Comedy

I know my onions, yes I do

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Have you seen the price of onions lately? Okay, so I don’t pay much attention to the price of staples usually, but when a bag of three, yes, three is £1.10 in the local Tesco’s!! In a bag too (why?), I prefer to pick my own, especially at that price (bagged vegetables have a nasty habit of having the odd dodgy one, don’t you find?) No, I didn’t buy any onions there. And breathe.

I missed the anniversary of the first Bruce On The Fringe Fringe Awards yesterday. I say I missed, hmm, missed or procrastinated the entire day?! The double Fringe there was deliberate, by the way, in case of any non-Fringe Awards I choose to bestow in the future, you never know. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook (and why not??) you may have noticed the latest pic on my storyline featuring flyers and cut-outs, and so, without further ado,

Mesdames et monsieurs, ceux entre et ceux au-delà, welcome to the Bruce on The Fringe Fringe Awards 2023!

Best Epic Fantasy Adventure: Shadow Kingdom

Best Double Feature: Voloz Collective with The Man Who and The Life Sporadic

The Pugwash Trophy: Max Norman: A Pirate’s Life For Me

As the Actress Said: to the Bishops

Best Flounce: Yippee Ki Yay

Best Bedcaps: Finlay and Joe: Past Our Bedtime

Best Blood and Gore: How to Eat a Bear

Best Game of Jenga (ever): Laser Kiwi: Rise of the Olive

Best Docucomedy: The Last Gun

Loveliest Fringe Thing: Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant

Best Fringe Follow-up: Grubby Little Mitts: Hello, Hi

Most Beguiling Poster: Ginzel’s Little Cordoba: A Double Bill

Best Aidan on the Fringe: joint winners, Aidan Goatley and Aidan Sadler

Yes, maybe a couple pictured didn’t make the final cut but they were so so close. And what? No Best Musical Moment nominees this year?! Nope, my favourite, hands down winner will be on Instagram shortly. That’s it from me, and thank you to everyone who brought shows to Edinburgh this August, I may not be real, but for a few weeks there you made me feel alive ❤️

The Final Push

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At the start it stretches ahead, but now it’s shortening unseemingly quickly. Now it’s the beginning of the final weekend, hoards descend upon the town from Down South, party time! Then from the aftermath of Saturday night, everything just fizzles out. Sunday morning some shows and venues are already packing up. Still, one more blow out on Sunday night, hey? Before more packing up with sore heads Monday morning.

Monday the last remaining flyerers will scrabble around looking for the last punters, it can be quite tragic to witness! Those final few are probably very glad to depart what feels like a ghost town by Tuesday. Yes, I know it isn’t, dur, but for those few Fringe workers still around, all the Fringey places that were so full of life are now empty. Like I’ve said before, let’s end the Fringe on the Sunday, hey, the official start day has been brought forward over the years, so too can the end date.

Anyway, there’s flyering to be done and shows to see, a Half Price Hut to check. I’m not sure how much the HPH list gets updated this year, there may be some additions later on?! I notice that Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant (5☆ from me) and How to Eat a Bear (4☆) are on there again.

Also on, I saw them the other night but haven’t got to writing a review, the utterly fabulous (and even more talented than I’d perceived them to be from our many chats) Aidan Sadler with their new show Melody, well worth 5☆. All their own songs too! Not on the HPH list yet, but it has appeared plenty, Yippee Ki Yay, I saw it yesterday, intrigued as it’s a different actor from last year and oh boy, so, so, so glad I went 5☆!

Oo, just glanced out of my window, it’s teeming down out there!! Jeepers! On the one hand flyering will be bloody soggy, on the other, folk will be more inclined to go indoors. This last week has been mostly sunshine with gentle warm breezes, folk wanted to make the most of it, not sit in stuffy dark rooms in the middle of the day.

Ah well, no rest for the wicked! I must have caffeine and away, but I’ll leave you with a quick list of shows that I’ve enjoyed this year, for your consideration this final weekend. I’ve scribbled it down quickly from looking at my Fringe schedule, so some may not be on any more.

