The Stand Comedy Club,

Thursday 27th – ­Saturday 29th

There’s an air of anticipation and the welcoming smell of folks enjoying the culinary delights, as we arrive to a packed crowd. The host for the evening, Bruce Devlin, bounds on with the air of a tornado. Ripping into the audience with a razor sharp, caustic barrage, he picks out his prey and devours them, all the time dragging the crowd with him on his camp dissection of those unfortunate enough to have braved the front row. Scathing humour, close the bone and outrageously funny I can feel the second row around me collectively sinking back in terror There is no subject matter that he can’t find an instant comeback to as he works his way through the lives of those around them, prying them open to divulge their inner banalities, then leaving them thanking him for the pleasure. The guy is smart. Funny. And very, very quick.

Opening the show is Elaine Malcolmson. She saunters on with a slow languid gait and sets off on a monologue of anecdotes and one liners delivered with a dry, dead pan droll. Her humour is low key but high impact, as she muses on the joys of Ebola to the inner workings of farm foods, her confident, solid delivery is backed up by her deadly punchlines. Occasionally these can be pre-empted before the end but her unfazed, understated attitude carries her through, as she hits the nai lon the head with her offbeat observations.

After a quick break Garry Meikle arrives, a juggernaut of energy with a fast, upbeat style which oozes with authentic charm. There’s an honesty in his delivery, and an endearing vulnerability, as he delivers lines that we’ve all said or done and collectively cringe at the memory. His act feels like a personal snapshot into his own world, from school days and square sausage to dildos and his hatred of kids, he intimately divulges his word with fast banter and a natural, unforced comedy. Charismatic laddish humour with an warm hearted punch.

A change of pace again as Lloyd Langford bumbles onto stage, an air of the country boy straight out of the Welsh valleys, he meanders in a slow patchwork of topics that bring a unique point of view to what would seem to be unexpected subject matter. I’ll never think of Edinburgh zoo the same again! He takes us through the self discovery of our own nature, confronted with endless all you can eat buffets, to the surreal landscapes of Dubai. His comedy is dry and yet philosophical and he had the audience literately spellbound. It felt a real privilege to see a comedian of this calibre up close in such a small venue. You can almost hear his inner mind working as he finds obscurity in the banal and weaves it into a surreal soup.

To end, the gear changes again, and Garry Little lurches up. A foreboding character, he’s a big guy with a strong presence. He effortlessly switches from Glasgow psycho to lovable gentle giant in the blink of an eye as he weaves, what are quite tender stories, into his hard man guise. His skit on the etiquettes of dog walking is genius, one of the funniest tales I’ve ever heard and has left a lasting image of him, with his wee dogs hanging on the ends of their leads, burned on my retina. He is a worthy headliner, and constant, raucous laughter abounded right through his set.

A brilliant night. Usually in a cabaret night of this ilk there is some weaker comedians carried by the stronger acts but this line up was diverse, unique and constantly entertaining. Strongly recommend for a night out.

Reviewer : Glenda Rome

The Stand – Queen Street – Edinburgh

Thursday 20th / Sat 22nd Nov

Doors open 7.30pm show starts 9pm

Thursday £10/ Saturday £15

Hotly anticipating the savoury, comedic indulgence that is Dylan Moran at his best, a rare offering on a charcuterie of satirical cured meats, blue edgy cheeses and pickled anecdotes soaked in witty liqueur, he did indeed deliver performance, as an indulgent finer taste amongst a platter of this evening’s already exquisite culinary offerings. Bubbles fly forth from the eager audience, bursting from their pints of lager, in synchronous unison to the fervency arising from the midst of this epic, underground cavern. And the catalyst for both was the anticipation of this evening’s witty energy and lyrical tongues, gulped down with tasty, Thursday evening beverage. A joy indeed.

The compere to carbonate our satirical bubbles was Scott Agnew, who within the first few seconds gained approval from his audience by clever improvisation and sharp, original material. This young and dynamic man punctuates improv with clever topical references covering Kate Bush, pirate politics, and perhaps unsavoury imagery of a cream covered Susan Boyle jumping from a Scottish snack … oh, how the bubbles in our head stopped popping right there. He introduces our first act, Suzi Ruffell, who at 27 is extremely gifted with hilarious dialogue, fast paced delivery and expressively comical dilemmas. Her act is professionally delivered, punctuated with witty observations and a hilariously insightful, feminine edge. My only meagre fault would be her timing – perhaps she could allow her audience few sweet seconds to linger on her razor sharp wit before heading at full speed into the next.

