Edinburgh comedy 2015: what to see (original) (raw)

12 August 2015 9:31am BST

Joseph Morpurgo: Soothing Sounds for Baby

Where: Pleasance Beneath
When: 8.15pm
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: In his new solo show, Joseph Morpurgo – excellent last year in BBC Two’s self-mocking Harry and Paul’s Story of the Twos – does what many of us would dearly like to do: puts himself on Desert Island Discs. Also largely a trip down memory lane, albeit a rather trippier one, his new Fringe creation begins with the Radio 4 staple’s familiar theme tune and with Morpurgo talking earnestly to its (here unseen) presenter, Kirsty Young – or, rather, to umpteen exhaustively sourced snippets of her, edited and spliced together to make the exchange seem more or less real. As you might expect, he not only rattles off his life story to her, but also chooses eight records, their covers projected on stage for all to see. However, not only are these discs (all very much from the depths of the vinyl vaults) often quaint to say the least, the comic vignettes each one inspires are more outlandish still, while the hour even metamorphoses into a tragic love story, too. Occasionally, you sense a slightly missed or at least under-exploited comic opportunity: one or two of those dear old discs, for example, or the quiz and subsequent audience participation. But it feels churlish to complain about a show that, in the main, blends conceptual innovation and sparkling execution – in both the writing and performance – like few others, along with an evident fondness for the 33rpm butts of its jokes. Despite the eight-record structure, you seldom have the faintest idea what’s around the next corner, while the “conversation” with Young is an extraordinary and often hilarious achievement. Here’s hoping she heads to the Pleasance Beneath some time soon. Mark Monahan
Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Kieran Hodgson: Lance

Where: Voodoo Rooms
When: 9.10pm
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: Formerly one third of the excellent but short-lived sketch trio Kieran and the Joes, Anthony Perkins lookalike Kieran Hodgson has here served up a one-man effort that lets his comedic talents roar as never before. Named after the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, it sees Hodgson retrace much of his own life, from his youthful days in West Yorkshire as a keen cyclist in the Boy Scouts at the start of the millennium, to his hero’s fall from grace and the Tour de France’s arrival in his home county last year. Armed with little more than an exercise bike by way of props, Hodgson plays all the dramatis personae – from his young self and childhood friends to Armstrong himself – with a kind of wide-eyed innocence, yet one garnished with a potent sprig of mischief. He’s a super mimic (Bradley Wiggins, Alan Bennett and even Oprah Winfrey get quick and memorable look-ins), and – in case you were wondering – “Lance” himself is not some predictable figure of hate, but an ever-present guru and life-coach much like Elvis Presley in the Tony Scott thriller True Romance. Throughout, Hodgson zips from character to character with remarkable clarity and ease, also finding time for a quite brilliantly written Broadway-style summons to the South and subsequent (also marvellous) account of arriving at university. It’s curiously touching in its way, yields big laughs by the ton, and builds to a closing moral of impish, well, amorality. Tour de France? Tour de force, more like. MM
Unticketed. Details: edfringe.com

Tom Neenan: The Andromeda Paradox

Where: Pleasance 10 Dome
When: 6.40pm
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: This little gem of a solo show is, above all, an affectionate and very funny tribute to the British Quatermass productions that began in the Fifties. Following on from last year’s The Haunting of Lopham House, it sees writer and star Tom Neenan flesh out both the titular Professor Bernard Andromeda – chief protagonist and narrator of this story of something not-of-this-earth that that’s been found in a disused London tube station – as well as everyone he encounters. Exactly like Humphrey Ker’s 2011 Foster’s best newcomer winner Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher!, it’s the sort of production that tends to ignite that old “But is it really stand-up?” debate. In fact, it’s probably more a one-man play, but frankly who cares either way? The writing is strong – “You’ve heard of that machine the machine that split the atom?” says the prof by way of melodramatic introduction. “Well, I split that machine.” – and Neenan inhabits the rogues’ gallery of characters with great panache. Try the terrifying Venus Guy Trap, a carnivorous new strain of plant that looks like a hair-grip and sounds like a New York hairdresser, or for that matter alarming Teutonic scientist who once tried to shag an orchid. One time-related joke feels borrowed from This Is Spinal Tap, but otherwise everything here feels as fresh as a daisy. MM
Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Nish Kumar is at the Pleasance Upstairs Credit: Idil Sukan

