Stand-up comedy

And that was the end of another one

bruceonthefringe 2026, Absurd comedy, Bands, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Fringe 2026, Fringe Awards, Magic at the Fringe, Sooo fringe, Stand-up comedy, Theatre Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Oops! Hello, I kinda dropped out there. It’s been a whole week since the Fringe fizzled out for another year and even longer since I last tapped out any musings (oh, I’ve mused plenty but failed miserably to get anything done, bad moose). Ha, even just now I manage to distract myself thinking, I’m sure it didn’t used to fizzle out so pathetically, I should look back through all my Fringe planner calendars and see if there’s anything obvious …. much time later, maybe I should get back to writing about the end of this Fringe?! (the fizzle factor can wait for another time)

Ah yes, last thing it was Friday night, start of the final weekend and I was going to see Bad Santa and the Angry Elves and then the Moanin’ Bones; such a fine evening, but so glad I remembered my earplugs, Bannermans is LOUD, kinda to the detriment of the music for me, but that’s the way they like it in there. The second time I saw the show there’d be a few changes, this time the band was purely rocking out sans storyline (hmm, did I mention that I’d seen the show again? well, I did), oh boy, was that fun! Certainly hope they make it back again sometime. Whistlebinkies wasn’t mentally busy, the Bones were great as per usual, but I headed home before the final set, left the loons to it (it was a full moon to be fair).

From having a number of magic shows in my pile of possibilities I only saw one, picked as I’ve never seen him before though he’s been playing the Fringe for years, Charlie Caper, obviously very popular as he’s in the Liquid Room Warehouse (it’s BIG); mind, that really doesn’t equate to whether I’ll enjoy an act. Reader, I loved it, I liked the vibe from him and he’s so good you can’t help but wonder if it really is magic!

I also hadn’t seen much in the way of absurd theatre, or anything at theSpace@Surgeons Hall (which is unusual for me) both remedied with Don’t Flush Me Yet. Gent goes to the toilet (an enormous one onstage) and poos a large sentient poo. Why? How? Who’s that chasing after the man and his poo? A silly, surreal, madcap, absurd caper, I thoroughly enjoyed it, though probably not for everyone.

One show that appeared on the Half Price Hut list most days was Louise: The Last Dance, I started looking out for it, oh, go on then. Wow, what a fascinating show! A one woman show telling the life story of Louise Weber, more famously known as La Goulue the original cancan girl at the Moulin Rouge (and a muse to Lautrec and Renoir), she led a full life from rags to riches and back again. A great asset to the show was the screening throughout of portraits and photographs of her and the area she lived and worked in; and to cap it all, there’s old film footage from 1928 when, at 62 and destitute living in an old caravan in Montmartre, she danced for a documentary filmmaker. A story worth telling and well told; I do quite like shows on interesting historical characters (you may have noticed).

I have mentioned in the past that compilation comedy shows are not always all they make themselves out to be (especially those with titles beginning “Best of …”). I’m a tad wary these days, but I’ll always get to Stand-up Science at some point, it’s fine, there’s Matt Hobs hosting, Alex Farrow as permanent guest and one more science-nerdy type stand-up, yup, guaranteed laughs and the occasional interesting fact. Did I mention seeing Stand-up Philosophy earlier? Well, I did. The lovely Mr Farrow hosts, two other stand-ups, and some philosophy in the mix.

On the last Sunday night I didn’t stay up late enough for the ACMS Awards but earlier in the evening I did attend The Spookies: Horror Awards, it was mentioned in the Wee Blue Book (PBH’s Free Fringe programme, a must). I’d not heard of it before, ah, just in it’s third year, awards to recognise and support horror theatre, and why not? As a niche, it can get lost in the hugeness of Fringe, I’ll admit I didn’t know most of the nominees but had great fun cheering on those who attended in the hope of winning.

As I said, not a late late night for me, just late enough to end the weekend with a right couple of clowns, that would be the very talented, sublimely funny Dan Lees and Tom Curzon: The Sonic Joy Orchestra. Anything can happen and probably will with these two, but it will be ridiculously, wonderfully silly (honestly, you’d have to have a heart of granite not to warm to the pure joy and playfulness here). A fitting finale for my Free Fringe this year, it really doesn’t get fringier than than this pair.

