The History Girls present A Summary of Things so far…

By Ron Bingham

This show is in a tiny little room at the Assembly Halls, which can get very hot so I was amused to learn that the show sponsor is Ideal Heating. Maybe they should think about an air-conditioning manufacturer for next year’s sponsor? The three girls, Sophie, Megan and Vanessa-Faye, purport to be portraying important ladies throughout history. They are actually just mucking about and being very silly with important ladies throughout history. I recognised parodies of My Sweet 16th/Made in chelsea/pimp My ride (or whatever it’s called), Jeremy Kyle (Jerry Springer lite) and some other ‘modern TV shows’ that I don’t watch. The characters being trashed include Elizabeth, Mary and Mary, the Bronte sisters, Boudicca and her daughters, Napoleon and Josephine (and Nelson) and either Virginia Woolf or Nicole Kidman (they had passable Aussie accents).

There are songs, dances, some art (I particularly liked the dick & head pictures, a rude Latin motto, a very rude animated sequence using a Terry Gilliam set of Romantic artworks and a very ‘interesting’ version of a Kate Bush song. At one point near the end of the show there may have been a missing cup, which led to some water spitting. I do hope it was ad lib, otherwise I’ve been fooled! There is also a place where I was expecting someone to lose an eye as the pencils started flying. Health & Safety obviously haven’t been anywhere near the show. the costume changes were quick and at no time was the stage entirely bare (although one of the girls did get close to that state). While I was bemused as some of the references the rest of the audience, who obviously turn the TV on occasionally, were having a ball with some still talking about their favourite sketches ages after we’d left.

As long as you’re not really looking for a historical re-enactment with pretty frocks, but you could do with an hour of silliness and verve, this is a top pick, Bring a fan.

The History Girls present A Summary of Things so far… is on at The Assembly Hall

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/history-girls-present-a-summary-of-things-so-far

5 Good Reasons you should come and see Dirty Thirties with Lady Melville and Rosie Rebel

Here are 5 Good Reasons you should come and see Dirty 30’s with Lady Melville and Rosie Rebel!

1) This is the only show in Edinburgh and potentially ever – to offer this juxtaposition – Two friends – An Aussie and a Yank, one with severe ADHD and the other borderline OCD, a blonde and a brunette, one with ten year’s experience and the other with 14 months –  come to Scotland for their first Edinburgh Fringe!

2) How do two completely different women from opposite sides of the globe maintain a lasting friendship? 3000 miles and separate continents! In their first festival venture together after gallivanting through the British countryside, cruising the Caribbean together, and  getting married – they’re at the biggest Fringe Festival in the World. There’s always bound to be Madness, Mayhem and Malfunction at a fringe, especially with these two! Will their friendship stand the test of fringe…?

3) An American Ivy League honours graduate and an Aussie masseur/teacher talk about all things 30, some good, and some just plain DIRTY! Stories of survival, love and unexpected presents feature throughout. Plus there’s a few very special surprises. Something for all palates; stand up, drag character, music, burlesque and more.

4) Erin and her new fiancee have a wedding to pay for, and Rosie has $80K of college debt to pay for and they blew all their savings to come and do the Fringe. If they fill their 50 seats at The Counting House every day for 25 days and each person contributes at least 3 quid, that could just about cover their costs. The probability of that happening, fuck knows. But of course that’s not why they’re here… just running the narcissistic rat race and pursuing this big dream.

5) This show’s got balls – FREE Gum Balls. Sponsor DANDYCANDY.CO.UK who sell scrumdiddilyumptious Retro Sweets are kindly supplying Rosie and Erin with a shitload of chewy that will be handed out before and after the show. Whether this will be a help or a hinderance to the show remains to be seen. Watch your step in Edinburgh folks, you may put your foot in something a bit sticky.

Dirty 30s is on at Laughing Horse@The Counting House

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/dirty-thirties

Milo McCabe – Kenny Moon this is your Life

By Lisa Clark

The Kenny Moon of the title is a character played by Milo McCabe’s actual father Mike McCabe and the story played out is something pretty close to Mikes life as a stand up comedian in the 80s and early 90s on the sea side circuit and television. Milo, who plays all the characters in his father’s life, makes sure you know that he is the actual star of the show. Apparently he was nominated for an Amused Moose Award last year for a show that was described as a ‘showcase for his … outrageous diamond cut characters’, and he has a burgeoning acting career.