Eddie Cassidy

This unassuming Glaswegian immediately entertains with hilarious, articulate observations which he fuses with sadistic dry Scottish humour. His topics are dark and funny but his manner is endearing, and with this great combination he pulls this off with confidence and wit, fully deserving of the Scottish Comedian of the Year 2012 title.

Dylan Moran

Yes and here he is, effortlessly owning the stage. A slavering Irish accent smashing it within seconds. Unassuming, charming and fun as he embraces the room with his relaxed but understated humble presence. He is trying out some new material to gift our ears, most all of which run with effortless comedic poetry and charismatic, bullet-delivered wit, a razor sharp shave over the dry observational stubble of dreary reality. ‘Death is a little island off Ibiza’ to 25 year olds’ as he laments at his ever approaching old age with a twinkle in his eye, whilst his charismatic wit oozes through his sexy Irish smile he swiftly knocks the ‘hipster’ style as ‘Craft beers, beards with things living in them and hot yoga?!’ And of course, tastefully rounding-up his show with a controversial discussion on what snack should you chose to enjoy each war with.

Mark Maier

A difficult act to follow indeed, but Mr Maire is unfazed and doesn’t disappoint. He rounds up a fantastic evening with light-hearted, side-splitting gags on Scottish idiosyncrasies, London audiences and some light-hearted digs at a few unsuspecting audience members. He pulls it off with sublime comedic genius, possibly worthy of some of the biggest laughs of the superbly sweet evening. The night was an overwhelming riot on humour, provocative, risqué and hilariously  absorbing, very worthy of a Saturday evening out.

Reviewer : Teri Welsh

HIT THE ROAD MACK TOUR

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE

Tuesday 11th November 2014

Lee Mack… like a good wine, his shows only get better with time !!!  With a packed Edinburgh Playhouse the stage was set for what was going be a roller-coaster night of raw Stand Up Comedy.  Forget what we know about Lee Mack, this is a new show packed with energy, grace, imagination,  love and sex,  jokes relating to the everyday tit-bits of daily-life that really split the sides! Delivered with power and passion, with plenty of audience participation, the crowd were hooked, as from the first words that rolled off Lee’s ingenious tongue, to very last, the laughs just kept on coming.

This is a comedian that enjoys bringing the audience into his world and running riot with them;  seated in the front row we were under his spell but our Scottish accents proved too much for him, being a Lancashire lad he found understanding us a real challenge. Still, that didn’t stop him from carrying on regardless, unleashing on a delighted audience his highly infectious presence and energy. His show is well written, well thought-out and runs along nicely.  Lee is not just a comedian he is an inspiration.  We all went looking to be entertained and have a night full of laughter, and that is exactly what we got, while we lucky ones on the front row got the added bonus of an occasional mouth spraying.

I loved this show and have never laughed so much, leaving the Edinburgh Playhouse on a high and with one certain thought in my mind – that I will certainly return to see Lee Mack next time he graces us with his presence in Edinburgh.  Good luck with the rest of the tour. FIVE STARS

Reviewer: Spud

The Stand

7th & 9th Nov

This week at the stand it’s… interesting. Ben Verth is quite attractive, so when he spends half his set talking about the abuse he’s received on account of his ungodly ugliness and whale like proportions, it’s pretty hard to buy, although his pube-based chat is genuinely brilliant, and there are a lot of big laughs. All in all a pretty solid opener. On the way out of the gig a mutual pal introduces us. “Are you the reviewer?” he says, I nod and go to hug “hi.”

“I’m not giving you a hug unless I know if I got a good review.”

Now, I don’t think it’s mannerly to divulge this sort of information, so I declined the conditional cuddle politely… but the guy clearly has something worth developing, the Mumble has had good things to say about Ben in the past, and they’re not wrong.

At least Ben Verth’s fat jokes are at his own expense, and often genuinely witty. Phil Nichol does what was probably two minutes but felt like forever to me on just how fat one particular fat woman is: has her own orbit,  is a key cause of African famine. Blah. Then he does a bit about how all women are completely neurotic about their appearance. Then he does a joke about what a drag it is being obligated to tell your girlfriend she’s beautiful, while secretly dying to whip out the scalpel and shear off her many imperfections. Don’t get me wrong, LOTS of people laugh, but when they do, it makes me feel worse about humanity. Then he sings a song about political correctness has gone mad, in which he lists racial stereotypes while impersonating a variety of famous musicians.