Have a great day, whatever you’re doing, mes amis!

A gun, death and darkness

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What a day, rain, sun, rain, sun, make up your mind! Did another while of flyering; the similarities with carbooting keep popping into my head – big one, a nonchalant smile for all who gaze upon you and your wares (ie resting bitch face is not a good look). One chap made me laugh, he ran across the road when I caught his eye and waved my flyers in his direction, and no, he wasn’t running away, he came to me to take one!! Wonders will never cease. Anyways, on with three more reviews. I’ll go from light to dark I think, three very different shows, that’s the beauty of Fringe, there’s something for every taste!

So, silliness incorporated, The Last Gun starring, in many many roles, Will BF and a couple of sock puppets (what’s the Fringe without a sock puppet or two?). Right from the off when an audience member was urged to put a video in a video player (he was young, not sure he had much clue what he was doing!) the tone was set, daft, a tad retro, with audience participation.

The Last Gun was a film made in 1975, it sunk with barely a trace, never finding it’s audience, this show is a documentary looking back at “the garlic of films – very stinky”. The laughs come fast and frequently in all forms, impressive wordplay and sharp, funny dialogue, the characters in the talking heads documentary sections, visual gags (an easter egg, loved it!). The audience participation bits are excellent, there’s playdough and video-gaming (Will has written operating instructions on the back of his shirt to help the other player along), Will is equally quick and hilarious on and off script. The film is well realised, in fact I’d swear I got it out of Blockbusters in the late 80’s for one of my infamous movie marathons! ☆☆☆☆½

Next, with light and dark, Death Suits You is a musical black comedy where Death takes time out from his busy schedule to explain to us just how much time and effort he puts into each and every death (he’s been feeling very unappreciated). Death is wry and witty, he also has a damn fine set of vocals and great stage presence; live musical accompaniment adds to the drama of unfolding death scenes. Sam Hooper is excellent as Death, he really, err, brings him to life!? ☆☆☆☆

And now, the darkness, no, not the band, a stand-up from Vienna called Elias Werner. Ah, Vienna (come on, I’m not the only one!) I visited it twice briefly on my interrailling adventure, such a shame the film cartridge of my first visit was lost before I got home (so much retro going on in this post!), I even went on the Giant Ferris Wheel seen in that noir classic The Third Man. Is it a Viennese thing, noir?

Werner’s show is called Live, Deaf and Dark and yes, it is very dark, dark and intelligent; his delivery is dry with the occasional hint of a mischievous smile hiding below. This is his first time doing stand-up in the UK and at the Edinburgh Fringe (having come over in his van, Werner played a few shows on the way up to Edinburgh), so plenty of dark gems to mine there! Other topics he touches upon include family, dating online and his deafness, moving deftly between them with some neat callbacks (a loud guffaw escaped me at the schoolbag bit).

Many of his observations of life had heads nodding and some invoked a few sharp intakes of breath (from oo, that’s close to the bone, or, I can’t laugh at that, can I? It’s hard to tell). I know I generally go for the light quirky side of comedy but a little dark humour is a great palate cleanser, and it reminds us of our own dark sides, let’s them run free a while. There’s plenty to enjoy here before you step out again into the light, as he tells us, these are real stories – just not true ☆☆☆½

Time for my bed. G’night all!

An elephant, a bear and a little philosophy

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Is it just me or is this Fringe a tad quieter than last year? Oh, it is busy, but just nicely busy, transversing Royal Mile is actually quite easy! Okay, so there’s the usual blob of bodies standing watching a street performer, but apart from that it’s a doddle. Again there’s no craft stalls by St Giles, just a few sketch artists, shame, I liked them there; neither are there any on the Mound by the art galleries, nor on the recently reopened walkway to Playfair Steps (okay so that could be hard to negotiate at times, but it was fun and bustling).

In fact there’s not much at all going on by the galleries apart from a pop-up bar, like we needed another one! Why still no new Half Price Hut there? Really, no sponsors could be found, at all? Major publicity like that? This six o’clock closing at the Box Office is nonsense, and they’re charging booking fees too! Come on Edinburgh Fringe, as I said last year, it’s very little help to the later evening shows when folk can’t get to a box office in an evening to take up the deals on offer.

