and the play ends in a surprisingly bloody fashion.

There are four actors (three male and one female), with the other two having the responsibility of playing all the other parts in the play. At various points in the production I could see strands that could have brought the show to a happier conclusion but I suppose life sometimes doesn’t work like that.

I’m still unsure whether the two halves worked for me as I was enjoying the first half for the comedy and the dancing, and the second half was a well acted drama about love, friendship and betrayal but they seemed like two different plays. Perhaps if I had known that it wasn’t going to have a Bollywood ending (although there was a final dance number), I may have been more prepared for what happened (I was calling it a spiral into darkness when describing it to people afterwards). It is a thought provoking and well acted show which asks what one is prepared to pay to pursue ones dreams.

So see this show if you enjoy Bollywood, comedy and dark drama all mixed into one show. There is swearing and violence, so definitely not one for the younger audience members. It’s in the huge and very dusty Debating Hall.

How to make a killing in Bollywood is on at Gilded Balloon Teviot at 3.00pm

For Bookings https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/how-to-make-a-killing-in-bollywood

Phil Ellis – Unplanned Orphan

By Ron Bingham

Oh dear. Sometimes it’s hard to review a show and not reveal too much.

This is ostensibly a show about North Manchester’s most reliable comic who received a phone call from his parents on his thirtieth birthday and was told he was adopted. The show is really about how things can go wrong, really wrong. Really Really Wrong. I mean so wrong you are not sure whether he is really this inept and what is happening around him in the show is just a terrible accident, or whether this has all been finely crafted and planned and he is playing a part. Don’t worry, it becomes clearer by the end.

Phil has a chart on the wall, on which he marks off the people who walk out of his show before the end. When I was there it went up from 21 to 24 (there were only sixteen of us at the start).

I recommend this show (without saying any more about what happens) to those who love chaos and disaster, when it is happening to someone else. Try not to feel too sorry for him when he starts begging you for money and definitely stick around until the very end of the show, as you will see the funniest fight scene at the festival. This should receive both no stars and five stars, if we operated a rating system. One of the most dangerous shows at this year’s Fringe.

Unplanned Orphan is on at Underbelly, Bristo Square ​ at 5.25pm

For Bookings https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/phil-ellis-unplanned-orphan

Myf Warhurst – Showcatcher

By Ron Bingham

Myf, as Aussies will know, is a seasoned broadcaster and was a regular panelist on comedy music show Spicks & Specks. Now she is living in the UK and is hosting a genial day time chat show for the Fringe, which is also a podcast on the Assembly website.

The show, set in the massive Spiegeltent, started badly, with rain outside and a lack of numbers in the audience (Thursday afternoon and all the shows I saw were well down on punters) and a dodgy microphone. Once the problems had been sorted we had our first guest for the afternoon, journalist Steve Richards, who writes for mainly left-wing publications like the Independent and the Guardian. They spoke about his show Rock ‘n’ Roll Politics 2 and the funny little foibles that politicians have (the basis of his show) as well as talking about performing on the Fringe.

The second guest was Norman Lovett, best known for his role as Holly on the show Red Dwarf, who is doing his own show Old and New and we heard about that.

Guest number three was someone I had only vaguely heard of, Luisa Omielan, who is performing What Would Beyonce Do?!, which has sold out its ten show run and had an extra three shows added. She spoke about her show and I quickly realised I am not the target audience, not being a young female who listens to Beyonce or has seen Pretty Woman.

After the show plugs, the three guests and Myf had a chat about performing and we ended up hearing about deadpan Norman’s surprising love for the Sugababes and Lady Gaga. We also had some comments from Luisa about her opinion of critics, so I will say no more about that although, not being on Twitter, I don’t have much to worry about.

The show is very structured and is mostly designed for the podcast so that people can hear about shows they may be interested in. Myf is an amiable host and it was a fun hour in a dry tent with three entertaining guests. It is also a big bonus for her Australian fans that Myf’s show can be heard on the Assembly website until the end of the festival.

