Show 29: Phil Wang: Kinabalu

Phil Wang’s been in the comedy game for a decent time now and gave a very interesting Comedian’s Comedian Podcast interview about his ambition to be a comedian from a young age and his journey in to it from university onwards. He’s certainly developed himself into a smart insightful voice of modern day Britain talking about national identity and his own identity.

In Kinabalu he talks about his childhood and how being the child of a British mother and a Malaysian father meant he never quite fit in and through his experiences he tackles important issues of identity and politics, all the way with charming self-deprecation and wry observations, alongside of lovely moments of childish silliness – a routine about purchasing lube from a supermarket is a particular highlight.

I can’t wait to see how his voice further matures – definitely one to keep watch of over the years.

Score: 7/10

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard

Show 28: Mat Ewins Presents Adventureman 7: The Return of Adventureman

Mat Ewins’ 2016 show was one of the funniest shows I’d ever seen – it had been a very long time since I had seen a show that left me gasping for breath, in pain from laughter. His 2017 show did not disappoint.

He’s coming back as his beloved character ‘Adventureman’ and once again he brings technological trickery and baiting audience members to incredible comic effect. One memorable moment comes when he asks an unwitting audience member their favourite of the 6 previous Adventureman films – I won’t kill the joke here, but I don’t think anyone saw his punchline coming – genius.

Towards the end of the show, Ewins makes an uncharacteristic  departure from his character and talks earnestly about why he does comedy – bottom line, he finds it funny and he enjoys it – but the rather cynical comment that that will earn him his rave Guardian review comes true – he certainly did get a good Guardian review, and even a Best Show nomination (deservedly so too).

This show was particularly noteworthy as I had invited some colleagues along to watch it with me – to this day, I’m not entirely sure what they made of it. Daniel Kitson was also sitting directly in front of me – bliss.

Score: 10/10

Venue: The Hive

Show 27: Joseph Morpurgo: Hammerhead

I think I’ve seen over 250 comedy shows in my lifetime, and Morpurgo’s 2015 ‘Soothing Sounds for Baby’ remains my very favourite. Having taken an absence at Edinburgh 2016, he returned in 2017 with a new hour of silly madness.

In Hammerhead, Morpurgo plays a ‘brilliant’ actor who has just performed a self-penned version of Frankenstein where he has played all 85 characters in 12 different languages and is now offering a Q&A session.

What ensures is an hour of packed power-point based gags and a skilful subversion of the post-show Q&A  format – we slowly learn that this neurotic, arrogant character and the show is propped up with short-cuts and bizarre sponsorships. It’s full of clever, unsuspected call-backs and genius. It didn’t have the same warmth as ‘Soothing Sounds for Baby’ but it had all the panache and carefully thought-out gags. Tremendous hour of borderline-chaotic madness.

Score: 8/10

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard

Show 26: Knightmare Live

Having heard of ‘make your own adventure’ shows being a hit in Edinburgh, and generally being a fan of audience interaction game shows (e.g. WiFi Wars - http://wifiwars.co.uk/) I was surprised and pleased to see a live version of the popular 80s children’s game show Knightmare, where a group on intrepid youngsters do battle through a (green-screen) dungeon.

In this live version, the stage and light effects with some charmingly low-fi props made for the dungeons. A sizeable and enthusiastic proportion of the crowd were dressed in suitable Viking/medieval attire and the overall atmosphere was of giddy, perhaps slightly geeky, fun – it was joyous.

The ad-libs and witty back-and forth between the adversaries and the shows leader and protagonists alongside cries of instructions from the crowd made for a thoroughly delightful, entertaining hour of group gaming and dungeon battling – can’t wait to see this again.

Score: 8/10

Venue: Udderbelly, George Square Gardens

Show 25: Lost Voice Guy: Inspiration Porn

I first heard about Lost Voice Guy from a Comedian’s Comedian Podcast interview. He’s unable to speak due to cerebral palsy and uses a machine, similar in idea to Professor Stephen Hawking’s voice machine, to ‘speak’.

Inspiration Porn was about how the media and propaganda uses disabled people achieving great things as a means of trying to ‘normalise’ disability when a negative outcome is making those who are disabled but unable to be ‘successful’ to feel crap, as well as talking about a recent relationship.

It’s a well constructed show with good points and jokes. Given his recent success on Britain’s Got Talent, it’s no wonder Lost Voice Guy is performing his show again in Edinburgh 2018.

It’s a worthwhile show to check out, and  certainly brings down any nothing that people with cerebral palsy (and more broadly any disability) can’t be funny or have  sense of humour.

Score: 5/10

Venue: The Stand Comedy Club

Edinburgh 2018 and recap of 2017

Another Edinburgh Festival is around the corner and at long last I’ve made up my initial Edinburgh Festival Schedule with many revisits of old favourites and a few new names in the mix.

It’s also a chance for me to catch up on my many late reviews – once again the thrilling, emotional intensity of last year’s schedule mean I slacked on reviews again but thanks to Google Calendar I’ve got a record to the vast majority of shows I watched and the order in which I saw them, though the allocated scores maybe be a bit inaccurate.

I can recall at least two shows I watched which aren’t in the calendar, them being shows I was invited to by a friend: Puppetry of the Penis, and one of the rounds for So You Think You’re Funny.

The Puppetry show was a rather gaudy and crude display of the flexibility of two men’s genitals – impressive but entertaining for those titillated by low brow clowning around. To give them their dues, they were able to pull of some impressive shapes, but it’s not something that excited me or stirred up admiration. An interesting one-off experience overall.

The SYTYF event was an impromptu decision. The only memorable act was a slick, low-key, slightly dark one-liner based comic but I can’t remember his name. An American lady with venerable amounts of charisma and charm but slightly lacking in material sticks in my mind too.

This year’s Festival Schedule is filled with many repeat offenders and only a few new names, but hopefully I’ll pick up some top tips along the way.