Nish Kumar: Long Word... Long Word... Blah Blah Blah... I’m So Clever

Where: Pleasance Upstairs
When: 7.15pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: The very title of Nish Kumar’s new show is a witty nod to how smug and unlovable political comedy can so easily be. He also, a little way, in, acknowledges the predictability of comics’ political leanings, via his mother’s unsparing declaration to him: “You’re a left-wing comedian. All comedians are left-wing. It’s boring.” Kumar is, however, anything but predictable. He despises the Tories, but he also takes the Left to task for somehow failing to exploit the former’s cuts at the last election, and has a real talent for using imaginative specifics (the history of Monopoly, say) to make broader political points. Also on the menu are particularly strong routines on the west’s obligingly agreeing to call Isis Islamic State, the possibility of a black James Bond, and the inadequacy of the phrase “climate change” for something so potentially deadly. (“Sky aids” is one of his suggestions.) A welcome seam of self-deprecation runs through the set, too, with Kumar’s keen intelligence and brisk charm proving a winning combination. One slightly ill-advised rant aside – yes, it’s all part of his plan, but it still jars – there isn’t much wrong here, and the result is an unusually smart, slick and entertaining hour of socio-political scrutiny. MM
Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Tom Parry: Yellow T-shirt

Where: The Tron
When: 6.20pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: The most prominent and scene-stealing member of the truly wonderful sketch trio Pappy’s, Tom Parry has this year come to Edinburgh with his first ever solo show. Given the fun-filled universes that he helped generate in that outfit, you’d expect his new offering to have little to do with the woes of the 21st-century. And, happy to say, you’d be right. Rather, this hour is almost entirely about the not-exactly-thorny issue of fancy dress, something that Parry clearly learnt a lot about during his often outlandishly attired Pappy’s days (and, it turns out, before them too). What type of fancy-dress wearer are you? And what, for that matter, are the rules? These are questions that demand to be addressed. After a blisteringly silly start, Parry – armed with five cornier-than-chowder jokes and six thoughts, which members of the front row, bits of paper in hand, brief him on throughout – dives into this multi-coloured world with typical ebullience, while any doubts about him being able to impress without the other two other fellows to bounce off evaporate almost instantly. I suspect Parry himself would admit that much of the material here lacks the subtle brilliance of Pappy’s finest, and is frothy even in the context of his frothy world. And yet his anecdotes romp along, some of his gags are superbly creative, and the carnivalesque spirit he whips up in the (infinitely sympathetic) Tron venue is a joy. His audience could barely be more at ease if they were carousing in their own gardens on a summer’s day, clearly grateful for Parry’s sweet-natured, boyish gusto and, too, for the serious-minded and decidedly sane closing message that he draws from all this enchanting levity. MM
Tickets: 0330 220 1212; edfringe.com

Liam Williams: Bonfire Night

Where: Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters
When: 7.30pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Nominated for Foster’s best newcomer in 2013 and the main prize last year, self-proclaimed “craft-beer socialist” Liam Williams has – as his choice of scuzzy venue alone might suggest – lost none of his contrariness. The politically minded 27-year-old admits to having called his new show Bonfire Night (ie Britain’s non-revolution) largely because he was under pressure from the Fringe office to come up with a name for the brochure; mentions the the four stars I awarded him last year and says The Telegraph “can have ’em back”; lays into himself above all, for what he sees as his own general hypocrisy. As previously, however, there’s a kind of magnificence to Williams’s deadpan anger and honesty, and he also repeatedly embarks on marvellously unexpected diversions. That telephone exchange – “semi-fictitious”, like so much here – builds into a terrific harangue on the part of the Fringe employee, while he later uses the old truism “the rich get richer” as a jumping-off point for a super little parable about a bizarre home-invasion. Last year’s show (Fight Club-style split personality and all) felt a fraction more special, though that said it’s a mercy that Williams has, if only fractionally, toned down the physical self-laceration this time round. Besides which, his way with a sparkling little observation and first-rate turn of phrase is as strong as ever, and he remains the Fringe’s most articulate and original chronicler of twentysomething angst. Sorry matey, but it’s four more stars for you. MM
Unticketed

Sam Simmons: Spaghetti for Breakfast

Where: Underbelly Topside
When: 9pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Sam Simmons has no respect for domestic foodstuffs. Those who caught his Foster’s-nominated show in 2011 may recall him waging war with (and then on) a load of tacos; this year, he kicks off by brandishing three boxes of breakfast cereal at the hapless front row and... well, let’s not spoil the surprise. Simmons has for several years now been one of the most original and dependable acts on the Fringe, a latter-day surrealist every bit as out-there as Noel Fielding but also entirely his own man. This year’s set turns out to be a succession of “Things that s*** me”, from “I’ve never finished a Chapstick” and the time he swallowed a moth, to Glen-from-work and an increasingly belligerent Ferrero Rocher researcher – observational surrealism, you might say. It’s weird and wonderful stuff, a comic universe as strange and as unpredictable as that of Dr Seuss, but with rather more swearing (and toast). It is also superbly orchestrated by Simmons, who has put as much love as ever into the son-et-Lumière – you always get a full-blooded, sense-filling show with him. Aside from the fact that last year’s confection (also Foster’s-nominated) felt more complete still, there is only one thing you’d change here: even if you agree with every word of his closing most-modern-comedy-is-so-ordinary rant, it is completely superfluous. The entire show is a broadside against ordinariness, and this coda unnecessarily bursts Simmons’s beautifully blown surrealist bubble. Otherwise, this is very superior, very funny comic fodder indeed, though thank heavens Tchaikovsky isn’t around to catch it – you’ll see what I mean. MM
Tickets: 0131 622 6552; edfringe.com

