Alexa, Play

By Ron Bingham

This is a play written by and starring Alexa Elmy, which takes place in a meeting room for Alexas Anonymous, a group of people who are unfortunate to have the same name as Amazon’s intrusive little assistant. I have no idea where she could have come up with the idea, but I get the impression that this is very much a passion project for Alexa, and a way of venting frustration at the idea a company can just take someone’s name and trademark it.

In the play, we the audience are all named Alexa (or close variants), and we are encouraged to join in some of the team building and relaxation exercises (nothing embarrassing) before the meetings get underway. As the meetings progress through the Nine Steps of AA, we watch our host gradually start to break down as the pressure builds. Can she (and us) win back the right to our name or is it eternally in the hands of Jeff Bezos (and his minions)?

Alexa has done a very good job with this story, throwing in comic moments and embarrassing stories along with a lot of Alexa jokes (probably taken from real life). There are no other cast members, and just a few props on stage to help the flow of the story.

A very interesting cautionary story, told in an amusing and inventive way. Definitely one to see, especially if you’re named Alexa/Alex/Allegra/etc.

Three and a half stars!

Alexa, Play has finished its run.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/alexa-play

Randy Feltface: First Banana

By Lisa Clark

As Randy acknowledges partway through First Banana, his new social media fans may be somewhat surprised by this show. Most of his famous on-line bits (posted by his Social Media guru) are crowd interaction bits and Randy as usual does very little of it in his show. He’s a much better comedian than that!

Randy has always had a little banter with his audience and it’s always been awesome due to his quick wit and the frisson of not actually being able to see the person he’s talking to, but it has never been central to his shows which have always had him exploring big ideas and deep introspection. The big idea at the heart of this show gradually develops and is basically how did we get to this point of a fucked up scorched planet while letting the Nazis back in, and why is Randy doing such a short run at the Edinburgh Fringe this year?

Apart from the social media presence, Randy gained some fame on a US Talent show which brought new fans (and a surname) and he has been constantly touring the US and Europe since then. He tells about his main brush with Hollywood which was an audition to play the Alien in the new Alien movie out now, where he got to wear a Xenomorph head, it was extremely cool, hilarious and devastating even if it was a bit of a segue away from his other stories. He also got some huge laughs from some political asides and an impression of a certain Australian Olympian break dancer that he’ll never be able to do again.

There are at least 2 main story strands throughout, one about the history of bananas and how it is central to the entire world being up shit creek and the other about his Life and his storage unit. He of course began life as Sammy J’s second banana, but he has always been a brilliant comedian in his own right. He lost the audience somewhat when banging on about Big Bird being made of the feathers of hundreds of birds, but they might not realise that being a serious vegan he might not enjoy the irony of hundreds of real birds dying so one Big Bird Muppet can entertain children. But he wins them back with banger singalong songs, meeting his parents and getting them to join in on his grand master-plan.

If Randy was not a puppet he’d be lauded as one of the greatest Australian comedians of his generation. Well he’s won the top Australian comedy Award and has had a sitcom with Sammy J but hey why isn’t Randy hosting his own Chat show or game show? He’d be awesome. He might not have time anyway, too busy on his way to conquering the world.

Four stars!

First Banana has finished its run.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/randy-feltface-first-banana

The Cryptid Factor Podcast Live

By Lisa Clark

A highlight this Edinburgh has been the last minute decision for podcast The Cryptid Factor to suddenly do a run of live recordings at the Fringe Festival. For an unknown reason Dan Schreiber, an Australian comedian living in London, who is one of the QI Elves amongst other things, gave up his Festival space of a live recording of his We can Be Weirdos podcast and changed it to a recording of The Cryptid Factor with his buddies, New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby (Our Flag Means Death, Jumanji, Uproar etc) and Leon “Buttons” Kirkbeck the show’s producer who is also a New Zealander and became part of the show and, somehow, (despite not being a comedian and the other guys being very funny), it’s comic relief / mascot. They sold out very quickly without the need for posters or fliers.

The Cryptid Factor is ostensibly Rhys Darby’s baby, beginning around 2013 then cohosted by David Farrier, as a space to talk about their passion for Cryptozoology. Dan took over when David had to drop out and Buttons just gradually became part of the show. The podcast is normally recorded from different countries when they get the chance with Dan in London, Rhys in Los Angeles, and Buttons in Aukland, which is why getting them all in the same room is quite the catch.

Lucky for everyone, the Cryptid Guys got to be together to record their daggy podcast in person and the enjoyment and affection for each other is palpable. A lot of the humour we enjoyed was pretty visual, including the fact that they forgot to bring a stand for the huge TV screen they physically brought in for the gig. Dan had been holding it up for the audience to see it but tonight we had the producer of QI offer his screen-holding services. They also had a segment where Rhys drew an obscure cryptid while Dan described it and Buttons tried to find a picture of it on his laptop. Our obscure cryptid was called the Dildo Monster and of course hilarity ensued. It all ends with Rhys blowing the Axtec Death Whistle he bought on his hols in Mexico recently.

The podcast’s areas for discussion are somewhat broader than chryptozoology and it is described as being about “all things weird that are yet to be defined by science”. They each begin by putting forth a bid to read the most interesting recent news item about weird science and after reading their headline, the audience gets to vote by cheering on one of them to be read out in detail. Tonight, Rhys Darby’s choice was met with silence, much to everybody’s mirth. The other main topic for discussion was their over night trip to Loch Ness to hunt for the monster. They did not catch it but had a really lovely time staying at a nearby castle and Rhys loved his breakfast. Buttons drove and they say they only made it back into Edinburgh with 45 mins to spare before our show. They must’ve been exhausted but did not show it at all, taking plenty of time meeting their fans afterwards being very kind and patient with them.