There was little to suggest that there was much more to Milo’s motivations here, it was another showcase of character after character and they were played with gusto and a keen eye for detail but were all pretty unpleasant. Unfortunately there was also a horrible creeping sense in this show of a son using the relationship with his father and his father’s bitter, sad story to further his own career and of a father hoping to get back in the game after 20 years, while trying to get revenge on those he blames for a career that never went as far as he’d hoped. The third person on stage, Chris Henry, as the ‘This is Your Life’ host and the only warm and genuine presence on it, is completely superfluous, standing to the side watching, with little to say or do in a thankless role that could be played by a cardboard cutout.

The show begins with Mike, as Kenny Moon performing some of his old gags. It was hard to tell if we were supposed to laugh at how old fashioned and unfunny they were, or even if they were Mike’s real gags or if this was the ‘character’ Kenny Moon’s terrible gags and that maybe later we’d get to Mike’s actual classic stand up. As things unfold and old videos of Mike’s TV performances are played throughout you realise with horror that these were real jokes and we are supposed to laugh and admire him for them. Indeed there were a handful of elderly people in the audience who were obviously fans of that style (and possibly of Mike himself) and laughed warmly at them.

The videos and posters are presented like evidence in a case that was lost years ago yet there is no sense of redemption or admission that maybe stealing other people’s gags and using them on television might suggest a lack of talent, lapse in scruples or even perhaps just a lack in confidence in your own ability. There’s also not only the inability to admit that there’s no use snarking against ‘Alternative Comedians’ as his Mother-in-Law style was stale long before the early 90’s when his career died, but that maybe he just wasn’t good enough to write fresh gags to appeal to modern, savvy audiences.

Mike spends a the bulk of the show sitting with a bit of a lost look on his face while the videos are shown and the son showcases his talents as the ‘characters’ in his father’s/ Kenny Moon’s This is Your Life story. The worst smacking of racism, esp the Traveller brother displaying all the ugly cliche’s suspected of Gypsies and the Asian Ladyboy ex wife which Milo later admits he made up and added to the story because he wanted to have a go at a part in drag (& obviously some cheap racist/homophobic laughs). But after Kenny laments not being able to do his old racist material, you can see where the son gets his comedy instincts.

Eventually the denouement of the show is reached and a surprisingly creative twist gives hope that there is almost a chance for this story to get interesting and perhaps win some of the audience over but this is destroyed by the last part of the show with a poorly judged, self indulgent ending that wiped away any chance of sympathy with them. Milo came out of character to tell the audience that the tale is true and based on an appalling injustice for a brilliantly, talented, misunderstood and persecuted comedian who’s career was ruined by cruel outsiders and tries to milk it for schmaltz. I feel like I’ve watched some weird take on ‘Inception’ – a delusion within a delusion of delusion.

Milo McCabe is playing at The Gilded Balloon Teviot

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/milo-mccabe-kenny-moon-this-is-your-life

Greg Proops

By Ron Bingham

He’s back and, unlike normal people, not mellowed with age. At this, his 20th (or 25th) year at the Fringe, he is playing in one of the big tents in the Assembly Gardens, quite appropriately called the Elegance, a room with wood panelling, mirrors and stained glass windows to let in the evening sun and bathe us all in a beatific glow, which is quickly dispelled when Greg comes on stage.

He starts with the Olympics and how the opening ceremony could have been improved, and then goes on to entertainingly insult almost every group/race/class/creed/religion he can in the hour. He also had to contend with noise from a nearby Irish band which became a drumming group, so Proops the comedy veteran adeptly worked them into the routine as he was going. He swears and berates the audience if they don’t get his jokes or laugh loud or quickly enough for his liking. It isn’t a show for the faint hearted or those who prefer their comedy slow and obvious. The routine about Ex-Mrs Macca which moved into an abuse session about the Scots, the Irish, the English, modern music, sport, Nascars and finally US politics, where he left us rather abruptly.

