There have been many schools in the art of surrealist comedy. From the anarchic, raw beginnings of Spike Milligan, to the self aware, Oxbridge intellectualism of Monty Python; right through to the daft apothery of Reeves and Mortimer up to the modern day uber-cool rock and roll slant of the Mighty Boosh. However it is to the irreverent clownery of an American, Andy Kaufman, that I believe Paul Currie owes his greatest debt. From his bizarre and often disturbing puppet interactions right down to his obscure musical interludes and protracted silences this stinks of the man on the moon all over. But that’s no bad thing. While Andy may have got there first, Mr Currie continues his legacy with great aplomb, and it is a legacy worth continuing. From his opening hand routine to the closing cornflakes bit the show is performed with such charisma and energy the audience is left almost as sweaty and exhausted as Mr Currie himself.

NEWS REVUE

PLEASANCE COURTYARD

                        31st July – 25th August (not 14th),

18.30

Concession-£14.50, Full Price-£16.00 

                 NewsRevue returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for it’s 34th year!

This was a superb show with outstanding performances from the four strong cast along with the pianist delivering you with over thirty or more quick fire pieces of topical humour and loads of one liners based on just about anything that’s been in the news over the last 12 months. Politicians from around the globe, Andy Murray, Jimmy Saville, the NHS – these plus many more were in the firing line in this witty series of short sketches, most of them set to song and dance routines.

The show opens up with a spoof on the latest royal birth then going on to sing songs about the triple recession. Your then met with a glum looking Andy Murray telling the audience how he’d eventually smile if he won Wimbledon, then a song about bashing a burglar to the sound of “chitty chitty bang bang”. You have sketches of Charles and Nigella in a spoof version of Mr and Mrs, interactions between horses and cows in the abattoir and on the shelves in the supermarket, Benefit cuts and the latest NHS crisis are always in the firing line. Call centres that you can never seem to get through to as well as a whole series of great and good things on the planet apologising for Nick Clegg’s behaviour.

The lights go to black after each sketch and quickly within a few seconds the lights come back up with the actors changed into different costumes for the next rib tickling sketch. They use a black base for their costumes and use basic props as well as daft wigs, hats, scarves to differentiate between the characters that they are playing.

All in all the show is very professionally done and tightly scripted. The music along with their quick witted lyrics and humour is a must see. As they have a different team behind each year’s show let’s look forward to see them come back for next years Fringe. The truly do keep their audiences well entertained. This was a great show and in my mind a must see.FOUR STARS

 Reviewer – Robert Kerr

Mixed Doubles

The Caves

22-25 August

18:00

£8.50

Neither the name of this sketch show comedy act, or the PR Flyer does enough to give the right expectation as to what to expect when you see this four strong comedy routine. I was expecting either something romance or tennis related and was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually a very well put together, rehearsed and most importantly entertaining show.

As much as I express frustration with the barrage of comedy overload of television nowadays these guys are definitely “TV-Ready”. Flawless delivery, familiar topics and witty exchange between the characters, who you can tell would be great people to go for a pint with, meant this was definitely one of my favourite comedy shows of the fringe.  It’s not over –complicated or overly intellectual by any means, but just very very funny! The actors/comedians aren’t afraid to make fools of themselves in order to make you laugh, and prove the old saying that the secret of good comedy is timing, which they’ve already mastered despite this being their debut at the Fringe.

If you don’t make it this year, definitely check them out next year when they should come back with a better name and a better flyer! Refreshingly good comedy. FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Antionette Thirgood

Reviewer – Steve Vickers

The Noise Next Door

Pleasance Dome (Potterow)

19:00

21-26 August

£13 (11 concession)

These five lads definitely have some skills. They use a mixture of character based comedy and prompts from the audience to create some improvised comedy routines, both embarrassing some and entertaining other members of the audience in equal measure. Thinking fast they show off their ability to create comedy out of everything from glass ornament Italian cuisine to sock fetishes and Hindenburg. You can tell these guys are destined for great things, as despite their youth they are already talented performers and comfortable on stage, managing to survive even the most random curveballs thrown at them, (Alfie Moon’s armpit hair)?,  reminding me of what I imagine it must have been like to catch Monty Python or Vic and Bob in their early years of comedy experimentation.

It wasn’t perfect, with a bit too much breaking into high-school musical style song for me, and a few times I felt they could have pushed themselves more, as they sometimes came back with obvious retorts, or ended the sketch before it truly descended into madness. That is truly scraping the critical barrel however as out of the many comedy shows on offer this is definitely a great way to spend an hour. Once the boys had warmed up they had moments of true genius. Haphazard and slapdash improvisational comedy at its best. FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Antionette Thirgood

Reviewer – Steve Vickers

Dan Nightingale

Pleasance Dome

Jul 31-Aug 11, 13-25,

5.30pm

£6

Dan is a Lancastrian comic from Preston with a very warm personality and to coin a phrase you can’t help liking him. For this Saturday evening gig the small venue at the Pleasance Dome was sold out with 75 people in the audience. The variety of punters provided Dan the opportunity to go with some good opening impromptu stuff. In the front row was a 14 year old boy with his parents (“my youngest audience member ever”) and at the back a very well behaved hen party! Early in the show Dan was showing some pretty unusual bumper stickers and one of them was I ‘heart’ Badgers. ‘I prefer otters’ Dan commented – “what about beavers?”  came a cry from the audience. Heckling comedy gold (or not depending on your point of view) but for sure a chance to improvise and engage with the audience. A chance that Dan did not make the most of. Then shortly afterwards a different heckler made a disparaging comment about Dan’s baldness. Dan did not want to go down that route either. The heckling was not aggressive or unpleasant. The crowd were in the mood to start their Saturday night out with a bit of a giggle and I thought that Dan could have made more out of the positive atmosphere.

The scripted material was very good and funny. I liked his description of the perils and pitfalls of advertising your wares on internet dating sites. I also liked the recollections of his former love affair with an actress and how going out with a drama queen can cause some interesting episodes. The section on his relationship with his young nephew did not completely work for me – heart-warming but not the sort of thing to provoke belly laughs. At the end of the show Dan complemented the audience for being nice and noted that some things seemed to go well and some things did not work so well. A pretty good self assessment I thought. A nice guy with a pleasant manner and a few funny stories. THREE STARS

Reviewer Chris Donkin

Review by Steven Vickers