Another day, another fantastic line-up at The Showcase Show, everyday at 1.10pm in the Cabaret Bar in The Pleasance Courtyard. Over just the last week we’ve had such incredible guests as The Boy With Tape on His Face, Tom Binns as Ian D. Montfort, Elis James and Hannibal Buress (writer for 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live)
You’ve only got 5 more chances to see this unique taster of the festival, so don’t miss out!
Having been talked into doing a bungee jump, Gadsby now knows what her deathbed words will be and they’re a disappointment. Armed with tea and biscuits, Mrs Chuckles is exquisitely delivered. A mistress of the subtle one-liner, she credits the crowd with the intelligence to make the right connections.
Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 29 Aug, 4.45pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10).
Buy tickets for Hannah’s Stand Up Show here
Or Buy tickets to Hannah’s hilarious Art Lecture on the Virgin Mary, Mary. Contrary. Here
Tuesday, 23 August 201
There was a kerfuffle during my show one night at the Fringe last year. Two drunk men were having an argument. In these situations, it’s best to turn on the fury cannons, say something rude to shut them up, and carry on. That is certainly what I should have done. Instead, I asked them what was wrong. One pointed to the other and barked, “He told me we were going to see Travis.”
I am not Travis. Travis are a famous Scottish band, who had a bigger show elsewhere in the city.
How this mix-up had come about, I’ll never know. Had his friend thought I was Travis? Or had he failed to get tickets and hoped his friend wouldn’t notice? At what point during my show had he started to get the inkling I was not Travis? You’d think the sight of an empty stage, save for a small battery powered keyboard might have tipped him off.
The audience delighted in hearing about their drama, but when I tried to get back to my show, the men went back to their argument. I asked them if they’d like to leave. They said “No”.
Then I remembered the best way to get drunks to do anything is with the promise of more drink. So we had an audience whip-round. The booze lure was too strong and as they stumbled off, they received a cheer much larger than I, or I’d guess Travis, did that night.
David O’Doherty performs ‘Rory Sheridan’s Tales of the Antarctica’ at The Underbelly (0844 545 8252) to 28 Aug; and ‘David O’Doherty Is Looking Up’ at the Pleasance Courtyard (0131 556 6550) to 29 August
David O’Doherty’s must-see
I recommend Claudia O’Doherty’s show, ‘What Is Soil Erosion?’ in the Gilded Balloon at 8.45pm. We’re not related. We met because we have the same surname and we have ended up writing two books together. The latest, ’100 Facts About Sharks’, is launched at the Fringe this week.
Buy Tickets for David’s show Here
“This is a lecture about art” says Hannah Gadsby, as she takes her place behind the lectern. It certainly bore all the hallmarks of a lecture – lectern, screen with relevant slides, laser pointer – but this was funny and irreverent, personal and occasionally silly.
We giggled to hear the great artists of the High Renaissance introduced as the Turtles (Michaelangelo, Raphael and Donatello), giggled again as the creator of the Sistine Chapel ceiling was described, after reference to his obsession with human anatomy and emphasis on extreme musculature in all his figures, as a “big gayer”.
Gadsby (who does actually know about this stuff, with a degree and everything) comments enthusiastically on images of the Madonna from earliest times to the Renaissance. “Look at that halo” she murmurs, the red point of her laser pointer dancing over the screen. “It’s like you’re there”.
One of the best things about this show is that you do learn the full story of the Madonna (ever so slightly airbrushed from the original Gospels after the Crucifixon) and about her importance in art, religion and society. You also learn about the differences in the various artistic movements, and you learn that there might be someone up there after all, as we watch the large painting of the Madonna spontaneously fall off its perch halfway through the show after a particularly saucy section about the Annunciation.
The show is, says Gadsby “mildly blasphemous”. But it is hugely entertaining and absolutely fascinating. It is one thing to wear one’s knowledge lightly; Gadsby barely wears it at all, just casually flinging fact-studded asides at a packed and rapt audience.
