Alex Farrow

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!

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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!

An elephant, a bear and a little philosophy

bruceonthefringe 2023, a rant, Comedy, Comic theatre, Edinburgh Fringe 2023, Reviews, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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!

A few faces to watch out for

bruceonthefringe 2023, Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe 2023, Free Fringe, Fringe Top Tip, Returning Fringe shows, Uncategorized, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Just time to fit in another quick flit to the home country, then it’s back up to Auld Reekie and no sleep ’til September! I’ve noticed that The Blueswater are playing the Jazz Bar on Saturday night in advance of their Fringe shows, I may well make it back up in time for that. A couple of days to get my moose cave in order, it’s all coming together.

Yay, Accordion Ryan will be back with more Pop Bangers, this time he’s in 32 Below, next door to where he was last year, again part of the Free Festival eleven o’clock every night except Wednesdays, really, make time, go see!!

Alex Farrow is back, once again hosting Stand-up Philosophy and Stand-up Science besides his new solo show Wisdom of the Crowd, all at Laughing Horse venues. His solo show is PWYC, the other two are free, they’re more or less entertaining depending on the line-ups each day.

David Alnwick has a new show The Mystery of Dracula, expect good theatre and great magic (if you’re thinking, umm, a magic show, it will be way more than that!) in the Speakeasy at the Voodoo Rooms. It is part of PBH’s Free Fringe but be warned, Mr Alnwick is very popular, best be there in plenty of time!

Those two absurdly funny men, Neil Frost and Dan Lees are back with solo shows. I could be wrong but Neil Frost: The Door sounds very similar to his show last year, no matter, it was a wonderfully funny show. That other absurd clown Luke Rollason is back with Cheep Cheep, of course I have a ticket! Oh, it’s not mentioned in the printed version of the Fringe programme.

Anyhoo, must go, I’m being taken out for lunch! Apparently it’s by a place we used to go many, many years ago – I have no recollection of it. ……. and I’m back, I was whisked away! Even driving past Waters Meet (where we used to have picnics on Sunday afternoons I’m told) I only had the faintest of memories. It’s at Walshaw Dean, a bleak moorland area above Heptonstall (above Hebden Bridge), further on and bleaker still, you come to Pack Horse Inn; it’s stood there as a welcome shelter from the elements for just over 400 years (ok, no doubt with a few changes over time). They serve fine ales, a very good Ox Cheek Bourguignon and scrummy desserts.

More about tasty Fringe morsels next time. Toodle pip!

There’s nothing else here but bracken, more bracken and hills

A is for Aidan, Alex and Arthur

bruceonthefringe 2022, Edinburgh Fringe 2022, Edinburgh Fringe Programme Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Just fourteen days to go before the solid-form, paper Edinburgh Fringe programme is finally released. Can’t bloody wait!! I’ve tried having a look around it online but it takes so long to get anywhere, and all that clicking back and forth for more information, can’t be doing with it. See, you can look in the paper version and there’s everything immediately in one glance, the blurb, the venue, the dates and all the varying prices, all there together, no messing. Checking online I’d still have to write all the details down, all that scribbling would take a long while and use paper anyway.

Yes, I took a peek yesterday, when I clicked on Browse What’s On it said there were 3196 results; I filtered out the Online shows and it came back with 3124 results; then I took out Children’s Shows, Events and Exhibitions (apparently there’s 199) leaving me with 2925 to browse through. And that’s another thing, I thought I’d just look through to the end of the A’s, then the next time I’d pick up with the B’s – there’s only previous and next choices of pages, no way of jumping straight to page 30 to the start of B (If there is a way it’s not obvious).

Actually the first shows listed are the ones with numerals at the start, about 30; one for the night owls is 2am at The Jazz Bar. The A’s always have a few beginning AAA to get the first listings, followed by a few Aaaaaaaaaargh…. shows (round about that number of a’s, I didn’t bother counting). I noticed Henry Naylor has a new show, Afghanistan Is Not Funny, this time he’s performing himself; and his one woman play Angel from 2016 is back again.

Joys, Mr Goatley is back with Aidan Goatley: Tenacious but not at the Sweet venue in the Grassmarket this year, he’s on at ZOO Playground at High School Yards instead. Also back is one of my finds from last year, Alex Farrow, still with Laughing Horse but in Cabaret Voltaire this time. Oo, I had a disagreement with a chap the other week who said that the Liquid Room was on the left-hand side near the bottom of Blair Street (it’s not, it’s on Victoria Street) he was obviously thinking of Cabaret Voltaire, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember it’s name at the time! Last year his solo show was Philosophy Pig, this year it’s Alex Farrow: Philosophy Machines, he may not be teaching philosophy any more but he’s not ready to give it up yet, and if there’s comedy to be mined from it, well.