A latter-day surrealist: comedian Sam Simmons

Sarah Callaghan: Elephant

Where: Pleasance Bunker One
When: 5.50pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Sarah Callaghan is a working-class 23-year-old from Uxbridge, in the extreme west of London. She lives at home with her mother, has only a single bed, is surrounded in her neighbourhood by women who crave nothing beyond having babies, and is sick of it all. “I can’t be positive,” she says, “because I’ve got this terrible illness: it’s called ambition.” Her first ever Edinburgh hour, Elephant, sees this very lively performer walk us through her childhood, her present situation, her longing “to escape” (The Shawshank Redemption is a recurring motif). Delivered at breakneck speed in a strong, old-school London accent, though also with great vocal clarity, the entire set feels in many ways like a comedic explanation and extrapolation of that memorable line in the Pulp song Common People: “... And dance, and drink, and screw/ Because there’s nothing else to do”. She’s deliberately abrasive at times, but nonetheless has a smile and and energy that light up the room. And, although the delivery feels a fraction over-rehearsed (this sort of material needs to sound as spontaneous as possible), and her jokes don’t always hit the bulls-eye, Elephant nevertheless announces Callaghan as a bright new talent who surely speaks for a great many people. It’s interesting, though, how much her background now seems counts as a USP in a profession that has traditionally been working-class. And although she’s “up for breaking down society’s walls”, her scorn for those who lack her ambition suggests that she is anything but left-wing. MM
Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

James Acaster: Represent

Where: Pleasance Forth
When: 8.30pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Thrice a bridesmaid at the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards, James Acaster is showing no signs of shedding his forensic interest in arcane frivolity. The nuggets of “celebrity gossip” with which he peppers this new set are about what: Posh and Becks? Brangelina? Nope: a handful of the Chilean miners from the 2010 accident, whose names you’ll either entirely have forgotten or more probably never knew in the first place. And although the show hangs on the time he allegedly did jury service, he is far more interested in (say) dentists’ adverts, or the politics of massaging or sweater-wearing, than in the noble institution that is British law. The high point of the show is “The Goose and the Sloth”, parable of absolutely no meaning, involving a menagerie of common animals none of which Acaster appears ever have seen – the fusion of unflinching pedantry and total zoological ignorance here is superb. It comes, too, in a set that’s as tightly written and constructed as we have come to expect from Acaster. My trouble with him is that although the imperious, unsmiling nerdism of his stage persona is symbiotically connected to his material, and therefore vital to it, an hour with him still adds up to an awful lot of imperious, unsmiling nerdism. Charm is in short supply here, making this an entirely admirable show that I’m not quite sure I’d want to see a second time. MM
Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Beasts: Live DVD

Where: Pleasance Upstairs
When: 4.45pm
Until: Aug 31
In a nutshell: Of the current crop of strong, impeccably modern, three-person sketch troupes in Edinburgh this year – see also Daphne, Minor Delays, The Pin and Gein’s Family Giftshop – it is Beasts who take the show most directly and exuberantly to the audience. As in 2014, their new creation is directed by Tom Parry (who has also brought his own debut solo set to this year’s Fringe). As part of yet another three-man outfit – Pappy’s – Parry was largely responsible for what in 2012 was the single best live sketch show I have ever seen. And although Beasts’ writing doesn’t quite reach the brilliance of that earlier trio’s, it is nevertheless very strong and their group dynamic excellent, and they’re at least a match for Pappy’s in the effervescence stakes. Taking head-on the “Get me on the telly” attitude that can be all too prevalent among Fringe shows, it hinges on the conceit that they are shooting a pilot to impress a Hollywood big-shot. And, of course, everything goes as wrong as can be and has to be redone umpteen times. Ciarán Dowd – very much the incorrigible, Parry-esque figure of the three – is the main and most hilarious culprit, his obsession with Les Misérables adding an extra, rich seam to the comedy. But Owen Roberts and James McNicholas are super too, and, behind the veneer of almost primal chaos, the trio are very much on top of things. The result is an hour-long tsunami of carefully crafted silliness that it would take a dull soul indeed not to enjoy. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Dane Baptiste: Reasonable Doubts