I did procure two HPH tickets yesterday, I’d had an eye out for them appearing on the list and yes, my Fringe-dar is in fine working order; two of my favourite venues too! Paradise in The Vault and Greenside @ Infirmary Street. First off Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant was a joy, just one man telling a wonderfully funny absurd tale (supplanted from America to Salford and around the UK).

What a storyteller! He kept me captivated as he told us about Jumbo the white elephant from Siam, and Inspector Blunt’s attempts to catch the thieves. The language is so gloriously old-fashioned and hilarious, plenty harrumphing and tushing, and telegrams flying everywhere! Great incidental music too, it really added to the experience. Just one thing, a screen set up to show illustrations wasn’t working at the performance I saw, a shame but our storyteller was so eloquent my imagination easily filled in the blanks. A wonderful hour ☆☆☆☆☆

Luckily the rain had stopped when I stepped out of Paradise in The Vault, so I had a wander through up to Teviot Square to take in the fringeyness (again noting that it’s not so busy as I’ve known it), before heading to Infirmary Street. This venue is an old school, a proper old school building, go to a show there just to see it! I went to find out How to Eat a Bear or how not to, as two slackers Mark and Dave find out.

These two slackers have absolutely no redeeming features, they will never become better human beings, they are truly awful (think Bill & Ted but even worse). If you haven’t been put off by what I just wrote, if you like American slacker movies then this is the show for you, you will love it! It is very funny, sharp, dark in places (oh, the Bill Cosby joke!!) and it should be a good time in the evening for it’s intended audience (a shame there were as many working on the show as in the audience when I saw it). Yup, How to Eat a Bear is a lot of fun ☆☆☆☆

As I seem to be reviewing in threes, I’ll just throw the charming Alex Farrow in here. His new show Alex Farrow: Wisdom of the Crowd at Cabaret Voltaire is another hour of philosophical fun. This is the third year I’ve seen him, he just gets better and better; he’s engaging and interesting, I could quite happily listen to him for much longer! ☆☆☆☆☆

That’s your lot for now, I’m off out. Toodle pip!

Three morsels of Fringey goodness

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Three days in, twelve shows seen. It’s tricky balancing wanting to be Fringey, writing about the Fringeyness and getting enough sustenance and sleep. It’s late just now, I had intended to be already in the Land of Nod but a few quick mentions before I lay my head.

Second day of previews I started with Ringer at Underbelly Bristo Square, picked as it’s by the same chap who wrote the very last show I saw last year, Out To Lunch (I was rather cajoled into seeing it as one of the few punters in Bristo Square, but it was very good). Another sharp, dark comedy; maybe a tad confusing to follow at the start but the storyline got underway, great fun and great performances by both actors. Same as last year’s, I’ll give it 4 stars.

I bumped into Grubby Little Mitts when they were flyering before the show, so lovely to see Sullivan Brown again, he said the new show is even better than last years – a bold claim! He was right though. The two of them (Rosie Nicholls is the other mitt) have a great chemistry, the sketches come fast and furious, there’s darkness and light and all sorts of bonkers in between. So that’s five stars plus another little star for Grubby Little Mitts: Hello Hi.

I want my bed so just one more, Shadow Kingdom by Mochinosha Puppet Company; that’s puppets as in Japanese shadow puppets, over four hundred are used! Another big epic story, last year’s was sci-fi, this year it’s fantasy (but again with a message in there) with plenty of adventure, hey, they paraphrase that line from Princess Bride! As last year, the flyer is actually a short comic book, and they have badges, yay (for a small donation), that’s 4½ stars from me. You might think shadow puppetry isn’t for you, maybe not, I wondered the same last year and am glad I gave it a chance.

G’night, sweet dreams!