What could possibly follow that on Monday?! Let’s see, the last day of August, hmm, august, a Thom Tuck double bill! How To Fringe: a chat show with Thom Tuck (for a second time), then a quick snack on the way to Hoots’ other Yurt at the Potterow Underpass for Heartwarming Animal Content (WIP). A most convivial way to finish a Fringe, and so interesting to hear anecdotes about past Fringes that I would never have otherwise heard (fifty pence pieces from a door bucket lined up on a pool table so that folk could play for free, yes! a true gent); and hey, I’ve been fringing for so long I could place each reminiscence within my own fringeframe.

And time to finish this post, methinks, it’s very late and a mouse just ran past me, nope, not caring right now. I’ll think of a title with a fresh head in the morning.

Toodle pip!

As promised last time, and more

bruceonthefringe 2025, Edinburgh Fringe 2025, Fringe reviews, Stand-up comedy, Theatre, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Heading towards Bristo Square, I overheard two older gents behind me discussing where to go for a drink, Bristo Square?Too noisy and plastic. Teviot Row and the Library Bar? Much nicer. I did briefly consider not saying anything, no, no, come on now; so I turned round and mentioned it was closed for renovation, they thanked me and headed elsewhere to find a pint in a glass. Ah, good deed done for the day!

I was actually going to the Mosque Kitchen for a chicken bhuna and rice (rather nice!), then across to the Counting House for Stand-up Philosophy with the most genial of hosts Alex Farrow with guest stand-ups Omar Badawy and Daman Bamrah. An entertaining and interestingly informative hour.

I had already seen Alex Farrow: New Order and, as usual, thoroughly enjoyed myself (Stand-up Philosophy is like a diluted version of Farrow’s own show), as we were treated to a flowing stream of philosophical thoughts with babbles of hilarity. There’s always some cracking anecdote from Farrow’s teaching days, this one’s a real doozy! His broken vacuum cleaner story had me nodding in recognition, he is one of us. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

How happy was I to see Rob Kemp was back with a new show, Beatlesjuice? And how happy am I that he’s putting on a one-off performance of the Elvis Dead this afternoon at four thirty? Very, very happy! But Beatlesjuice, oh my heartses, it’s soooo good! Now I should clarify, this is very much a WIP (Work In Progress) but I loved it with all it’s flaws (I actually saw it last week when Kemp was still figuring a lot out, I expect by now it’s a lot smoother, but more fun? nah).

If you’ve seen The Elvis Dead, it’s a similar premis with Beetlejuice retold through Beatles music with Kemp’s lyrics and onscreen moments from the film. Kemp’s lyrics are so bang on, you’re laughing at the humour and marvelling at his genius wit at the same time. Yes, it has a way to go, but it was perfectly imperfect! Beatlesjuice had my face grinning and my soul singing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just time to mention another show, saw it last night, another bullseye for my Fringe-dar. Iago Speaks is Shakespeare Meets Meta. It has the wordplay of a Shakespeare play, wonderful comic acting and a tricksy meta-ness that kept me enthralled. The Jailer was a wonderful character, yin to Iago’s yang, and he does talk an awful lot, well, the play does start after Iago swore he’d never speak again, but like Gromit he doesn’t need words for us to know he’s thinking. Oh, Iago does eventually speak but definitely with a forked tongue. I knew how it would end, yes, the end and then the very end, but the journey there was amazing theatre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Time for a spot of lunch, methinks. Should I cook or go out?

Toodle-oo for now!

A little bit of bonkers!

bruceonthefringe 2025, Comedy, Edinburgh Fringe 2025, Late night shows, Sooo fringe, Stand-up comedy, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Today is the day that many Fringe shows with full runs take off, and it’s not bad at all out there. It is rather cloudy but the winds have abated down to breezes, and it’s a nice 20°ish. Pretty good for a scottish summer! I did a proper big shop earlier, think I’m still buoyed up from last night at the Jazz Bar. I had a grand time enjoying some quality blues and rock’n’roll from The Blueswater, always a blast! A little sad though, as it reminded me how much I miss seeing Nicole and the Back-up Crew and The Buccaneers playing in Stramash, ah well, times move on. But back to the present, and the near future, there’s just two more chances to catch The Blueswater this Fringe, that’s on Thursday 14th and Sunday 24th (see the Fringe out with a bang, why not?) at eleven o’clock in the Jazz Bar.