Where: Pleasance Beside
When: 7.15pm
Until: Aug 30
In a nutshell: Little is more satisfying in Edinburgh than when, following a promising (and indeed best-newcomer-nominated) début, a comedian returns the following year with something even better – and Dane Baptiste is a case in point. Always very charming in a calm, low-key kind of way, the 33-year-old Briton of Grenadian origin has markedly raised his game with the writing since 2014: you could say, essentially, that his material is now a match for his delivery. Reasonable Doubts turns out to be a plea – good-natured but heartfelt – against pandering to stereotypes, against one generation preaching down to another, against modern-day mediocrity in all its otiose reality-telly, electronic-tablet, Coke Light forms. And it is one also packed with super little fantasias (about everything from to Jesus having a go at Adam, to his own libido plotting to assassinate his virginity) that reveal an unusually fine comedic intelligence and imagination at work. Reasonable Doubts repeatedly makes you both laugh and think, and how, frankly, can one not love a show that contains the question, “Has Wayne Rooney qualified as an oncologist yet?” It would come as little surprise to see Baptiste on this year’s shortlist for the main Foster’s prize – he certainly deserves to be. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

charming, calm and low-key: Comedian Dane Baptiste Credit: 2015 Steve Ullathorne, all rights reserved/steve ullathorne

Alex Edelman: Everything Handed to You

Where: Pleasance Beside
When: 8.30pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Like Dane Baptiste (see above), Alex Edelman made a strong Edinburgh debut last year, and in fact went one better than the slighly older Brit, snaffling the award for best newcomer. Also like Baptiste, he has returned in spruced-up style with a set that concentrates largely – though by no means only – on cultural identity. His East Coast Jewish upbringing features largely, and Edelman (who spends a lot of time in the UK) uses his out-of-towner perspective shrewdly. But the hour’s overall architecture is dominated by the time Edelman and his brother were stranded at Terminal C of Dallas Fort Worth airport and set up an impromptu phone-charging station for their fellow strandees. Already remarkably fully formed last year, Edelman (who is now only 26) is better in every way this time round: the jokes and anecdotes are stronger, several of them enjoying satisfyingly multi-tiered punchlines, and they’re delivered with both subtler timing and greater assurance. He’s very funny when affectionately laying into his own Jewishness, but is no less entertaining when talking about a bizarre encounter in a foolish London member’s club or indeed the various oddballs who approached him in Fort Worth. Exactly why Edelman has opted to wear a thick hoodie in the tropical heat of the Pleasance Beside remains a mystery, but his talent and his commitment to his art form are as clear as a bell. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Richard Gadd: Waiting for Gaddot

Where: Banshee Labyrinth
When: 11.30pm
Until: Aug 30
In a nutshell: Visitors to the Edinburgh Fringe this year are unlikely to encounter a darker or more deranged show than Waiting for Gaddot. Or, for that matter, a much better one. The latest offering from 25-year-old Scottish comedian Richard Gadd – in many ways as much absurdist theatre as stand-up comedy – it is directed by Gary Reich, a man with two Perrier-winning shows already under his belt: Noble & Silver’s in 2000 (newcomer), and Laura Solon’s in 2005 (main prize). It would be remiss to give too many specifics away, but the clue is in the title. Essentially, it soon appears that Gadd – an at once terrifying and engaging presence – is late for his own gig, with the venue staff’s desperate attempts to keep us entertained soon interwoven with footage of Gadd and his girlfriend desperately trying to get to the venue. It is really rather violent in places, perhaps a little high on its own craziness for some tastes, and of course the-show-that-goes-wrong is a far from new idea. But the effort and inventiveness on display here are immense, and it is, without any competition, the wildest ride I’ve yet been on this Fringe. MM

Unticketed. Until Aug 30. Details: edfringe.com

Lazy Susan: Double Act

Where: Pleasance Jack Dome
When: 8.10pm
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: Lazy Susan are a zippy and talented sketch duo made up of two particularly fine young actresses, Celeste Dring and Freya Parker. Nominated for Foster’s best newcomer last year, they’ve added a slightly old-fashioned vaudevillian element to the proceedings that suits them well, while their way with accents is as winning as ever. There’s an engaging, freewheeling eccentricity about many of the characters and scenarios they conjure up in Double Act – try Mark the grubby surgeon, or ukulele-strumming Deep Southerners Cherie and Barry – with plenty of returning scenarios and skits (flashbacks and all) that amount almost to miniature plays, and there are some imaginative touches too: the cute but ill-fated rodent whistling Delibes is a particular gem. Although – as last year – a fair bit of the show is perhaps more fun than funny, the pace a fraction breathless, and one otherwise appealing thread falls victim to this Fringe’s curious preoccupation with poo, fun it certainly is, entertainment with warmth of heart and a twinkle in its eye. You’d do well to keep your eyes on these two in future, too. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Brett Goldstein: Burning Man