Chocolate, comedy and a little porn

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March is galloping to it’s close, April Fools Day on Saturday. They call it April Fools Day but as pranks should only be played up until noon (here in the UK, anyway) why isn’t it April Fools Morning? Do the younger generations even go in for it all these days? As some foresee the demise of comedy, won’t pranking have similar problems of insensitivity/oversensitivity (depending on your viewpoint of these things)?

Oo, yeah, almost forgot about it, My Dad Wrote A Porno , I finally got round to checking it out this week (it only started nearly eight years ago!). A friend mentioned it when we were drinking in the Jolly Judge, so on their recommendation that it is indeed very very funny, I had a listen and got through four episodes in one go! My Dad Wrote A Porno is a podcast by a chap (along with two friends) who having found out his dad had written some, ahem, adult literature decided to share it with his friends and anyone else who cared to listen.

Millions have since listened to the three’s hilarious commentary to Jamie Morton’s dad’s bad porn. There’s been two sell-out world tours, an HBO comedy special and there’s a book of the original book Belinda Blinked annotated with all the commentary from the podcast and extras. Oh, and his dad’s up to book six now, I think! Comedy is far from going under, I reckon.

Glasgow and Melbourne have been fighting the good cause with their comedy festivals currently ongoing. One of my favourite shows from Edinburgh last year, Grubby Little Mitts are on at Glasgow Comedy Festival on 1st April; and across the world at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival another of my favourites John-Luke Roberts is performing the wonderful A World Just Like Our Own, But… just four shows until 2nd April. Just thought I’d mention it, you know.

And back to Scotland, my favourite artisan chocolates stall CoCo Co. won’t be at Edinburgh Farmers Market this weekend, but they will be at West Linton Market and Portpatrick Market on Saturday and Dumfries Farmers Market on Sunday, with plenty of Easter treats besides their usual range.

They’ll be back in Edinburgh next Saturday, hopefully with a white chocolate and raspberry version of the Nest Egg. I may be at the market somewhat earlier than my usual, next week!

And so to bed, just two last pics for you. Remember that reservoir down in deepest Yorkshireland? It’s finally back up t’ top.

See the bridge at the left? that’s where I took the earlier pics
The dam runneth over

Zombies, rats and hot tubs

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First off a big WOOHOO!! and YAY!! for those Grubby Little Mitts who won an Amused Moose Award yesterday, brilliant news, well-deserved. Second, the Fringe is coming to an end, shows are starting to wind up (sniff!) and there are a few that I have neglected to mention how much I enjoyed them, in case anyone pays attention to what makes a moose smile. Here goes…

Aidan Goatley, the loveliest man on the Fringe is back with Aidan Goatley: Tenacious in ZOO Playground 1, a slightly out of the way venue to find but still very central. If you’ve seen Aidan before you’ll know what to expect, if you haven’t, like I said, he is a very lovely guy, you do not need to fear the front row (mind, he did demonstrate that without his glasses and a change of tone, with his size and tattoos he could come across as very menacing – and then he put the glasses back on, phew!). He always tells a great story, some older stories have come round again used as springboards into new material; he’s mentioned in previous shows that he started out in stand-up with the likes of Ramesh Ranganathan but Aidan’s not bitter, no, he’s bloody tenacious! ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Nathan Cassidy is back with two shows, one at City Cafe (PWYC) the other at the Three Sisters (Free). I saw Hot Tub God in City Cafe in a small square room, comfy seats around the walls and uncomfy seats in the centre – there was just enough room for what audience there was to fit around the sides – like we were all in a big hot tub. Another great storyteller, more bite, snarl and sex than Aidan, whatever type of storyteller you want they’re here at the Edinburgh Fringe! I haven’t seen his other show yet but on the strength of Hot Tub God, I may well visit the Three Sisters very soon. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This morning I finally saw a show at Paradise in the Vaults, one of my favourite Fringe venues, and happy to say, it was another belter (I’ve seen some great stuff in those Vaults over the years). It was in my to-see pile as soon as I saw it in the Fringe programme, Apocalypse Kernow; great venue, zombies, Cornish, comedy – what’s not to love? Absolutely nothing! So much funny and satirical content in one hour, the writing and performances are brilliant, turns out its father and son, both are so good in their many roles. Like all the best multi-character shows various soft toys played small parts (very well, too) and the ongoing Trago Mills worker’s updates of the situation were pitched perfectly. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Enough Fringery, though this kinda is as bands don’t start playing at two in the morning in Binkies at any other time of year. The Scat Rats had told me in advance that they’d be playing Whistlebinkies on Wednesday night (just as well, a night that late requires a little forethought and Binkies made no mention of it til last minute), they did also mention the strong possibility of some level of inebriation, okay, it’s Fringe, it’ll be very late, a few drinks in would be perfectly reasonable to expect.