Arthur Smith is back, of course. He must be in the running for longest-running Edinburgh Fringe act by now. Hmmm, I must check that out sometime but not right now as its way past my bedtime, so I’ll bid you good night.

Good night!

I’ve seen some things, you know!

bruceonthefringe Bats, Comic theatre, Edinburgh Fringe 2021, Edinburgh Fringe reviews 2021, Fringe In Person 2021, Fringe Venues, Sooo fringe Tags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Since I last tapped out a post to you I’ve seen six shows in six different venues. I could go through them in chronological order, nope, gonna go least favourite first; that would be Embassy Stomp at theSpace Triplex (yes, one of the tickets I was having problems booking, which irks me now that maybe I should have taken the hint!). Oh, it wasn’t all bad, it just could have been so much better. The plot was fine, pacy and silly, the car chase scene was great, but I wished two of the actors had dialled it back a bit. They were too much for me, made me think of a show I saw a few years ago same problems, shouting is not projecting and less mugging can be a lot funnier (it didn’t help that the room acoustics were not good for shouty voices and made them slightly incoherent). I do think though that there was potential, there were some good ideas; given a few years the two I had problems with may well become fine comic actors.

From a group of young enthusiastic actors to the other side of the business, two experienced older actors playing Holmes and Watson in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Oh it was fine, maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I’d been sat further back, I felt a tad blasted by the performance of Holmes (very Jeremy Brett, I thought) but I can see that’s definitely a way to play him, just a teensy bit hammy for me. Another thing was, a whole conversation piece at the end of the play, it felt like it should have happened near the start but they’d somehow missed it out and decided to tag it on at the end to keep the time right; it just seemed odd to me. It’s on in the Dining Room at the Gilded Balloon until the 29th; Sherlock Holmes fans should go see it and most likely they will.

Next up, another theSpace venue, this time Surgeon’s Hall, I’ve seen plenty of shows here usually pretty good ones, so no pressure. I’d forgotten that Theatre 19 Presents: John was down as an absurdist comedy, now it makes more sense, or at least, what seemed absurd was meant to absurd, and some elements were delightfully so. Again, the room was not the best acoustically when volume overtook projection, but hey, another bunch of young, enthusiastic performers (with those dials up to 11 at times, again, come on directors!) Some of the characters seemed like they were borrowed from bad Radio 4 “comedies” but the plot was fine and the ending, somehow it took me by surprise, well played!

This afternoon I was in the Ballroom at The Counting House for Stand-Up Philosophy. An hour of four comedians (one host, three guests) being funny and philosophical on the topic of the day, which today was rationality. I like these types of shows as the stand-ups can’t just rely on their rehearsed material, we get to see more of their mettle, especially when our host would open the floor for questions! And if you go more than once it’ll be a different show each time. It’s on until the 29th but it was full today, so that bodes well for the run. The Counting House is part of the Laughing Horse family and so operates on Pay What You Can to guarantee entry or risk turning up and donating at the end; today looked like most had booked in advance, you have been warned.

Our genial host of Stand-Up Philosophy, Alex Farrow is next on my list with his own show Alex Farrow: Philosophy Pig. No, I didn’t go to his other show because I was impressed by his solo show, I actually bought that ticket first, but if I hadn’t, I would have bought one! Alex Farrow is an engaging chap with a quietly confident air. I bet he was a great teacher, easy-going but in control; he gave up teaching philosophy to do stand-up about it instead. Yes, an hour with Alex is informative and well as entertaining, plenty to muse on as well as chuckle over. The Pig bit? Humans are animals too and have a base piggy side. He also has a lot to say about bats and is a bat-watcher, good man! This show is next door to The Counting House at 32 Below, (also a Laughing Horse venue) best book in advance as it’s quite a small room and he’s filling it already!

Top show so far? John-Luke Roberts: It Is Better – Live! The man is a genius! Bonkers, but a genius. This show wasn’t in the Fringe programme but I heard about it from Monkey Barrel and quickly got a ticket as it was only on for a few nights, so so glad I did – for me it was the best show of his that I’ve seen. He was so charmingly engaging, (I think he may have mellowed a bit from the first time I saw him) and looked quite debonair with his long mane of hair and beard to match. It will take something very special to knock It Is Better – Live! off my top spot!