Colin – Page 6 – Squirrel Comedy

The Adventures of the White Unicorn

By Ron Bingham

Heli Parna is from Estonia but has lived in Brussels for a long time. In her youth, she witnessed the break-up of the Soviet Union and the opening of Estonia to the West, with all its pros and cons. She recently went through a break-up with a long term partner. Her show looks at people’s perceptions of Estonia, the Baltic States, Russia, why Scandinavia is better, getting back into the dating scene after a long relationship in a digital world, and getting old.

This was a good solid hour of stand-up on the above themes and Heli was a pleasant and relaxed host. Sadly, there was only about a dozen audience members, so the atmosphere was a little flat. This is mostly because the venue is more geared towards straight theatre, and is off the beaten path for most comedy punters at the Fringe. It was a very entertaining hour of comedy by a seasoned performer, which would probably do much better in one of the big venues.

Oh, and a white unicorn is Heli’s attempt to coin a phrase for older single women that is similar to “silver fox”. It might catch on.

The Adventures of the White Unicorn is on at theSpaceTriplex until August 17

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/adventures-of-the-white-unicorn

Olga Koch Comes From Money

By Ron Bingham

A very loud and boisterous audience for this show. Partly as we’d just escaped the rain and partly because there was a bar at the back open before the show started. A full house to see Olga, who started the show by doing some dance moves through the audience before bounding onto the stage. We first received a history of how Olga’s family became rich (in the right place when the USSR broke up), and her life in Russia, then the USA and finally in London, the benefits of being wealthy through luck and the advantages that gives.

Olga is a very confident communicator, possibly thanks to her years in IT trying to persuade kids in eastern European countries to join a certain famous video sharing platform, before she quit. We are regaled with stories of living with sudden wealth, of being too wealthy for some situations, not wealthy enough in others and some personal anecdotes from Olga’s life.

Mostly the show is about the class structure, and how it manifests in different countries – Russia, where having money is all down to luck, the USA, where it could be hard work or a recent inheritance, and the UK, where there’s money sloshing around in the family for centuries.

Olga is a brilliant, polished comedian. She was a little worried near the end, where we all appeared to be more fascinated by the ideas she was expounding and forgetting to laugh, but then a man in the front row piped up to mention he knew her dad in the old days – leading to someone else in the same row asking if he was an assassin who had come for Olga.

Olga Koch Comes From Money is on at Monkey Barrel Comedy until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/olga-koch-comes-from-money

Simon Munnery

By Lisa Clark

Save for a “revolutionary microphone technique” Simon Munnery is not presenting a grand artistic statement with this years Fringe show. In the past he has embodied silly characters or had presented big ideas. This year is a look at himself and he gives us what seems to be a greatest hits compilation with numerous addendums. In other words, all the brilliant bits of Simon.

Having not seen him since well before “The Disease”, there were some hilarious tales about his family that were new. Stories involving his teenage daughters are given the Munnery twist as we get some delightful insights into his life off stage. Also new is a list of friends who have passed – some well known, others not in the public spotlight. They are behind him on the wall. He seems to be gradually working through in memorium in his own way, telling brief funny stories from their lives. You won’t get tales of all of them. Maybe he’s only doing one or two a night, it’s hard to tell, but this is definitely a very nostalgic show.

We get the witty word play, absurdist asides, silly songs/poetry (you will never listen to Bob Dylan the same way again), flip chart jokes (rediscovered out the back of The Stand) and numerous, humorous anecdotes, that make him such a beloved performer. His “show in a shopping trolley” methodology allows him to use his always adorably absurd props in his left of centre jokes. He’s always been a bit of a prop comedian and he can surprise with some pretty insightful political swipes, but it is is his gentle brand of whimsy and ridiculousness that pulls it all together and always delights.

He goes beyond his often low effort engagement with the audience by presenting an interactive multimedia segment that is wonderfully daft. Back in the day, he would take the audience to a nearby pub afterwards, so the show could keep going, but don’t expect that level of engagement these days.

