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March 28, 2024, 09:18:55 AM

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Edinburgh Fringe 2022

Started by JCR, March 03, 2022, 02:22:22 PM

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DrGreggles

Quote from: Purple Toupee on August 04, 2022, 10:15:53 PMSaw a bunch of preview shows over the last two days, probably obvious ones to recommend but Tim Key and Patti Harrison were the two best by far.

Seeing both, so good to know

ProvanFan

I'll no longer be in town in time for RHLSTP this Saturday if anyone wants two tickets for nowt.

Only cost me a tenner and I happened to find a rolled up tenner on a plate today, hence this exciting freebie offer.

The guest is Vir Das. PM me before these tickets dasavir (disappear).

Crabwalk

Quote from: greencalx on August 03, 2022, 08:28:13 AMAre they any good? In previous years I have found their posters to be unreasonably irritating - even by the standard of Fringe posters - but this year's is not so bad...

I think their poster this year is irritating too but I saw their preview last night and had a great time. Nothing mind-blowing in form or content, but solid sketches performed with a lot of charm, great audience work, in a venue with an exceptional ceiling.

Performance 8/10
Ceiling 9/10

(Edit: I'm talking about Hog, Cling Film and Fudge here or whatever they're called. That name just won't stick.)

Twilkes

Quote from: Malcy on August 04, 2022, 09:52:08 PMCan anyone recommend shows for a 7 year old in the latter half of the month? Was hoping to use that as an excuse to see Basil Brush but not able as he's a first half of the monther :(

EDIT - Basil not the child

Not seen them yet, but I went through the children's section for the day we'll be there and will be booking tickets for Chores and Dragons & Mythical beasts, the puppets in that one look spectacular. Other candidates were Brotipo and Carnival Of The Animals but they would just be more of the same. There were a few kids comedy shows in the programme but it feels a bit sparse compared to pre-Covid.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: Crabwalk on August 05, 2022, 06:53:54 AMI think their poster this year is irritating too but I saw their preview last night and had a great time. Nothing mind-blowing in form or content, but solid sketches performed with a lot of charm, great audience work, in a venue with an exceptional ceiling.

Performance 8/10
Ceiling 9/10

(Edit: I'm talking about Hog, Cling Film and Fudge here or whatever they're called. That name just won't stick.)

Having seen their poster last night, can comfirm that the guy who pulls the face in the posters is pulling the face he pulls.

Crabwalk

Oh, last night I also saw Camille O'Sullivan for the first time in 13 years and she's still heartbreaking and hilarious. the crowd was full of seriously befuddled old folks though who came expecting Radio 2 MOR balladry and they did not want to join in singing Nick Cave's 'Ship Song' or have Camille stroke their heads while tearfully singing about the Weimar.

the science eel

Quote from: Crabwalk on August 05, 2022, 07:05:47 AMOh, last night I also saw Camille O'Sullivan for the first time in 13 years and she's still heartbreaking and hilarious. the crowd was full of seriously befuddled old folks though who came expecting Radio 2 MOR balladry and they did not want to join in singing Nick Cave's 'Ship Song' or have Camille stroke their heads while tearfully singing about the Weimar.

see...this is what I don't get about the Fringe. Who's going to these shows, what do they expect? 90% of the acts are unknowns. How is it successful? How had you heard of Camille O'S?

CaledonianGonzo

She's been a big name/ fringe fixture for going on 20 years now.

But I am a bit confused as to why her crowd weren't up for hearing her do The Ship Song given it's one of her signature pieces

Twilkes

Quote from: the science eel on August 05, 2022, 07:20:44 AMsee...this is what I don't get about the Fringe. Who's going to these shows, what do they expect? 90% of the acts are unknowns. How is it successful? How had you heard of Camille O'S?

I had heard of Camille O'Sullivan because one Fringe I went to had seemingly thousands of posters of a lady with dusky hair and alabaster skin sitting on a trapeze in her scanties (I think, it was a long time ago) so I assumed she must be good. She was also probably at a known named venue of a decent size, and probably had four and five stars plastered over the poster. Look her up in the programme, Irish/French chanteuse, if that's the kind of thing you like then you buy a ticket.

Thousands of people scour the programme and published reviews each year and buy tickets for shows they like the sound of, and on any given day if they have one or two shows they know are going to be good or are by people they already know, then most don't mind taking a punt on something unknown to fill in the gaps. It's like being at a music festival, you'll probably end up at one of the smaller stages listening to a band you've never heard of but having a great time.

And if you see a crap show at least you get a story out of it. :)

the science eel

Ah, OK. It was a genuine question, fwiw. I'm here every summer teaching for the uni, and see all these billboards going up in early August for all these acts and I've hardly heard of any of them - and yet the streets are THRONGED! it's a bit of an odd one.


