Show 45: Sisters: White Noise

I thought I’d watch this show after seeing a positive Guardian review for it. Of note, this is a show I watched with an American visitor.

The sketch duo weave various sketches which aim to subvert social norms interspersed with clips of them trying to get the name of their sketch outfit known across the world, mainly UK and America via what looked like chatroulette.

From memory it was a passable hour, and they’d certainly gone through a lot of effort, with more than the average Fringe show’s share of technological trickery but ultimately it wasn’t a particularly enthusing hour with many parts feeling gratuitous.

Then again it did seem well reviewed elsewhere – perhaps I had missed the point?

Score: 3/10

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard

Show 44: Andrew Maxwell: Showtime

Edinburgh Fringe veteran Andrew Maxwell returned for his 22^nd Edinburgh with another well performed hour. He’s an excellent comedian for sure, and one is always guaranteed an entertaining hour of comedy ranging from political swipes, to daft anecdotes to glimpses into his family’s life.

I always forget just how good he is at accents – it’s always quite jarring hearing his children’s cockney accents against his Irish tones. What’s more he’s more than clued up about politics and trade. He’s interested, he’s angry and weak political arguments and he’s keen to make sure we’re not being led down false avenues.

Andrew Maxwell gives a strong, gimmick-free, comic voice to the Festival – it’s a refreshing hour amidst the carnage of absurdism, screaming shame and pretentious artistic endeavours. An honest comedian you can’t go wrong with.

Score: 7/10

Venue: Assembly George Square Theatre

Show 43: Nish Kumar: Work in Progress

Nish Kumar announced he was doing a free work in progress show on twitter with only a few days’ notice. Thankfully it was in the afternoon after 5pm, which meant I could attend after work.

As ever his material analyses the dire nature of the current political climate and he touches again on gentrification. What was interesting was seeing him work through the less considered material – stripped away was the slickness of a polished set and a more loose, relaxed stance of a seasoned comedian riffing off ideas. The highlight was his off-the-cuff self-deprecating remark that, amazingly, turned out to be one of the sharper satirical points – I think he even surprised himself.

His work-in-progress show in Edinburgh 2018 sold out almost immediately – lucky buggers who get to see it.

Venue: Cabaret Voltaire

Score: no score for WIP

Show 42: The Inane Chicanery of a Certain Adam GC Riches

I first heard of Adam Riches after he won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2011, and had half-kept an eye of his work, including the occasional BBC Radio comedy show. He strongly incorporates audience interaction in his shows. Audience interaction itself is a dangerous game, but Riches seemed to have generally got away with it. However I had never been that enticed from his radio work to see what he had to offer live. In 2017, though, I thought I should finally give him a go.

In a surprisingly half-empty Queen Dome, Riches starts off energetically miming jazz piano as it’s played over the speakers and the audience timidly files in. There’s no way of knowing what exactly we’ve let ourselves in for.

This show was a breath-taking display of genius and fun, one of the most memorable shows of 2017 for sure. Riches has made audience participation an art and his enthusiasm and ability to pick the right audience meant that the stars of the show weren’t his characters but the unwitting volunteers themselves. From the supposedly expert army commander to the two audience members trying to skate over riches in a hastily prepared jump to the couple writing a love letter to each other using ketchup on Riches’ enlarged white shirt (one of the funniest moments came when Riches started interviewing the lady, an American, and how she ended up with an Englishman – when she, in the midst of genuine laughter at the whole scenario, said she broke up with her ex due to physical abuse, the look of shock and terror on Riches face followed by a loud, tense “oh I am not qualified to deal with this” just showed his exceptional sense of comic performance).

Despite the half-filled room, this was a hilarious hour of beautiful, well-considered, carefully planned comedy that brought a sense of joy and fun to the room.

Adam Riches is doing three different shows at the Festival this year – it’ll be interesting to see what the hell he’s done with himself.

Score: 10/10

Venue: Pleasance Dome

Show 41: John Robins: The Darkness of Robins

Having been a fan of the Elis James and John Robins Podcast for quite a few years, I thought it was time to finally check out John Robin’s solo work live (he’s got a few shows available on bandcamp for download – all well worth checking out).

With 8 previous Edinburgh shows, Robins has had plenty of time to cut his comedy teeth and find his voice.

This show was the counterpoint to Sara Pascoe’s LadsLadsLads, a recounting of the same break up but from the other side.

This was an hour of incredible comedy. Robins is a strong personality, an intriguing mix of strong, almost arrogant self-assuredness mixed with deep shame about his faults and with no qualms about bearing his pain for our entertainment.

It’s an hour of intensely funny, emotionally intelligent observations of break-ups, of his own self and adjusting to be single again.

Oddly, despite the almost larger-than-life persona, there’s a roguish charm to Robins and he manages to get the audience to sympathise with him, even with the moments of self-flagellation and self-deprecation.

The highlight of the show is the finale – an extended monologue where Robins details the start, build-up and messy, sad, tattered end of the relationship and the miserable Christmas post-break-up he and Pascoe spent together. The punchline though… good God: comic genius.

Apparently it’s been filmed for distribution but I’m not sure on which platform – regardless it’ll be a delight to watching this Edinburgh Comedy Award winning hour again.

Score: 10/10

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard

Show 40: John-Luke Roberts: Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair! (All in Caps)

I first encountered John Luke Roberts at ACMS (The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society) as co-host alongside Thom Tuck. I thought I’d see what he had to offer in his own right.

Having John-Luke Roberts as co-host to ACMS is fitting – his solo work is an electric, overwhelming display of absurdist clowning and characters.

This show starts off with Geoffrey Chaucer, barely dressed in a toga, speaking in faux-medieval seemingly with the catchphrase ‘sarry aboot me cack’ – there’s certainly very little left to the imagination.

What proceeds is an enigmatic romp through various characters, including The Portent of Death (a vampiric character who foretells people’s deaths, which typically end up being quite comic and altogether very unlikely), to Derek Jacobi, but dressed as what looks like an angler fish as he slowly destroys the world (a broccoli stem is in actual fact a tree).

This was a thrilling, surreal hour of quite brilliant absurdist character comedy that was all at once refreshing, hilarious and made for one of the more memorable shows from Edinburgh 2017.

His subsequent Comedians Comedian Podcast episode is equally fascinating and well worth checking out. I can’t wait to see what 2018 has to offer.

Score: 9/10

Venue: Monkey Barrel Comedy Club