Showcatcher is on at Assembly George Square at 3pm

For Bookings https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/showcatcher

The podcast of this show can be found at (http://www.showcatcher.com)

Fanfiction Comedy

By Ron Bingham 

Fanfiction is performed by a group of young New Zealanders in a small “pod” at the bottom of the Assembly gardens. The host, Tom, starts the show by giving some examples of genuine fan fiction, both of which were disturbing in very different ways (Rugrats with nine thousand miles of genitalia?! Poor Yogi).

There are a group of regular Fanfiction team members who perform clever, funny stories they have written about things they love. I don’t know if they perform the same ones every day but there is certainly a different special guest comedian each day who reads their own tale. Today we started off with a Fanfiction member’s story about The Avengers movie (which sadly, I haven’t seen). This was about a birthday party that went all wrong for the leader of the Avengers (Nick?). I enjoyed it, despite not getting most of the in-jokes from the movie. This will become my theme for the show, as I am so out of touch with modern culture.

Performer number two gave us a homo-erotic fantasy about the TV sitcom Friends (ten years later). There appeared to be a lot of funny stuff in this but, as I can only just vaguely recognise the names of the characters… It was still a very sick and demented tale of love gone very wrong, though, and there were a lot of laughs to be had.

Fanfiction number three was a very intimate tale from the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter (Yay, I’ve read this). Delightfully disturbing and a little pervy in places, is the best way I can describe it and it was a hoot.

The fourth reading was Romeo and Juliet, but with Romeo as a rat and Juliet as a mouse. I was impressed by the source material until our reader confessed HE hadn’t read the play and had only really seen the trailer of the film. So not really closely following the original and if he’s not a fan of Romeo & Juliet, how is this Fan Fiction? Everyone enjoyed it though and that’s the main thing. It was (once again) a sick and twisted tale of love, sex and violence. I’m starting to get a bit worried about these Fans who write fiction…..

The final story was from today’s special guest, Anil Desai, who gave us Family Guy at Twin Peaks (and you guessed it, I know very little of either of these, although I did try to watch Family Guy a few times). Anil is an excellent mimic and the voices (that I recognised) were spot on. The story was very David Lynch-like, entertaining but baffling.

So, the show is a very fun way to spend an hour, though there will be references you will miss if you’re not a big follower of mainstream culture. Still, despite being mostly baffled, I really enjoyed the well told stories, so maybe if you like hearing about perverted hats, Rugrats with 9,000 mile long genitalia or what Joey and Chandler got up to in the van, then come and enjoy the fabulous pod of Fanfiction.

PS it’s on during the day, but you might not want to bring the kids.

Fanfiction Comedy is on at Assembly George Square at 4.40pm

For Bookings https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/fanfiction-comedy

Gamarjobat (ga-ma-jo-bat) Rock Out!

By Ron Bingham 

The two suited and mohawked Japanese mime artists make their return to Edinburgh with their loud and crazy mime show. This was an hour that went by very quickly as the pair got the audience worked up into a frenzy of fast paced tricks and stunts. There was audience clapping contests, a little bit of the audience dragged up on stage (including one tiny girl who was very relaxed about her stage performance, but I think that might have been due to the chupa chup bribe she was given). The older girl who was dragged on stage was a little less impressed with the part she was asked to play, though.

This was definitely a show for all the family (the 400 seat venue was packed and at least 20pc were kids), there is no swearing, but there are quite a few tricks I’m sure the kids will be attempting when they get home, we had a sing-a-long, which is quite a feat when the only word they said was “Gamarjobat”, and a number of excellent impressions of famous rock stars. Both of the stars of this show are in their forties now but they haven’t slowed down yet and the speed with which they perform some of their stunts is impressive.

If you are looking for an hour of uproarious fun, music, mime, entertainment and visual trickery, that will have everyone clapping along, you should book for this show. But book early as it is selling out. You can also buy their DVD after the show.

Gamarjobat (ga-ma-jo-bat) Rock Out! is on at The Gilded Balloon Teviot at 4.30pm

For Bookings go to the Fringe Website https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/gamarjobat-ga-ma-jo-bat-rock-out