CaledonianGonzo

Crybabies - Bagbeard
Scrappy but spirited fun, with a whole heap of energy and brio - the type of show you only really see in darkened fringe rooms and a good exemplar of what was missing last year when the Fringe was largely just stand-ups doing WIP.  The spectre of the League of Gentlemen does hang a little heavy over proceedings - not least cos this troupe come equipped with their own young Reece Shearsmith - but it never topples over into outright larceny. There were also elements of other ghosts of Edinburgh past like The Mighty Boosh and the Penny Dreadfuls.  The plot of the show is unimportant as it barrels along in a flurry of poly bags and sellotape, but the laughs keep coming (though maybe with not quite as many outright belly-laughs as all the effort displayed might warrant).  Would lose a lot in translation onto telly, but in the moment it zipped by pleasurably.  And it was good to be back.

Yuriko Kotani - Kaiju About
Yuriko herself is a likable bundle of fun and had command of the room and the (admittedly pocket-sized) crowd, and the fish-out-of-water takes on the UK are all amusing -  but the show doesn't quite hang together just yet.  It felt a few drafts away from being complete, and the structure needs a bit of re-tooling to smooth out the joins and transform it into a complete show.  But that aside, the bones of the show are there in embryonic form and there's plenty of good ideas to work with to elevate it above it's current 'quite good' status.  And she's intrinsically funny and a natural comedian so even when the theme didn't quite hang together the hour didn't really lull either.  In the same room as Crybabies 20 minutes later and - coincidentally - has a similar amount of fun with Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast.

Tim Key - Mulberry
I saw the WIP of this last August, when Key dispensed with most of his prepped material and spent a good 2/3rds of the gig laying into an unsuspecting and innocent punter in his line of sight (i.e. me).  This time around it was the finished article and it's up there with the very best of his work.  The theme is lockdown, and it's a great hook to hang his trademark blend of poems / anger / theatrical bits / cheap European lager / crowd-baiting / Russian choral music around.  Really, it's no great departure from all of his other complete shows - Slutcracker, Megadate, etc but none the worse for all that, and it killed in the room.  One of the very top tier annual visitors to Edinburgh.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: the science eel on August 05, 2022, 07:58:02 AMAh, OK. It was a genuine question, fwiw. I'm here every summer teaching for the uni, and see all these billboards going up in early August for all these acts and I've hardly heard of any of them - and yet the streets are THRONGED! it's a bit of an odd one.



Though there's not always a direct correlation with numbers of / scale of posters and an act's actual popularity or recognition status.  Frequently it'll just be a sign of someone with a much bigger budget.

(The likes of Foil, Arms & Poster-Face and Camille O'Sullivan are obviously exceptions)

edwardfog

Glad Crybabies were good. Love those guys and can't wait to see the new one. Their first show was my number 2 of 2019

greencalx

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on August 05, 2022, 07:00:41 AMHaving seen their poster last night, can comfirm that the guy who pulls the face in the posters is pulling the face he pulls.

I think there must be more than one poster. The one I saw did not have the face-pulling.

CaledonianGonzo

Atsuko Okatsuka - The Intruder
Laid back but enjoyable debut by a likable Japanese-American stand-up.
The central story on which the clubbier bits hang is remarkably low stakes and some of her big denouements totally flatline. But there's enough out of leftfield thinking to entertain and some pretty sweet writing. However, she needs to read the room a wee bit better and veer off-script when the moment calls for it. It's day two -  and she totally will once she's been here for a week.

CaledonianGonzo

Patti Harrison
Nope.
Nope nope nope.

CaledonianGonzo

Patti Harrison
Further thoughts. Parodying vacuous, self-absorbed wannabes is a fine line to walk cos if you do it well enough to the extent it becomes indistinguishable from the real thing then your show is dead in the water. Oddly misogynistic.  Huge tracts of dead, mirthless silence. Nuff walkouts.  One hugely performative over-laugher sat right behind me who was in on the joke and wanted everyone to know that he got it. But he'd started howling 5 minutes before she even came out on stage. Not going to say I didn't laugh at all and there were amusing spots here and there, but by the end it very much felt like a wasted hour.

Julia Masli - Choosh
Charming clowning on the 'shouldn't work' subject of migration from Eastern Europe to the US in the early 20th century.  Bags of wit and invention, gentle audience interaction and good vibes to spare - by the end it was even subtly moving. Mrs CG is largely done with Gauliere graduates and their ilk, having seen scores of 'em over the years - and even she quite liked it.  A tonic and a likely best newcomer nom.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: greencalx on August 05, 2022, 03:46:23 PMI think there must be more than one poster. The one I saw did not have the face-pulling.

I'll grant you it's not as pronounced as this face:



 ..but I put it to you, sir, that a face is nevertheless still being pulled.

edwardfog

Wow, people really aren't getting along with that Patti Harrison show. I really liked it when I saw it in preview.

Julia Masli rules and that show is wonderful. Does she qualify for a newcomer nod given that she performed her last two shows under "Julia Masli and the Duncan Brothers"? I guess if Tom Parry can qualify then why not...

CaledonianGonzo

I wondered for a while if it was an age / demographics thing - but then I'm extremely online and sufficiently irony-poisoned to be theoretically right in the target market.