Renaissances High, Northern and Proto, the progression from Intuitive to Atmospheric and One-Point Perspective and the momentous effect of the invention of oils might not sound like the stuff of the Fringe comedy. But there are shows with way fewer funnies than this, and they will never show you round the murals in the Scrovegni Chapel.
Later in the day Hannah returns with her regular stand-up hour, Mrs Chuckles. Ironic title, as you will have guessed: Hannah rarely chuckles (although her recent discovery of Tunnock’s Teacakes appears to have cheered her up a fair old bit). We, on the other hand do, rather a lot. Hannah comes from a tiny town in Tasmania, didn’t meet a stranger until she was seven and had three big claims to fame in her schooldays. She is a fan of silence, useless at small talk but fascinated by last words.
Her show is not packed with comedy gimmick or one- liners, but it is an hour of sheer smiley, relaxed enjoyment. Were it potable, Mrs Chuckles would not be a smart cosmopolitan or a laddish pint of Stella, but a big mug of hot chocolate with a large shot of brandy. Try and see both shows before Divine Vengeance is wrought upon her for the dodgy comments about Jesus’s mum.
Kate Copstick (23/8/11)
Buy Tickets for Mary. Contrary. Here
Buy Tickets for Mrs Chuckles Here
4 Stars ****
Fiona O’Loughlin is the self-styled Queen of Australian comedy and returns to the Gilded Balloon after too long an absence.
ThisAlice Springsbased mother of five has always been a funny lady, but this year it is different, she’s doing it sober.
The basis of the hour is the story of her life before and subsequently after her spell in rehab and visits to AA.
She has always had the ability to entertain, but with the added sobriety factor, it seems to have sharpened her already impressive wit and sense of humour. She is hilarious in the descriptions of some of her more outrageous drunken exploits and is equally as erudite in her descriptions of her ‘illness’ and the descriptions of her vast extended family and their behaviour.
Ms O’Loughlin is well worth the cost of a ticket, and I defy you not to have a good hour at her show.
Reviewed by Geoff – One4Review
David O’Doherty is Looking Up ****
David O’Doherty hasn’t been a fan of 2011. He’s been mugged twice, suffered a weight-decimating stomach infection and left the 18-34 demographic. Thankfully, he’s still got his mini-keyboard (plus an actual piano) to sing songs about wrist-emulsifying creams and birthday-celebrating sharks, all while wearing a fetching gold cape. His traditional “beefs” closing rant marks the peak of his consistent hilarity and is delivered with rasping panache. **** Laura Slattery
Read the whole article here
See David’s show every day at 7.20pm at The Pleasance Courtyard, buy tickets here
We are incredibly happy here at EdCom, and proud of Fiona O’Loughlin for getting 4 Stars in todays Scotsman!
‘Australian comedian Fiona O’Loughlin admits she performed drunk for almost ten years until 2009, when she collapsed on stage in Brisbane in front of 600 people, having drunk “enough to kill a truck driver”. She has now been through rehab and is tee-total. Her comeback show is Spirited (Tales from an Angel in a Bottle), an honest account of her long “journey to self-destruction”.
Anecdotes about things she did when under the influence are natural comedy material: saying “f***” in front of the Queen; streaking naked across Mark Watson’s show in Melbourne. Not only is the material a gift, she uses it well, not omitting the dark side: hangovers from hell and agoraphobia.
In the second half of the show, she starts to leave the drinking material behind, drawing on stories from her extended family in Alice Springs, and American TV shows (she does an accomplished impersonation of Oprah’s interview with Maria Shriver). The ending (which I won’t spoil) shows that she’s clever as well as honest in her approach to performing, and it bodes well for the future in this new phase of her career.’
Susan Mansfield 20/8/11
Read the whole article here
Buy tickets for Fiona’s Show which is on every night at 9 in the Gilded Balloon, here
