Gentlemen’s Club

By Ron Bingham

Freddie’s Bar, is in the New Town and well away from the main comedy venues, there is only a Fringe Venue sign outside with no mention of acts, and no staff on the door. Despite all this, I managed to find the show, but I was the only audience member (it was a quiet Wednesday), so this probably isn’t an accurate reflection of how the show would go with a full audience. The two comedians, Lotte Allan (who plays Barry) and Susanna Pukkila (Joni), each perform a 30 minute character-based comedy play.

Barry is an old man in London talking about his life and the people around him. He needed a lot of help from the audience (me) during the play. He is your standard crotchety old man, but one who has just discovered the joys of London’s Freedom Pass (free bus travel all round London). This was a fun act, but as I was on stage for most of it, I did feel I’d turned into a cast member instead of someone dragged away from their friends.

Joni is an ice hockey player (I assume, even though she/he was on roller blades) who is retiring after this big match and wants to go out a winner. Lots of inspirational speeches to the team before the game (ie me and Lotte), and a bit of bribery to the referee (again, me), a couple of national anthem type songs, the game itself with all its ins and outs agressively acted by Joni on stage, and the big finale of drinking from the winners cup.

A great show with lots of humour that deserves a bigger audience.

Three and a half stars!

Gentlemen’s Club is on at Laughing Horse @ Freddy’s until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/gentlemen-s-club

The Chaos Queens of Reykjavik

By Ron Bingham

This is two 30ish minute sets from Icelandic comics Louisa Lara and Mekkin Roff, which takes place in a small basement room (about 20 seats – get there early for the comfy benches along the wall rather that the hideous wooden benches on the floor). Both comics have changed their appearance drastically since the flyers were printed.

Lousia was first, talking about living in Iceland and being shocked at the smallness of her home country when visiting other countries (apparently it has a population smaller than the NYPD). She also spoke of her recent divorce and having to start using dating apps.

Mekkin moved from Iceland to the USA when young, and talks about the cultural differences, living in London with friends and the joys of having a boyfriend. Tonight, it appeared most of Mekkin’s family was in the audience, which made her stories about her dad doing a runner from a restaurant and Grandad’s interesting style of racism extra funny.

This was a fun entertaining hour of stand-up from two confident women, and it deserves a larger audience. Hopefully they will get some extra exposure during the Fringe. Highly recommended.

Three and a half stars!

The Chaos Queens of Reykjavik is on at Laughing Horse @ City Cafe until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/chaos-queens-of-reykjavik