This is followed by an animated rendition of ‘The Only Gay Eskimo” replete with vigorous thrusting at the audience. I think I understand how it was that a man like Ben Elton once became radical. About a quarter of Phil’s act is basically bullying a man in the audience by implying that he was going to have non-consensual sex with him. Some people were uncomfortable with this – I’d say a fifth of the audience. A lot of folk were loving the crap out of it. It was what they were there for. A classroom wide-o who’s managed to make it pay can probably be quite diverting if you don’t dwell too deeply on the dodgy race stuff, and gender stuff, and sexuality stuff. Comedy about racism, for example, can be brilliant, but not when the joke is at the expense of the folk already at the raw end of the deal.  Of course, many people love to revel in a comedian who genuinely doesn’t give a fuck about that stuff. I like people who do. It’s a taste thing. If Phil were a back in the classroom today, he’d be given Ritalin. And his mum would benefit from some too, to help block out the incessant screaming.

Kate Dillon has the charm and assured delivery of a much more experienced comic. The pace is quick and her mixture of genuine self-deprecation and mischieviousness endears the audience, as, unexpectedly, does her story about dogging, which she magically turns into the SWEETEST discussion. Lovable, convincing and with a knack for unexpected twists, Stewart is one to watch.

Compere Stu Murphy held a disparate and mouthy crowd together admirably, and is that most generous sort of MC who sets himself up as the audience’s fall guy,  letting the crowd produce a lot of the laughs. He generates both a brilliant atmosphere and consistently enjoyable banter off-the-cuff at a rate of knots.. I love him most for introducing the guest spot, a friend of his, Andrea Hubert, who is unashamedly posh, unabashedly clever and unapologetically brilliant.

She’s really exciting to watch, her delivery is so assured and her material such smart, thought-provoking stuff. There is stuff about race here, stuff about abortion, and it’s not just funny, it feels like necessary, original thought. Her stuff about depression is hilarious, which given the subject matter is pretty impressive. Her act crackles with acerbic energy and defiance; it feels like watching something fresh and new happening. One to watch.

Reviewer : Katie Craig

The Stand, Glasgow

Show starts 21.00

The beauty about the Thursday Show at The Stand is that the line-up repeats itself for the Saturday Show two days later; an iPlayer for lovers of live comedy, if you will. Tonight’s show offered its expected well-selected farrago of treats inside the Woodlands Road venue, compered by the hardest-working beard in the business, Martin Mor. The enthusiasm from our Irish host was infectious and he quickly endeared himself to the audience after snagging a pair of glasses in the afore-mentioned beard, exhibiting a frenetic application not too dissimilar from the evening’s headline act.

Opening performer of the night Julia Sutherland indulged the crowd with personal experiences ranging from weight loss to working within the media. Initially, Sutherland appeared a little tense, back firmly pressed against the infamous Stand logo on the wall behind her. However, with confidence growing and laughs scattered around the crammed venue, it was her regaled yarns about working as a life model which earned her most considerable laughs – and left the word “seepage” dripping in our ears.

The second segment of the evening was split between Glaswegian Richard Hunter and East Londoner Quincy. Hunter’s deadpan delivery was executed expertly, toying with the comedy of his own name to issues such as internet dating sites and marriage. It would not be unfair to compare Hunter’s straight-faced idiosyncrasies being on a par with a young Jack Dee. This was swiftly followed by the charismatic Quincy enforcing his well-rounded and polished personality quickly on the crowd. This set was split into two – the former segment surrounding his sons’ footprint on the world thus far – and latterly, dealing with relationships and parenthood. There was a relaxed and sanguine delivery by a genuine performer with whom the audience instantly connected with.

Prior to his new “Off The Hook” tour across the UK in 2015, the endlessly-endearing Dylan Moran bookended the night in typical, capital ramshackle form. As Moran described himself as a “middle class, white, boring, bumbling fuckwit”, the crowd lapped up his inscrutable kidney of comedy, and despite an unfortunate incident whereby a member of the audience made Moran lose his train of thought, it was mercifully turned in Moran’s favour as he listed varying accounts concerning loss of memory and energy as time takes its toll. With a firm ‘home’ support, Moran settled in quickly to anarchic maunder about politics, without dislodging the connection he had with the audience – no mean feat on a Thursday student night. It is difficult to pinpoint jokes within Moran’s set and a far more easier feat to settle into his spirited and animated character that has acquainted itself with audiences up and down the country over the last two decades. Then as quickly as he had barged on to the tiny stage, Moran departed with a swift “See you soon – thanks, bye” behind the curtain.

Just as one audience member had educated us earlier in the evening that the Lithuanian for ‘hello’ is “Labas”, Dylan Moran demonstrated the true meaning of “Sláinte” as the audience advanced towards the exits, dregs in glasses toasted towards the bar, roaring into the damp November evening.

Reviewer : Stephen Watt