The Stand 1 during the Edinburgh Fringe is the only place to see Simon Munnery on his home turf. The audience is packed with fans who’ve seen him before, we know because he asked. If you’ve not experienced the weird gentle world of Simon Munnery, this one would be a great introduction, do yourself a favour.

Simon Munnery is on at The Stand until August 26

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/simon-munnery

Abigail Rolling: Shit Lawyer

By Ron Bingham

Not so much an hour of comedy, as a horrifying 60 minute lecture on the imminent collapse of the British Criminal Justice system.

Abigail has a plethora of stories to share of “interesting” cases, notorious miscarriages of justice, and the activities of serial offenders known to her. The performance was peppered with the occasional dark joke to lighten the tension, but no rolling laughs.

Abigail is self-deprecating at times (see the show’s title), articulate and obviously knowledgeable in her field of expertise . She tells a story well and keeps the audience engaged throughout, especially when dealing with her own cases, she gets across how desperate the situation is for British justice, in particular for those who need it most and can least afford it. However, it really gets political in a heavy handed way at times and overall the show can’t be classed as comedy.

It was fascinating hour for those interested in legal matters or justice, and it’s fantastic that Fringe is a safe place to share these horror stories, but this is not really one for the people looking for a good laugh or quality standup comedy at the Fringe.

Shit Lawyer is on at Gilded Balloon Patter House until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/abigail-rolling-shit-lawyer

The End of the World Show

By Colin Flaherty

Following a video documenting many images of the End Of Days and various atrocities over the course of history, Mr Death appears on stage bathed in red light. Despite the ominous atmosphere he is merely here to give us a run down of 6 major religions and task us with voting for which religious doctrine humankind should be bound to.

With each segment, the audience are eligible to win an “I Cheated Death” badge (redeemable for extra an 5 years) by guessing which one is next from a set of cryptic clues. This competitive element gives those well versed in theology a chance to flex their trivia muscles.

This show presents lots of facts about the religions being discussed, some of which may be new information to you. To keep things from being too dense, vague links to pop culture are used to tickle our funny bones. In addition to some clever word play, they also pop up as gif styled clips which Mr Death blames on that prankster St Peter.

Mr Death (aka Mark Speed) comes across on stage as a friendly bureaucrat guiding us through an afterlife induction process. He presents the information with a cheery attitude and a slight world weariness in that he’s been through this a trillion times with us tedious humans, a perfect portrayal for this delightful omnipresent creature. Being a PowerPoint-centric show there isn’t a lot of movement from him save some gesturing, our main focus being on the pages of information on screen. A mixture of satirical images and music clips keep us giggling. The highlight is a delightful animation of the apocalypse featuring all the characters discussed throughout.

The End Of The World Show is a wonderful comedic lecture that presents a hell of a lot of information to you in an entertaining and amusing manner. Even the agnostic among us will have plenty of food for thought, or we just enjoy laughing at all the silly beliefs.

The End of the World Show is on at Just the Tonic at The Caves until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/end-of-the-world-show

Chelsea Birkby: This is Life, Cheeky Cheeky

By Ron Bingham

The setting for this show is one of the dank, musty smelling caves 30 metres under a main road, festooned with slightly rotting red drapery hiding the damp walls. A full house of about 40 people (also slightly damp) are watching Chelsea in a pair of silver trousers (and a top of some sort). She’s telling us about her manic depression and how she managed to reason her way out of the mania, but required the Cheeky girls (and Venga Boys) to help her fight her depression.

A fun hour on the power of music and horses to uplift the human spirit. Full of jokes and tales of therapy, childhood dreams, relationships and wellies. Chelsea has a relaxing style and an engaging manner which had the audience entranced. Thoroughly entertaining show, and I have no idea why all those people on Tiktok claimed she was Prince Charles.

This is Life, Cheeky Cheeky is on at Just the Tonic at The Caves until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/chelsea-birkby-this-is-life-cheeky-cheeky