Where: Pleasance Beneath
When: 9.30pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: A likeable, storytelling stand-up with his eye often on the counter-culture, Goldstein is back on the Fringe with an assured new hour. It uses as a jumping-off point an existentially troubling question that his mother asked him about his work, and which ultimately led to his visiting the 2014 Burning Man festival in Nevada, to try to find some peace. En route, he offers anecdotes and musings on all manner of things – a spectacularly drug-fuelled night and the real meaning of the Mister Men books stick in the memory – as well as on his disappointent at Bill Cosby and the parental-style tyranny of cashpoints. There’s much that’s good about this brisk, tightly written and fluently delivered set, which is nevertheless just slightly light on big laughs and builds to an unwelcome tale about a coprophiliac girlfriend. The latter does fit into the show’s central themes of embracing life’s complexities and contradictions and “not sharing too much”, but other stories would surely have done just as well, without churning the stomach. Still, if that sort of thing doesn’t bother you, then definitely give him a go. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Gein’s Family Giftshop Volume 2

Where: Pleasance Beneath
When: 10.45pm
Until: Aug 30
In a nutshell: One of several 2014 best-newcomer nominees returning this year, Gein’s Family Giftshop (aka Ed, Kath, Jim and offstage writing partner Kiri) are in many ways a terrific little sketch outfit. They’re tight and mutually complementary, their timing – the put-upon Kath’s especially – is superb, and this year as last you could never accuse their occasionally self-referential sketches of dragging their heels. Nor is there any shortage strong or funny individual skits in this latest offering. The problem is that after the umpteenth sketch from this or that ring of hell – and one of them does in fact appear to play out in Hell itself – the impact begins to dwindle. Of course, darkness is their thing and is built into their very moniker – not for nothing did they appropriate the name of the notorious US serial-killer. But you can have only so much exposure over the course of an hour to skits involving muder, suicide, masturbation, anal rape, bodily fluids and suchlike before the whole thing becomes less than the sum of its outré parts. Kath’s flip and funny suggestion that they “write a show that’s not blood, poo or bumholes” feels in fact like sound advice, as a little more relief from the inferno could make its flames all the more seductive. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Adam Riches is Coach Coach

Where: Pleasance Dome
When: 9.45pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: The winner of the 2011 Foster’s Comedy Award is back with a real, darn ball-breaker of a show. Part interactive theatre, part improvised comedy – all beer-spittingly funny – this is the story of Coach Coach, a chewing gum-addicted, all-American sports coach, who must train his hapless volfsball (don’t ask) team for a grudge match against the Lizards (again, don’t ask). Parodying the great American sports films, Riches and his superb supporting cast (which includes sketch group Massive Dad's Stevie Martin and Liz Smith, as well as comedians Nick Hall and David Elms) deliver line after wondrous line. “I don’t think you’re a joke,” says Coach’s future wife, after Coach has lost his team a key match. “I don’t find you funny at all.” Sure, there is a lot of goofiness and one or two overplayed gags but everyone is having way too much fun to notice. There is also a tangible chemistry between the actors that radiates warmth. At times, the lot of them look as if they might descend into laughter, particularly when Riches strides off-script, keen to see how far he can push the whole charade. As a result, when members of the audience are required to contribute, they feel part of the joke, rather than the butt of it. This is surprisingly rare – as is comedy quite as brilliant as this. Rupert Hawksley

Tickets: edfringe.com

Andrew Maxwell – Yo Contraire

Where: Assembly George Square Theatre
When: 10:30pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: This is Andrew Maxwell’s 21st year at the Fringe but the Irishman is showing no signs of weariness. Few other comedians seem quite so delighted to be performing, which is hardly surprising given the strength of material Maxwell has at his disposal. This is a phenomenal show, bulging with big ideas and any amount of laughs. The range of topics Maxwell grapples with is astonishing. He is as comfortable talking about immigration and the rise of radical Islam as he is about the strength of skunk these days: “If Bob Marley was alive today, he’d have written f—k all.” The set is littered with impressions and punchlines. On Lord Sewell, the former Chairman of Committees of the House of Lords who was recently filmed allegedly taking drugs with prostitutes, Maxwell says: “I would vote for you, if you weren’t already unelected.” Above all, though, Maxwell makes you feel as if you’re down the pub with a good pal. A good pal who also happens to be one of the funniest men in Britain. Maxwell’s joie de vivre is intoxicating. Here’s to the next 21 years. RH

Tickets: edfringe.com

Paul Foot

Where: Underbelly, Cowgate
When: 7.20pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Paul Foot is already starting to lose his voice. But don’t let that put you off going along to this eccentric peacock’s madcap show. His straining vocal chords are the inevitable battle scars of a comedian who leaves nothing on stage. Like a giraffe trying yoga for the first time, Foot bends and slides spasmodically about the place, sweat dripping from his mullet, as he burrows deeper and deeper into the surreal Petri dish of his mind. Nothing makes much sense. The first section of this hour-long set is all about a woman with a large cheddar cheese collection, a topic from which Foot only deviates to discuss how best to grow a cucumber. Then we’re in heaven with an angel who has broken her wing from rejoicing too heartily: “You’ve got to fly in heaven; there’s no floor.” Later, what starts off as a seemingly innocuous piece of observational comedy about B&Bs escalates steadily into one of the darkest routines I have seen at this year’s Fringe. Foot’s uncompromising style can be exhausting to watch and you’ll struggle to find any conventional jokes to ease the strain. But take the leap of faith that his comedy requires and the rewards are plentiful. RH