Quote from: edwardfog on August 06, 2022, 08:25:04 AMJulia Masli rules and that show is wonderful. Does she qualify for a newcomer nod given that she performed her last two shows under "Julia Masli and the Duncan Brothers"? I guess if Tom Parry can qualify then why not...

Ciaran Dowd actually won it after playing pretty big rooms with Beasts.

greencalx

Quote from: Crabwalk on August 05, 2022, 06:53:54 AMCeiling 9/10

I think we need more ceiling reviews. One of the reasons why I like to attend graduation is to spend some quality time with that ceiling.

I will study the next Name, Won't and Stick poster that I see to see if we can come closer to a resolution on the all-important face-pulling controversy.

CaledonianGonzo

The McEwan Hall is probably a nice room - but surely way too big for comedy.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

Anyone going to see Shannon Matthews The Musical? If so I'm very jealous.

kitsofan34

The Delightful Sausage.
Nowt But Sea.
3 3/4 out of 5.

They're very charming, aren't they? I particularly enjoy when it descended into a more chaotic, ramshackle element.

Some of the material fell flat, with the supporting character not really on Amy and Christopher's level (although even that had a great payoff at the end).

A really great, low key and fun start.

Rob Auton: The Crowd Show.
2 1/2 stars.
I went for lunch before the show (vegan cheese toastie), thank you for asking, and realised with 15 minutes to go that the venue was 25 minutes away. I thought it was going to be a stock "crowd work" show, so was particularly scared of coming in late.I made it in time but was dangerously close to throwing up.

This was the weakest show of the day for me, it didn't really work and Auton was much more Kitson-lite than I expected, big on the life affirming, "people are great" schtick than I imagined.

I enjoyed his Walkie Torquay joke.

Sheeps: Ten Years, Ten Laughter.
3 and 3/4 out of 5.
Can someone well versed with Sheeps lore explain to me if these are actually old sketches that they're doing? Cause if not, I really like the idea of a faux greatest hits show.

Liam and Al are particularly engaging, pushing up some of the weaker material.

The show had about 70% of the sold out crowd laughing uproariously but there were a weird amount of walk outs. It's not like the material's particularly out there.

The show's strongest material is at the start at the end. Look out for their world famous Three Cowboys sketch.

Tim Key: Mulberry.
4 and 3/4 out of 5.
This was really special and I struggle to see it being beaten as my show of the Fringe.

It's sharp and raw and blunt at times, the 60 minutes went astonishingly quick.

His crowd work is insanely good, he seems really good at knowing when to go for the kill with a crowd member and when to ease off, with the possible exception of his drink holder schtick.

I really did love it, the use of the set, his props, his use of music, the outfit, even his sincere poems were legitimately good.

Slight dip in laughs at the end but overall very strong.

Tarot: Cautionary Tales.
4 and 1/4 out of 5.

So what's the deal with this? They're called Tarot, but they don't use that gimmick with the cards anymore?

This was also very good and overcame what I was expecting to be show fatigue.

It was a very well paced show, seemed to snowball into bigger and bigger laughs as the show progressed.

Some of the crowd were screaming with laughter, which I always oddly really enjoy, even if its a big booming laugh.

It's quite crude at times and there's a strong chance you will see one member's cock.

My only criticism would be the 2 lads get more to do than the lady, who seems reduced to playing it straight quite a lot.

I also got a free badge!


Celebrities I saw on Day 1.
Nick Mohammed.
David O'Doherty x2.
Sophie Duker.


I have never done anything like this before and am really enjoying it, day 1 couldn't have gone much better, a lot of that is down to your recommendations so thank you, especially to edwardfog. Day 2 is Bohart, Kiri, Harrison and Brookes. Dreading Harrison to be honest.

Happy Fringe everyone.

CaledonianGonzo

Bohart's show is good. She's been WIP-ing it for over a year now so it's in a pretty strong place.

kitsofan34

Anyone got any suggestions for 19:30? Olga Koch has cancelled.

ProvanFan

I'm going to Police Cops at 7

Christopher Bliss is at 6.40

I can't vouch for either, just seen them mentioned here.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: kitsofan34 on August 06, 2022, 01:09:33 PMAnyone got any suggestions for 19:30? Olga Koch has cancelled.

She cant be ill as she was just sat behind us in The Delightful Sausage.

Seeing Shelf at 19.15.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on August 06, 2022, 07:00:12 AMOne hugely performative over-laugher sat right behind me who was in on the joke and wanted everyone to know that he got it. But he'd started howling 5 minutes before she even came out on stage.


God, I hate those types. I remember being sat near this hysterical guffawing prick during a mediocre Charlie Chuck show. Even when Chuck left the stage for a costume change, he was still laughing uproariously. Yes, yes, you find him funny the most here.

Crabwalk

Quote from: ProvanFan on August 06, 2022, 01:14:12 PMI'm going to Police Cops at 7

Christopher Bliss is at 6.40

I can't vouch for either, just seen them mentioned here.

The Police Cops show is fantastic. I saw it last night and I can GUARANTEE you'll have a good time. It's an expanded version of their first show with added cast, songs and scenes.

Best new addition: the orphans.