Back in March I wrote It’s going to be a special night a direct quote from Mr Marah the night Logan’s Close played the Running Horse in Nottingham (click on it, it should link to my post). Wednesday night was another special night, only this time it was Scott’s turn as the soberer one! I was concerned when Carl first took to the stage and sat on his stool that he would stay on it, clearly instinct kicked in and he performed pretty well considering (oh yes, there’s a couple of clips on Instagram!) He coped pretty well with the ongoing technical problems, I felt sorry for the poor girl who was on sound that night, she was doing so her best. It was indeed another fine fun performance through to around four, hugs all round and home to bed.

In other Fringe music news, did I mention the other day that Accordion Ryan had to cancel his show because his voice was suffering? Well, anyway, he did, it was. Poor guy had to cancel another two shows, but today he’s back up and running, yay! I won’t be seeing him tonight but I’ll definitely be there for his last show on Sunday (22:15 at The Counting House on West Nicholson Street), I reckon it’ll be banging!

Must go, need to eat. Toodle pip!

Spending time in Spaces

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Yesterday I hit the hut, the Half Price Hut tickets, plus others just to get a good return for the overall £5 booking fee. In doing so I finally saw shows in theSpace venues, third week and I hadn’t been to any of them yet, unusual for me. I’ve noticed theSpace host a lot of small theatre companies, many that just come up for one week; so if it’s theatre at a reasonable price that you’re after, it’s a good place to check out.

TheSpace on North Bridge is on the first floor of the big hotel there, the big posh hotel, lovely staircase up, but somehow a building devoid of any, erm, emotion is not quite right, very airport lounge-y, very impersonal, a total lack of atmosphere (just my opinion, others may say differently). This does mean that the actors really need to be able to create their own atmosphere. Once Upon A Midnight Dreary certainly pile in on, a sumptuous musical play about Edgar Allan Poe, sadly it wasn’t quite to my palate. It was the Edgar Allan Poe element that attracted me (there’s always at least one production about Poe or his works at the Fringe every year). The music was very good, very fitting and the three performers all have great singing voices but the play itself just didn’t sit right with me, but any Poe fans, fans of the macabre should consider giving it go, especially if the tickets are on HPH offer.

In the evening I had back-to-back shows in Theatre 3 at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall. Be warned, Theatre 3 is a very warm room, warm enough to have your head nodding if you’ve recently had a large meal. First off, You’re Dead, Mate a dark comedy where Death has to process his latest client and send him to the Hereafter, but his client is, understandably, rather confused and disbelieving. This is the debut play of Edmund Morris with himself as Death and Harry Duff-Walker playing the recently deceased. It’s very funny and entertaining, a few poignant moments in there amid the laughs; for a first play I reckon he done good, not brilliant but sound and some great ideas. It would be interesting if Morris re-visited this in five years time, with tweaks from all his accumulated knowledge and experience this could be really something (yes, Morris has a future in theatre of that I have no doubt). ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Another young man with a bright future is Fraser Brown. After a brief step outside to gulp down some fresh, cool air it was back into Theatre 3 for It’s Fraser Brown, I’m Afraid. He comes across as a personable young chap who’s a tad anxious, or is that part of the act? No, I think his occasional apologies to his audience weren’t without basis in his true self, they may be in there as part of his routine but it would still be telling that he put them in. Brown has some wonderfully pitch-black comedy moments where a few cracked a laugh and others gasped or laughed like they shouldn’t be finding the funny. He seemed to take a while to relax into his stride, I felt he was trying to hard to be edgy, it came across just a bit uneven, disjointed; when he got in his groove he had a lighter touch and delivered the dark punches with more effect. Definitely one I’ll be keeping my eye on ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yesterday early evening I finally indulged myself with a HPH ticket to see Blueswater Presents: Blues! The 10th Anniversary Show in the Grand Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall. I know that I shouldn’t begrudge spending a bit more to see some top class blues but I’m a terrible moose and I do. Wow, though, this is a brilliant show, it’s the last year Blueswater will do this particular show, definitely worth seeing before it finishes on Saturday if you like the blues. Worth it just for Nicole Smit coming on and performing I’d Rather Go Blind, followed by a blindingly good rendition of The Wizard by Black Sabbath!