Tickets: edfringe.com

George Egg: Anarchist Cook

Where: Gilded Balloon
When: 2.45pm
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: Have you ever wondered how to cook pancakes on an iron? Or bake bread in a trouser press? George Egg spends his life pondering such quandaries. In this ingenious hour-long show, the Brighton-based comedian produces a three-course meal, using nothing but the contents of an average hotel room. Well-seasoned with foodie facts and some surprisingly spicy humour, the results are striking. There is an awful lot happening on stage – sea bass is poached in a kettle; herbs are chopped on an ironing board – but Egg never forgets his audience and is jolly good company throughout. The comedy is certainly not an afterthought, either. There is impressive material on homosexuality and multiculturalism but also a generous pinch of daftness to keep things rollicking along: “I’ve made mayonnaise in a sink before... that’s not a euphemism.” At a festival where being different is the norm, it is refreshing to encounter a performer who really is unique. After all, who else is filleting a sea bass live on stage? Rupert Hawksley

Tickets: edfringe.com

Milton Jones and the Temple of Daft

Where: Assembly Hall
When: 7.30pm
Until: August 21
In a nutshell: The panel show regular with the wacky shirts and wild hair remains the undisputed master of the pregnant pause and the killer one-liner. In just a few words, Milton Jones can draw a bigger laugh than other comedians manage in an entire set: “I come from a family of failed magicians... I’ve got two half-sisters.” Over the course of a full hour, however, this nonsense – "So much for Taylor Swift; she sent back my trousers un-mended" – becomes rather wearing. His material is just too rich to gorge on this greedily. On the rare occasions that the 51-year-old deviates from one-liners and expands into longer form sketches, the results are astonishing. His routine on the Scottish independence debate, for example, is the best I have seen on the subject. Otherwise, though, you can expect to groan as much as you laugh. RH
Tickets: edfringe.com

Bright new lights: Phil Wang, Jason Forbes and George Fouracres of sketch troupe Daphne Credit: Mark Dawson

Daphne Do Edinburgh

Where: Pleasance That
When: 3.15pm
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: In what is increasingly looking like the year of the self-referential sketch show, Daphne are one of the brightest new lights. Made up of Phil Wang, Jason Forbes and George Fouracres – three former Footlighters whose performance styles contrast as much as their skin-colour and physiques – they deservedly emerged as victors at London Sketchfest earlier this year. And happy to say (not least as I was on the panel and pushing for them to win) their debut Edinburgh hour eminently fulfills that promise. Sophisticated one moment, pure slapstick the next, show’s casual, careering air belies the care with which it has been stitched together, while the wild variety – of both the subjects of the sketches and the the type of humour that powers them – means that you never have the faintest idea what’s coming next. Seductively eccentric conceits and characters (from a satanic Postman Pat to the world’s greatest con-artist) are repeatedly fleshed out with first-rate timing and on occasion a fearless physicality too, and, although the climax is more winsome than it is hilarious, the strike rate overall is very high indeed. A remarkable and marvellously funny debut. MM
Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Ian Smith – Whereabouts

Where: Pleasance Courtyard
When: 7pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: On the face of it, Ian Smith isn’t doing anything particularly exciting. He’s yet another comedian in Converse trainers and a checked shirt talking about his unremarkable life. But there is an eccentric comic mind behind the cheeky facade, which sets this affable Northerner apart from many of his peers. His anecdotes start typically enough but unspool in wildly unexpected directions. A story about an odd neighbour concludes with a routine in which Smith is alone in a world of mannequins. Later, the idea that humans should all be assigned a theme tune finishes up at a stranger’s funeral. There is the sense that he is not comfortable with the easy pay-off; that he wants to push his comedy to its limits.This sometimes backfires and one or two routines feel overlong and laboured, the punch-lines not quite justifying the build up. The final section, in which Smith gives supposedly irreverent answers to questions found on an online forum, is particularly heavy-handed. And Smith occasionally tries too hard. He is not yet fully at ease on stage.But he has a packet of great jokes in his armoury and that much needed eye for the absurd. At one point, he describes a scarecrow as “an agricultural fear monger”. You’d do well to catch him now before his inevitable jump to the big time. RH

