Reviews – Page 64 – Squirrel Comedy

Angela Barnes – Fortitude

By Ron Bingham

Angela’s stand-up show this year examines the good and bad points about turning forty, while discussing the merits of disused nuclear fall-out shelters in the UK and the Cold War. These are a lot more entertaining and relevant subjects than you would think as, with the election of Donald Trump, there may be a few people out there who are interested in building and stocking their own shelters. Angela also talks about her childhood and how many of the dangers older people accepted when they were kids have been neutralised. We also have material about children, partners, pets and a little about her work on TV.

There was a lot of excellent material in the show, and the audience (full house) were very much enjoying themselves from start to finish. Angela is an engaging storyteller, and there is barely a pause in the rhythm of the show. Some material is not for the younger people, but for the adults, it’s a fun and educational hour of laughter.

Fortitude is on at Pleasance Courtyard until August 27
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/angela-barnes-fortitude

Shappi Khorsandi – Mistress and Misfit

By Lisa Clark

I’ve been a fan of Shappi’s since seeing her in Melbourne and reading her autobiography and went along knowing nothing about the subject matter of this show. It was certainly different from previous outings, being based around a glamorous, historical figure other than herself, but also less surprisingly, it was utterly entertaining.

Mistress & Misfit is an autobiographical show of sorts, but it is mainly a biography of another fascinating woman, Emma, Lady Hamilton, lover of Horatio Nelson, someone I knew nothing about. The Space she is performing in is a lecture theatre, perfect for her show and one of the most comfortable for the audience I’ve been in. Turns out Emma, Lady Hamilton had a pretty amazing life, starting in poverty, becoming a sex worker, courtesan, married to a Lord, then a famous mistress and finally ending in poverty again. I’ll leave it to Shappi to fill in all the extraordinary details, for she does it so well.

Shappi also manages to wind some personal stories through the show. In this way she is able to explain why she relates to the story of Emma so intimately. She relates to feeling outside of the society she lives in, from the ‘wrong class’ and trying to learn it’s secrets and fit in. She also understands having powerful men treat you like crap. I love the way Shappi is able to crack jokes and talk about sexual politics though history, her own as well as Emma’s, without sounding like she is being a political comedian. It’s all very chatty and friendly.

Shappi is a delightful raconteur and will always put on an excellent Festival show. Mistress & Misfit should satisfy the history geeks, Shappi fans and pretty much anyone just popping in to see an interesting and funny comedy Festival show.

Mistress and Misfit is on at Assembly George Square Studios until August 27

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/shappi-khorsandi-mistress-and-misfit-1

Next Best Thing – How to Be Good at Everything

By Ron Bingham

The kindest summary I can make of this show is “disappointing.” Katie Davison and Jay Bennett are young, attractive and full of energy, but the show has very little in the way of actual material. It mostly consisted of dragging people out of the audience to be in the scenes. The house lights never went down, so it felt more like a conference than a comedy show. Most of the humour was very juvenile (I need a wee, I’ve done a little poo in my pants, etc) and the actors lacked skills in improvisation and couldn’t make any emotional connection with the audience.

Sadly, it isn’t enough to be young and cute at the Edinburgh Fringe, the girls have a bit of acting talent, but it’s wasted in this show that clearly does not suit them. And if you think I’m being harsh, you should have heard some of the comments from fellow audience members as we were leaving the show.

How to Be Good at Everything is on at Pleasance Courtyard until August 28

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/next-best-thing-how-to-be-good-at-everything

Andrew O’Neill’s History Of Heavy Metal

By Colin Flaherty

I’ve been hearing about this show for while and finally I made it to the UK to see A History Of Heavy Metal in person. Based on the book he has just published, O’Neill takes us on a personal and highly opinionated history of this musical form with plenty of guitar shredding and hilarious lines.

The version we saw was his stripped down version – squeezed from ninety minutes to sixty, minus the full band and slide show – but his enthusiasm guaranteed that we didn’t miss a thing. Amongst the sometimes shambolic self-teching, he kept us entertained with amusing banter and even let us squint at the key slides from his laptop.