It involves very strong language, a bit of knowledge of American culture and politics would be handy (I didn’t understand why he eulogised US bacon, which is apparently ambrisoa). Greg pointed out his shows are getting earlier every year he comes to Scottishland from Californiania (as he calls them) and he predicts he’ll be doing a lunchtime show on the Royal Mile next year (with a weasel up his bum). Not likely.

Fans will love it all of course. See him if you love comedy that comes fast and multi-layered. I think they should rename the room the Curmudgeon for his shows, though.

Greg Proops is playing at The Assembly George Square in The Elegance.

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/greg-proops

Eddie Pepitone’s Bloodbath

By Lisa Clark

There’s been a bit of buzz about town about Eddie Pepitone being a “Comedian’s Comedian” and there were certainly a few up the back the night I saw him. Eddie’s not sure how to take this as comedians can be a weird lot, often taking joy in another comedian’s self destruction. I think the reason that he stands out is that his act actually has a style and structure that goes back to the comedy of the great lounge style American comedians such as Bob Hope, Don
Rickles, but pairs this with the modern style self mocking and deprecation of Larry David, then throws in some surreal stories about made up characters and versions of himself that are silly and scary and arse-achingly funny.

There is an overall sense of Jeckle and Hyde about Eddie’s performance of taking us to dark places and shouting obscene, angry thoughts but then he always turns it around to show us the daggy, silly man behind the cloak, giggling at his own nerve. It’s a deconstructional side that hints at some of Daniel Kitson’s work and is just as endearing although there are times when I feel a bit disappointed that Eddie keeps pulling back as if afraid the audience won’t go all the way with him into the darkness.

The reason Eddie’s style is connecting with a modern audience is that it all comes from a real place. He’s not a political comedian, though he’s angry at society and he’s not an observational comedian, though there are a lot of things that happen that he can’t stand, the stories are all about himself, his feelings and experiences. His comedy comes from random ideas from his daily life and he works on them, often in front of an audience to build them out into a solid routine. Older style comedians often had gag writers create the jokes for them, Eddie’s act clearly comes from his heart and soul and luckily they’re both highly amusing.

Eddie Pepitone’s Boodbath is playing at Just the Tonic at The Caves

My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver by Toby Hadoke

By Colin Flaherty

‘My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver’ is Toby Hadoke’s loose sequel to his previous show ‘Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf’. A warm, heartfelt exploration of father-son relationships (that covers not only the titular stepson but other offspring, his wives and an absent father) he wraps it in the framework of Doctor Who to make this story highly personal and attract an audience who perhaps wouldn’t normally go to see a show about abandonment issues

This is yet another show about Doctor Who fandom that also appeals to a wide audience by justifying the devotion and explaining the impact on the fan’s relationship with others. In doing so, Toby presents plentiful Who facts and opinions to delight/ignite the fans (his demonstrations of uber-devotion puts many others to shame) while progressing the story without getting sidetracked too much from the main story. He even throws in plenty of political and pop-culture references to prove that he isn’t a complete basement dweller.

On stage Toby comes across as eccentric enough to be individualistic but not so weird as to be a pitiful loner. He is wonderfully animated as he presents his views of the Who Universe, bouncing around the stage like an excited puppy, that it’s impossible not to get caught up in his enthusiasm. Even when not geeking out he tells his tale with genuine passion that sells the material perfectly. He makes use of enough gentle self-deprecation to portray himself as flawed without being a sad sack.

The staging of this show includes some visual elements via a video screen that go beyond merely illustrating points to the uninitiated by creating an amusing autobiographical photo album. The addition of some amusing captions provided some wonderful jokes on the peripheral that linked in to the main thread. Also on the AV front is a special audio treat by a revered figure in the Who Universe that will delight.

This is a brilliant hour in the company of a great storyteller that will delight all. It is sure to encourage you to go home and give your dad a big hug.

Toby Hadoke is on at the Gilded Balloon Teviot.
http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/my-stepson-stole-my-sonic-screwdriver