Ahh, the fans, the passionate fans, and particularly the Cryptid Knights who are the podcast patrons. The fans are looked after by the podcast with a lot of genuine benefits such as video recordings, merch and on-line cocktail zooms and the fans give back in turn; showering the guys with gifts, many hand-made. Quite a few fans bought tickets for every show of the run and how some of them could afford accommodation in Edinburgh at this late stage is a mystery. But it was a rare chance to see these adorable nutbags record the podcast together, live on stage for the first time. In turn The Cryptid Guys stayed out the front after the gig, chatting, signing stuff, accepting gifts. Then organising a big group photo every night.

It was a fantastic hilarious show and the core of the experience was just enjoying a bunch of genuine friends being silly with each other. Everybody had such enormous fun that the Cryptid Guys started talking about coming back to Edinburgh next year. Better start saving now if you want to see some old friends mucking about and making each other laugh about strange science & phenomena in front of adoring fans.

Four stars!

The Cryptid Factor Podcast Live has ended it’s run

Jo Caulfield – Pearls Before Swine

By Lisa Clark

Jo Caulfield warns her audience at the beginning not to expect to come away from her show having learned something earth shattering, or moved by a deeper meaning about the universe. Jo is an observational comedian, in fact one of the best. She’s got a lot of experience to draw from and she’s itching to share it.

Pearls Before Swine is a delicious title for a somewhat world weary comedian who’s always been fairly snarky but now takes no prisoners. There’s just enough self doubt there to keep us on side. She’s been living in Scotland with her Scottish husband for many years but still wonders sometimes if the Scots are complimenting her or being sarky at her. She feels uncomfortable at posh parties but also explains why parties aren’t really fun for anyone out of their 20s.

The most fascinating part of the show was a sort of scientific study she undertook by going out with her husband on his all-male “Blokes Pub Night”, curious as to how they interact with each other. I’m sure her presence somewhat mollified their usual behaviour and thus made the outcome less accurate, but it was interesting none the less and of course Jo had us in fits about their inability to connect intimately. Their sharing of knowledge about their little obsessions and hobbies rather than their lives.

Her material about incontinence pads is hilarious but my favourite bits are when she comments on recent news events and hangs shit on other celebrities, garnering gasps and applause. If you want an hour of fabulous laughs from a mature entertainer who accepts no nonsense but will not let you down, Jo is your comedian, she’s fantastic at comedy.

Jo Caulfield performs Pearls Before Swine at The Stand 3 at 19.10 til Aug 25

Four stars!

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jo-caulfield-pearls-before-swine

Nina Gilligan – Goldfish

By Lisa Clark

Nina Gilligan is a feisty, charming comedian “from the North” of England, who reminds me somewhat of a Mancunian Janey Godley. The show is mostly about the strength in women, health issues and middle age, except it’s not. It turns out that all of these are a preamble to where Goldfish is going.

Nina has debilitating chronic Migraines that began late in life, these affect her short term memory and make her think about her mother who had dementia at the end of her life, like a lot more women than men do. She mines laughs from this and menopause and how tough and angry the women of her mother’s generation seemed to be. She also speaks of the joy of women gathering in groups and finding strength and power in those friendship groups. Having just spent time in the north of England it was quite an experience to see the multitude of groups of girls owning the streets on a Saturday night. Her stories are funny and take up about 90% of the show.

At the time Nina’s material felt a bit all over the shop, and yes, she’s not up to Hannah Gadsby’s skill level, but this is her “Nanette” show and her final story, about being sexually assaulted by a comedy promoter, brought it all home. It only takes up a very short part of the show but the laughs stop, she leaves the stage and it’s riveting. We then hear talk about how she was part of coming out with other female comedians who’d been through the same thing and had their own #Metoo movement that made her brave enough to work this through in a show. Being off stage possibly gives her the distance to help her re-live that trauma every night but it works and she doesn’t leave us for too long.

Nina returns to us dressed as a goldfish, a running theme throughout the show, for a celebratory ending. It’s hard to know if this show would’ve worked better dramatically by ending on a blackout, that the cheery ending may feel a little tacked on out of fear of alienating her audience. But why shouldn’t she be a goldfish if she wants to be? Golden and fantastic, blowing bubbles of joy at having created uplifting art out of the darkness.

Four stars!

 

 

Goldfish is on at Just the Tonic Nucleus until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/nina-gilligan-goldfish

Adrian Bliss – Inside Everyone

By Jess Welch

You might be tempted, when told a comedian is best known by their TikTok account – which in this case boasts an impressive 7.9 million followers – to make certain assumptions. Some may be correct as, for example, the audience does skew to the 30’s and under crowd. But if you were worried about how bite-sized bits might translate to an entire hour, don’t worry. Adrian Bliss knows what he’s doing.

Bliss is a master of sketches. Armed with a wide array of costumes, Bliss transforms from character to character as he weaves his tale. And he’s chosen the smallest story of all, the tale of a single atom. We follow this hopeful atom through time and space as it searches for greatness. It’s an ambitious premise, but Bliss makes it look easy. He brings the mundane day-to-day of the most famous people in history to life. Sprinkled with some excellent puns and musical numbers, there’s not a dull second.

For those who are fans and have watched most of his videos, most of the characters will be familiar. But whether the crowd is drawn in by his online presence or not, it’s impossible to ignore that Inside Everyone is wonderfully written and performed, even if there’s quite a bit of time spent transitioning between costumes. It’s theatrical and bold, hilarious and ends on a surprisingly poignant note. Overall, it’s a fun ride that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Inside Everyone is on at The Malthouse Theatre. See website for details https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2024/shows/inside-everyone