Show 12: BriTANicK

Sketch duo Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney have been going at it since the early days of youtube, becoming early viral hits. Now some 14 years later they've eared writing credits on Saturday Night Live and worked the live comedy scene of LA amongst a host of other credits. Now they bring their debut hour to Edinburgh under the direction of former Best Newcomer winner, Alex Edelman.

Starting off with some conventional well placed sketches the hour builds to a feverish meta narrative with inspired physical comedy/mime and tight writing and acting. Memorable moments include the Addiction sketch and the multiple character driven sketch about a marriage proposal is particularly delightful. Mixed in with some semi-nudity and pent up sexual rage and some very self-knowing exposition that lets these cis-het guys play gay altogether makes for one of the best sketch shows I've seen for a long time. It's a damn near perfect hour of comedy and thoroughly deserves at least a Best Newcomer nomination, if not the win.

Score: 9.5/10
Venue: Assembly George Square - The Box
Dates: 15th - 28th August (not 17th)
Time: 19:45
Price: £12 weekends (£11 concession), £11 weekdays (£10 concession)

Show 11: Lloyd Langford: DILF

Now based out in Australia, Lloyd Langford returns after being stuck on the other side of the world for nearly 3 years. Now a father, it's an hour of stories about conceiving (including a tale of an austere sperm clinic), parenting and generally failing at being an adult. Langford ends on a charming tale of trying to be a good neighbour, but instead creeping out a young girl and failing to establish dominance over a family pet dog. All in all a entertaining hour in the hands of a seasoned pro, you can't go too wrong.

Score: 6/10
Venue: PBH's Free Fringe at Legends - upstairs
Dates: 14th - 18th
Time: 18:05
Price: Free (pay what you want)

Show 10: Amy Gledhill: The Girl Before The Girl You Marry

One half of The Delightful Sausage, this is Gledhill's debut hour at Edinburgh. A show about how all her previous relationships ended with the men subsequently going on to marry their next partners, it's a surprisingly conventional hour given the bizarre material The Delightful Sausage usually come up with.

While engaging and bright, the material doesn't quite land for me. Though technically adept, the show left me wanting for laughter.

Score: 4/10
Venue: Monkey Barrel at Carnivore
Dates: 14th - 28th August (not 17th)
Time: 15:30
Price: £8

Show 9: Stuart Goldsmith: A Shared Illusion (WIP)

A strong work in progress show from The Comedian's Comedian Podcast host, he even handily projected the set on to the wall behind him so we could keep track of the show. Overall it's a nice exploration of facing up the the realisation of humanity's effect on the climate and what the future holds for the immediate coming generations, though it may sound bleak there's moments of joy and all in all is making for a promising hour.

Score: no score for work in progress
Venue: Monkey barrel Comedy Club, Monkey Barrel 3
Dates: 8th-11th August
Time: 13:25
Price: £6.50

Show 8: Tony Law: A Now Begin in Again

You'll never get a straight stand-up show from Tony Law. A man of chaos and non-sequiturs, his shows have the potential to be brilliant. Starting off with getting his 13-year-old son to introduce him, we have an hour of amusing ideas and wonderings with some quite cute insights into the family life he has rounded off with a horse race involving multiple audience members. The skill in keeping our attention and threading everything together is what draws us in, underneath the tangents there's a semblance of control, that tightrope walking is ever intriguing. Even if it doesn't give you a belly laugh, you've got to admire the man's skill.

Score: 7/10
Venue: Monkey Barrel Comedy, Monkey Barrel 3
Dates: 8th - 28th August (not 11th or 16th)
Time: 12:00
Price: £10 weekends, £9 weekdays

Show 7: Alex Franklin: Dinosaurusesuses

A chance discovery while perusing the Fringe Programme, with my tastes seemingly wandering towards absurdism of late I thought I'd check out this show.

A frenetic energy brings together a tale of a resurrected triceratops, a dying planet and the coming together of Michael Morpurgo and Macklemore into Mackle-Morpurgo resulting in an overall quite entertaining hour of comedy. There's definitely an amateur, strongly Fringe feel to the whole show and certainly some sets could do with tightening but there are moments of genuinely good jokes that come from nowhere and gave me a belly laugh, interestingly it wasn't the whimsical absurdist jokes that landed best in the night.

If you're looking for a worthwhile 'out-there' show you'd do well to check out this show, charming, silly and sweet in good measure, and maybe you'll be smitten by the cute fluffy dinosaur hat.

Score: 6/10
Venue: Just The Tonic At The Caves, Just The Wee Room
Dates: 7th - 28th August (not 15th)
Time: 22:50
Price: £5 (or pay what you want)

Show 6: Eli Matthewson: Daddy Short-Legs

Kiwi comedian, Eli Matthewson, returns to the festival fresh from winning the New Zealand International Comedy Festival's Best Show.

He had vowed to not make any gay jokes but he just can't help it, but he's a skilled, witty, intelligent comic who can take jokes about being gay and make them genuinely original and fresh. Far from hack, Matthewson handles the storytelling and joke interweaving deftly. A very engaging and charming hour looking at the challenges of a long-distance relationship, family tensions and experiencing lockdown in New Zealand, a strong performance and well worth checking out. I hope the borders don't close again next year!

Score: 8/10
Venue: Assembly George Square Gardens, The Wee Coo
Dates: 7th - 28th August (not 17th)
Time: 20:50
Price: £11 (£10 concessions) weekends, £10 (£9) weekdays