Tickets; edfringe.com

Bridget Christie: A Book for Her

Where: Stand 1
When: 11am
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: Whatever the seriousness of the subject she’s discussing, however passionately she’s laying into her pet hates, Bridget Christie never forgets also to make herself an object of mirth, and does so with charm and brio to spare. And, if this year’s all-new offering, A Book for Her, doesn’t quite have the exquisite Swiss-timepiece construction of 2014’s, it is still a super piece of work, packed with strong writing, in which Christie casts her comedic net more widely than of late. She’s particularly super on her “favourite character comedian” (Ukip leader Nigel Farage), the Labour leadership contest, and Rachel Dolezal, the white former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who for years pretended she was black. But gender equality is still high on the agenda too, and in the middle section of the show she entertainingly raids the new book of hers that gives this show its title. On a real roll these days, Christie continues to be one of the delights of the Fringe. Catch her if you can. MM
Tickets: 0131 558 7272; edfringe.com

Bridget Christie Credit: Idil Sukan

Will Seaward has a Really Good Go at Alchemy

Where: Gilded Balloon Sportsman
When: 1.45pm
Until: August 31
In a nutshell: “There will be swearing,” says Will Seaward early on in this entertainingly loopy lunchtime confection. “When that happens, it’s usually because I’m in danger.” With inevitable failure built into its title, the show sees Seaward – part Brian Blessed, part Oscar Wilde, part crazed Victorian music-hall MC – do his damnedest to make the all-powerful “philosopher’s stone”, the legendary liquid allegedly capable of turning base metals into gold. Despite his being armed with a full on-stage chemistry lab and a fair old bit of info on the subject, the central joke is that he is both attempting the impossible and doing so with buffoonish ineptitude, adding to the fun by choosing different substances each day from which to make the legendary elixir. (Ground up Nestlé Golden Nuggets featured prominently the day I saw him.) Seaward needs to work on keeping up the laughs and momentum in the second half, and I wonder too if he should do more research into which substances will best add to the theatre and make the biggest climactic bang. But the whole thing still qualifies as an original and impeccably Fringey idea, delivered with wit and panache by a naturally funny fellow. MM
Tickets: 0131 622 6552; edfringe.com

Minor Delays

Where: Gilded Balloon Sportsman
When: 4.15pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Still harbouring doubts about sketch comedy? Then hasten to Minor Delays. This trio raised eyebrows at London Sketchfest back in May, and their new full-length show fulfils that promise in scintillating style. Their presentational trademark is that, even when interacting with other, they always face the audience, and they spurn props and costume-changes. The threesome have clearly poured all their energies instead into writing and rehearsal, and the result is a show of remarkable pizzazz, with build-ups so amusing that the punchlines, though generally strong, feel like icing on already scrumptious little cakes. The prevalent theme here is middle-class angst (protest marches, vegetarianism, loony modern therapy, debit-card rejection), and the performances are just super. The skits come at you like machine-gun bullets, with only the occasional dubious foray below the waistline. Seldom have fifty minutes passed so swiftly. MM

Tickets: 0131 622 6552; edfringe.co.uk

The Pin: Ten Seconds with The Pin

Where: Pleasance Queen Dome
When: 7pm
Untill: Aug 31
In a nutshell: Cambridge-educated smartypants Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen are back with a new show that’s at least as strong as last year’s. The notional premise of this latest foray into meta-comedy is that the outwardly earnest duo can’t seem to write a skit they like – “Sketches are baffling!”, says a wide-eyed Alex – and this hour turns out to be a kind of haphazard workshop on the nature of sketch-writing. But any confusion is, of course, entirely superficial. A little like Les Dawson at the piano, these two very strong and complementary performers have got each slip worked out to the last millimetre. And, as they repeatedly scrutinise, dismantle and re-assemble their chosen art form, they demonstrate a great understanding both of how the whole thing works and – crucially – of how to generate laughs. From the trying and re-trying of various passages to the mirrors-in-mirrors close – via a ventriloquist’s dummy, paedo headmaster, and cracking bedroom scene – the whole thing is an ingenious interweaving of smartness and silliness, an impressively fresh and funny reinvention of one of comedy’s oldest tropes. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.co.uk

Gyles Brandreth: Word Power!

Where: Pleasance One
When: 4pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell:The noted man-of-letters returns to Edinburgh with a show about a subject particularly close to his heart. A first-rate speaker – his skills long-honed first as president of the Oxford Union, then as an MP, and also on the after-dinner-speech circuit – Brandreth here whizzes through a collection of facts, figures, quotations and anecdotes to demonstrate words’ unique and infinite power. Bringing everyone from GW Bush to Shakespeare into the fold, he implores us to celebrate and savour language (and the English language especially). And although both the humour and the show as a whole may not trouble this year’s Foster’s Comedy Awards panel, and are probably more likely to appeal to the maturer Fringe-goer, it is only fair to add that Word Power! kicks off with one of the best jokes you’ll hear all Fringe, and wraps with a mischievous little nugget too. The finale – a tribute to his wife, via the poetry of Browning – is genuinely moving, and you will emerge very happy to have spent an hour in the company of the estimable Mr B. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Comedian Phil Wang Credit: Edshots/ Edward Moore/ Avalon