Yes, this show takes us for the beginnings of the blues (with just Nicole Smit and Felipe Schrieburg on stage singing John the Revelator – exquisite) right up to modern day. Members of the band came and went off stage as each number required, with Nicole adding to the mix occasionally; all the various Back Up Crew were there along with some brass on the side. Just have to mention The Wizard again, I don’t usually pay much attention to drummers but I do enjoy watching Simon Gibb and he was sooo good on this; and Jed Potts and Charlie Wild going nuts on guitar, awesome (oh, Ewan on bass and the harmonica player were great too, and Felipe on vocals). I am a bit tempted to go back for the final show.

Last but not least from yesterday, not in any Space, the Gilded Balloon Wine Bar instead, was Yippee Ki Yay and if you can’t guess what this show takes its name from it’s possibly not the show for you. If, however you are a fan of Die Hard, are not averse to some verse and like a slice of silly, this could be right up your street. Richard Marsh tells two stories side by side, one Die Hard the movie, the other of our narrator’s life having fallen in love with a fellow Die Hard fan. His Hans Gruber is priceless (with plenty of little Rickman and Potterverse quips); the proposal scene to the music from The Princess Bride, such a great little detail. So glad I decided to get around to seeing this romp ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The sun has finally decided to come out – it was very gray and wet before lunchtime. Must go out and get a few rays, maybe catch another show or two. It could be a late one tonight as I believe those Scat Rats are playing Binkies in the early hours, will I make it?

Toodle pip!

That’s another week ending

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And that’s the second week of the Fringe drawing to a close; but it’s not quite over yet, my plan is, start writing this post, take a break to see Accordion Ryan, then come home all cheery and write the rest of it. Good flan, huh? Quite a number of shows will be finishing up tonight, there’s always one you’ve intended to get round to seeing only to realise it’s finished, packed up and gone home. There’s also a number in my cut-outs pile that I’ve kept looking at only to realise they weren’t on yet – well now they will be! Oh, and I must go see young stand-up Fraser Brown this week, every time I’ve bumped into him flyering I’ve said I will. He was at the Fringe last year and had a very successful run but I never saw him, my Fringe-Dar is reckoning he’ll be good.

Oo, Lucifer is on 5USA channel on the tellybox, from the first series. Yes, I’ve seen it a number of times now but hey, it’s Lucifer.

That’s where I had to dash out to get up to The Counting House to see Accordion Ryan. He’s such a sweet guy and smart, quite the multilingual too, from spending the last few years in a number of different countries and always making an effort to learn the language. Tonight he had in audience members from Denmark and Spain so sang songs in both languages, like so impressive. The dude exudes joy and harmony, though some of the songs he sings can cause outrage when he busks on the street. Ryan does write songs himself but this show is mainly, as the title says, Pop Bangers which he encourages his audience to sing along with him. Accordion Ryan is a ray of sunshine to brighten up the day ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Did I mention last time that I found out late on Friday night that Barry Ferns was to be back on Arthur’s Seat on Saturday? Did I go? Of course, I did, even though it was very windy with showers forecast (luckily they didn’t materialise but I was prepared in case); because it was so windy the show happened at the slightly lower level before the last climb up to the very top. Plenty of people turned up deliberately, a number of others stayed to watch as well and some would just walk across the “stage” bemused by us all.