Mostly playing along to backing tracks, we were taken through many memorable riffs, heard excerpts from songs to see how silly they can be and he even put his own amusing words to existing tunes to either poke fun at the band or give them a different silly context. O’Neill explained that normally he can hide amongst the mix of the full band, but his solo playing was impressive enough to carry the show.

He recalled a lot of the facts and figures from memory and occasionally reads a few passages from the book to illustrate the points. This gave things a bit of a classier literary feel rather than just being a straight comedic lecture.

This performance is heaven for Metal Heads and there were plenty of riotous digs at various bands. Knowing the references is key to getting all the jokes but even if you know little about the genre there’s still plenty to laugh at. My non-Metal companion was surprised at how many bands she recognised outside of the big names and had a brilliant time.

Go see it now and pick up the book ASAP (OR DIE!).

History Of Heavy Metal is on at La Belle Angèle (August 10 @ 20:00, August 23 & 24 @ 23:30) and Liquid Rooms Annexe (August 22 @ 19:30)

This show is free (donation)

Brendon Burns and Craig Quartermaine in Race Off

By Colin Flaherty

Who’d of thought that Brendon Burns would become an ambassador of sorts for race relations? He probably didn’t! He regularly points out that an unsympathetic character such as he is difficult to take seriously. Teaming up with Indigenous Australian comedian Craig Quartermaine he has produced Race Off – an exploration of how people tend to view “the other” differently to their own.

Rather than being assaulted with a diatribe about race, privilege and prejudice we get a personal story from two perspectives. Brendon tells of meeting Craig and his wife, and all the things that went through his mind… while Craig recounts having this Loose Unit comedian on his doorstep. They discover that even though they used to haunt the same locations, their experiences couldn’t be further apart. The tale continues through the development of this project and some of the events that have happened in its’ wake.

The performance style of each comedian is wildly different even though both call a spade a digging implement. Quartermaine is reserved and measured in his delivery – sitting back and considering his lines. Meanwhile we have Burns bouncing all over the place, shouting like an overstimulated child to get his point across. It was great fun witnessing them playfully goad each other and muck about and they clearly admire each other’s work (or at the very least tolerate it). We get to laugh at Burns comically portraying white privilege while Quartermaine shakes his head at the fool to his right and proceeds to point at this fact with a few words.

I can see how some white audiences back home could find some of this material uncomfortable but it’s far from judgemental and hilarious to boot. It’s aimed at white audiences who consider themselves tolerant (known as “White Knights”) and gives them some things to chew on. Both performers find the funny by coming at it from personal experience rather than academic theory. Even though UK punters are somewhat removed from Indigenous Australian issues, there is plenty to take away in the recognising and acknowledging of certain mindsets.

Part personal stories and part social experiment, this is not just a smart, worthy piece but also an entertaining and amusing hour in the company of this seemingly odd couple.

Race Off is on at Gilded Balloon Teviot until August 28

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/brendon-burns-and-craig-quartermaine-in-race-off

Muriel – Bad Master

By Ron Bingham

This is sketch comedy by Muriel – three very talented ladies (Janine Harouni, Meg Salter and Sally O’Leary) who perform a fast paced hour of sketches interlaced with video skits (to allow them time for costume changes). From their accents, I’m guessing they are from the US, Australia and Ireland respectively.

We start with a set of video chats with their parents, segueing into a sort of hip-hip improv troupe, learn from a fashion vlogger and an “upscaler”, meet a Brownie troupe preparing an ambitious musical for their camp, a hilarious (and saucy) art house movie sequence, an Aussie radio show with a guess that sound segment and the opportunity for the audience to chant a rude word. The best section was the wedding speeches at the end of the show.

There was hardly a pause in the flow of the show, the room was full of laughing people and we even got a free biscotti. Highly recommended, but be warned that this will be a sell out show, deservedly.

Bad Master is on at Underbelly, Cowgate until August 27
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/muriel-bad-master