Phil Wang: Philth

Where: Pleasance Upstairs
When: 6pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Phil Wang is one of the more appealing – and cerebral – stand-ups to have emerged on the circuit in recent years. Half Chinese and half English, and therefore (very appealingly) describing himself as “the world’s most reserved man”, he here muses eloquently on various anxieties, from his surname’s unfortunate connotations in English and his addiction to the web, to his current, allegedly open relartionship. The central, neat premise here is that a meditation app he has on his phone has in fact soaked up every possible bit of information about him and can now use it against him, and he spends much of the show in increasingly un-relaxed conversation with it. (One should also add that not many comedians can talk about their penis for five minutes without seeming the slightest bit offensive.) My main caveat is that other young stand-ups are tackling twentysomething concerns in a similar manner but with arguably more punch, while the combination of Wang’s amiably nerdy low-key delivery and the ferocious heat in the Pleasance Upstairs – this not his fault, of course – conspire to keep energy levels on the low side. Definitely worth a look, though, and I suspect the best is yet to come. MM

Tickets: 0131 556 6550; edfringe.com

Andrew Lawrence: Uncensored

Where: Assembly Roxy
When: 8.10pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: Lawrence sticks his head above the parapet and, on the back of a torrid year, rails against the politically correct establishment, in comedy and beyond. The result isn’t always funny, sometimes sounds quite ugly, but is as compelling as it is courageous. Dominic Cavendish

Tickets: edfringe.co.uk

Stewart Lee: A Room with a Stew

Where: Assembly Rooms Music Hall
When: 2.15pm
Until: August 30, excluding 17
In a nutshell: “No one is equipped to review me.” So says Stewart Lee a little way into his set, having already made it clear that neither his audience, nor his fellow comedians, nor indeed (the afternoon I catch him) The Telegraph are going to get an easy ride here. The smug, contemptuous, deconstructive old sourpuss here serves up a work-in-progress in preparation for his return to the telly. And, if the meat of the show is not quite Lee’s leanest ever, there is still a great deal to enjoy, with particularly strong passages on losing to Graham Norton in the Baftas, and how audiences kill comedians. In a profession a vast number of whose members have “Please love me” coming off them like steam. Lee’s is point-blank refusal to ingratiate himself remains all the more refreshing, and much of this show is truly hilarious. MM

Until Aug 30. Tickets: 0131 558 7272 edfringe.co.uk

The cast of comedy sketch-show Minor Delays, on at Edinburgh's Gilded Balloon

Stewart Francis: Pun Gent

Where: Assembly Rooms Ballroom
When: 9.10pm
Untill: August 30
In a nutshell: “I went to a drilling-equipment seminar. Boring!” Thus does Stewart Francis, master of the deadpan one-liner, open his latest hour of verbal tomfoolery, and in doing so he very much sets the tone. Where most stand-up comedy is in some way confessional, you learn absolutely nothing about the fiftysomething Canadian from Pun Gent – beyond, that is, his smooth-as-Cognac delivery and his impish way with words. Almost inevitably with this sort of offering, you’re sometimes unsure whether to laugh or groan (or both), and there’s a strong sense of one-thing-after-another. That said, Francis also stirs in a number of visual payoffs, adding further spice by taking the odd break from the relentless barrage of jokes – one particularly nice thread playfully lampoons Sean Connery’s point-blank refusal ever to sound anything other than Scottish on film. All in all, it’s featherlight but fun, with Francis unflappably negotiating the odd slip (he was game enough to let me in several days before the press night), and in constant and complete command of the room. MM

Tickets: 0131 558 7272; edfringe.com

Glenn Wool: Creator, I Am but a Pawn

Where: Assembly George Square Studio Three
When: 9.20pm
Until: August 30
In a nutshell: The ontologically-infused title of Glenn Wool’s new show is more than a little fitting. There has always been a dash of the fire-and-brimstone-fearing preacher to his performances, and now, at 40, the growling Canadian is pondering his place in the universe, along with what he refers to as “the little voice in my head”. The latter, a kind of bonsai devil whispering in one ear, is a smart device that helps him get away with a lot. But the real secret of Wool’s success is – more simply, and as ever – his rare blend of thematic fearlessness, almost insane theatricality, and supreme joke-writing. He can get away with, say, a (totally unquotable) line about the particularly appalling sex offender Ian Watkins (lead singer of the band Lostprophets), partly because of the brilliance of both the writing and delivery, and also because Watkins himself is the target, but also because it comes in a set as notable for its constant self-deprecation as for its liberal-minded wamth of heart. Past Wool shows have felt a fraction more tightly and intricately constructed, but this – 24-carat puns and all – is still a superlative hour of edgy comedy that will make you laugh loud, a fraction guiltily, and often. MM

Tickets: 0131 623 3030 edfringe.co.uk