that’s Barry Ferns squinting into the sun, trying to see his audience

As it was a one-off Barry had a few other comedians with him including John Hastings, who told a very funny story, involving Tim Fitzhigham, about the last night of a Fringe some years ago. I was very impressed that Nina Conti was up there, and over the moon when I got a photo with her on the way back down. Naturally I got a hug from Barry, it was so lovely to see him again! As he said it’s just about as fringey a Fringe show can be, sitting on a high hillside, magnificent view of the Forth and a man with a door frame, amp and mike with stand (the door frame is so that we can all enter the venue and pay into his bag when we leave, not exiting make cause existential problems later).

Its now much later than I thought it would be so I’ll end this here. I”ll pop a reel of Ryan and other Fringey pics on Instagram tomorrow.

Toodle pip!

Silliness, Inc.

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Come on, moose, focus! No playing out in the sun ’til you’ve written up a few more reviews. Well, as I stuck that pic up of The Establishment poster form 2017 at the end of my last post, let’s start with them. Yesterday I caught up with Neil Frost’s and Dan Lees’ latest Fringe offerings. The Establishment may have disestablished itself but these two have plenty going on. I had already PWYC for Neil Frost: Nan’s House of Fun, then just a couple of weeks ago I spotted that The Flop: A Band of Idiots was back (I failed to see it last year, yes failed, I did try hard) at Banshee Labyrinth, yay.

Neil Frost is at the Blundabus, a fitting setting for such an anarchic silly sense of humour. It is a small venue and he will talk to you wherever you choose to sit, but he’s very lovely and friendly so don’t let that put you off seeing this delightful show. You may wonder five minutes in what the show’s title is about, he’s still on his first riff dressed up like a scary psycho mouse, it’s actually a bittersweet look back at parts of his childhood. Neil Frost is obviously around ten years younger than myself as he thought Timmy Mallet was great in the 80s, really, he wasn’t. The show is on at 8pm in the Blundabus, which is next to the Potterow underpass (its passed by all the time by folk going between the Old Town/ Cowgate area and the university area around Teviot); definitely worth pausing there for 45 minutes to recharge your funny bone ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

The Flop: A Band of Idiots wasn’t listed in the Fringe programme (it is now in the online version) but if there’s one thing I’ve learnt these last few years it’s that the Absurdists like to keep folk on their toes, always check the free fringe stuff regularly, the silliest comedy is worth the hunt. The Flop are the other half of The Establishment, Dan Lees, a third of Privates Tom Curzon and Cammy Sinclair, three gents who can make you laugh just by standing still. What a wonderfully musical and cathartic hour! Again, some friendly audience interaction, the front row seats are not to be feared, embrace your inner child and have fun. Besides being rather good at physical comedy our trio are musicians also, Dan on electric guitar, Cammy on percussion and Tom on strings, yes, he’s brought his double bass along again and a violin. If you’re not grinning from ear to ear by the end of the show, well, there’s no hope for you, I’m afraid.⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

The Flop: A Band of Idiots is the perfect follow-on to Neil Frost: Nan’s House of Fun, and time for a beer or two in between. Be warned though, like last year this is going to get very popular so head to Banshee Labyrinth up to an hour before and pick up a token from the bar to ensure you’ll get in; they’ll appreciate it if you stay in there drinking but you can toddle back a while.

And while I’m talking silly, Grubby Little Mitts at Assembly George Square Studio 4 at 14:45 is very silly. Sullivan Brown is a lovely chap (Russian Roulette) and this year he’s up with a new show with Rosie Nicholls, obviously I was going to see it. Funny, subversive, charming, dark, daft; Sullivan does blustering magnificently and Rosie is marvellous, I like her, excellent character acting both of them, the two make a great team. The chaise longue plays its part well and doesn’t seem to mind being pushed and nudged around, I wonder did it come up with them or did they audition local chaise longue for the part? Oh, and this show may make you think twice before ordering a coffee anywhere later. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Now where’s my sunblock?

Toodle pip!