One chap who’s not resting up at all this Fringe is the lovely Alex Farrow (in fact in the absence of Mr Goatley, Alex may be the loveliest person on the Fringe now, hmmm, I’ll have to recalibrate). He’s back with a new show Alex Farrow: New Order, as well as his two usual, hosting Stand-up Philosophy and featuring in Stand-up Science; he’s also directing a play at the Pleasance Courtyard! Busy, busy! He did tell me it’s name when I ran into him last week, but no, it’s gone (there’ll probably be an edit here later!).

Oops, just popped out a while there! I noticed one of my post-it notes had a mention of a free Fringe show starting very shortly, so I legged it up to Carbon on the Cowgate to see God’s Longest, I didn’t actually remember anything about it, but I’d written it down, so I obviously wanted to see it. Ah ha, it’s Aidan Pittman and Hudson Hughes (Dr Dolittle Kills a Man) along with Anand Sankar and Alex Berr doing improv, very surreal improv; this is improv that runs down rabbit holes with manic glee. They’re all very funny and watching them bouncing off each other, wow, pure joy, the situations and characters they conjured up were brilliantly bonkers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

And on bonkers, (hmm, does that need re-wording?! nope, it stays) I tootled along to see Will & Noah: Too Much Time on Their Phones at the Underbelly, Bristo Square. Oh, they had me at the opening sketch of skimming stones; as someone who cannot pass by any stretch of water without looking down to find a flat stone, this was hilarious (and please can I borrow that sound effect to make myself feel better about my own attempts?). Will BF has a silly streak a mile long, and sharing a stage with Noah Geelan, well, the pair take silly to new levels, I would give the finding things on the floor of a nightclub sketch as prime evidence, it went there and beyond! Audience participation is plentiful and the day I went the audience were very game. The Where’s Wally sketch was an absolute hoot; and when they started on the final furlong, it was like a mad dash of the callbacks to reach the finish line. Just bonkers! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Toodle pip!

A gun, death and darkness

bruceonthefringe 2023, Comedy, Edinburgh Fringe 2023, Reviews, Stand-up comedy, Theatre, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

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!

Some salmon, sole and birdsong?!

bruceonthefringe 2023, Absurd comedy, Dancing, Edinburgh Fringe 2023, Reviews, Stand-up comedy Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s a soggy day out there! After another very late night, I’ve just been pottering round the moose cave today. Tomorrow is a new week, a fresh start, my Fringe calendar is empty (except for the Arthur’s Seat Comedy Extravaganza on Saturday). My dining table is covered with flyers, cutout possibilities and scraps of scribbled notes, but before Fringe future, a few more bits of Fringe just past…

Yay, last night I saw the sublimely ridiculously funny Luke Rollason: Cheep Cheep. Only three shows this year and not in the printed version of the Fringe programme, it’s as well I follow him on Instagram or I’d have missed him. This show was a WIP, Work In Progress, so there’s always chance it’ll be back next year, or some semblance of it. In case it does return, here’s a few highlights, a fairy tale princess, loo roll, a bear hunt, more loo roll, Midas and his Comedy Gold touch; all beautifully crafted together into absurd silliness ☆☆☆☆☆

Friday morning I legged it up to 32 Below to see Daman Bamrah: Salmon Camera at 11 o’clock. Okay, so I was a wee bit late, but at that time in a morning, come on! The good thing about the Main Cellar at 32 Below is it’s just a thick curtain between the bar and the venue room (also a bad thing when the bar is busy and noisy), so even if a show has started it’s possible to peer in and suss where/if there are seats.

Daman very wisely begins his show chatting to the audience finding out bits about them, so latecomers like me don’t miss anything (and he can suss out any references to tie in). I know some folk will be slightly put off by this, have no fear, Daman is a lovely, affable chap and its quite a nice cosy atmosphere in that room (probably all the happy, joyful vibes still floating around from Accordion Ryan’s Pop Bangers the night before). Daman Bamrah: Salmon Camera is an upbeat personal show, a gentle way for anyone to start their Fringe day ☆☆☆½

Catching up on previously seen, I saw Lost Soles at Assembly Roxy, a must for anyone with a love of tapdancing. A one man show, a joy to watch a story unfold with such graceful ease and minimal effort. Personally, I would have liked a little more tap, but what there was, wow, phenomenal! Thank crikey it was in Central at the Roxy so everyone could see it all! ☆☆☆☆☆ for the tap, ☆☆☆½ the show overall.

The rain is currently taking a break, so I’m off oot. Toodle pip!