Latest news with #AndrewDoherty
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bad dates and bath bombs: 10 of the funniest jokes from the Edinburgh fringe 2025
Olaf Falafel: We named our children War and Peace – it's a long story. Andrew Doherty: At my lowest, I was kicked out of the museum for being inappropriate with Michelangelo's David. I'd hit rock bottom. Bella Hull: I just got a personal trainer. She's horrible to me but my body goal is a thicker skin. Rob Auton: Everyone is worried about AI. I'm more concerned with what the other vowels are up to. Ian Smith: People who say bath bombs are relaxing have clearly never tried to carry one home in the rain. Amelia Hamilton: I love getting Latin chat-up lines. I carpe every DM. Sikisa: This spider has been in my house so long, it should pay half the wifi. As a web developer, it can afford to. Chris Grace: I went on a date with a matador but there were too many red flags. Candace Bryan: America is like my ex-boyfriend. Our relationship was toxic, when I left everyone called me brave, and now every morning I pull up social media to see how ugly he's getting. Rajiv Karia: I'm not nostalgic but I used to be. Those were the days. All our Edinburgh festival reviews
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bad dates and bath bombs: 10 of the funniest jokes from the Edinburgh fringe 2025
Olaf Falafel: We named our children War and Peace – it's a long story. Andrew Doherty: At my lowest, I was kicked out of the museum for being inappropriate with Michelangelo's David. I'd hit rock bottom. Bella Hull: I just got a personal trainer. She's horrible to me but my body goal is a thicker skin. Rob Auton: Everyone is worried about AI. I'm more concerned with what the other vowels are up to. Ian Smith: People who say bath bombs are relaxing have clearly never tried to carry one home in the rain. Amelia Hamilton: I love getting Latin chat-up lines. I carpe every DM. Sikisa: This spider has been in my house so long, it should pay half the wifi. As a web developer, it can afford to. Chris Grace: I went on a date with a matador but there were too many red flags. Candace Bryan: America is like my ex-boyfriend. Our relationship was toxic, when I left everyone called me brave, and now every morning I pull up social media to see how ugly he's getting. Rajiv Karia: I'm not nostalgic but I used to be. Those were the days. All our Edinburgh festival reviews
The Guardian
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Andrew Doherty: Sad Gay Aids Play review – twice the satire from Gay Witch Sex Cult comic
Gay Witch Sex Cult was quite the solo debut last year from Andrew Doherty, a folk-horror pastiche delivered in character as deluded estate agent Kaelan Trough. His follow-up attempts something similar, but trips itself up with a split satirical focus. Sad Gay Aids Play starts out with Doherty again in deliciously bumptious persona, smugly introducing his new drama chronicling the HIV crisis. We expect another genre spoof from an act with an adroit ear for send-up. But that's not what we get – because the show doesn't just send up sad gay Aids plays (such as they are), it tilts at Arts Council England funding as well. The conceit is that Doherty wants to make a trashy comedy about reality TV, but ACE won't fund it. If he wants their cash (and he needs it, because moneyed mum and dad have withdrawn their subsidy) he has to make something grittier, burlesquing his own marginal identity and exaggerating any personal trauma he may (or may not) have suffered. Hence the sub-Angels in America drama he's now workshopping for us, and keeps adjusting according to live feedback from his ACE paymasters. There's no denying that the voguish vicissitudes of arts funding – and its bias against comedy – are ripe for mockery. But Doherty's satanic ACE caricature misses the mark here. It also obliges our host to play himself, a hapless supplicant performer, rather than the self-congratulatory alter ego that so amused audiences last year, and at the start of this show. There's still plenty to enjoy in his play within a play, which rehashes gay life in the early 1980s. We see protagonist Harry Manlove, spurned by his homophobic mum, form a found family with friends including Freddie Mercury. It is, briefly, a carefree time – until Harry develops a cough, and starts wondering about 'that last batch of semen I just took'. Doherty is a fantastic performer, and the comedy is potent in this mismatch of solemn subject matter with egotistical and ignorant actor/host. But when Doherty steers us away from that, towards his more effortful satire at ACE's expense, the delight slightly dissipates. At Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, until 24 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews
Scotsman
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Comedian Andrew Doherty announces new comedy-horror show for Edinburgh Festival Fringe
This year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe will see Andrew Doherty present his sophomore show, 'Sad Gay AIDS Play'. This follows a critically acclaimed debut run at the festival last year with 'Gay Witch Sex Cult' which saw him sell out his entire full festival run. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Having built a name for himself as the new voice of comedy-horror with his 'Wicker Man' inspired debut show, Andrew is all set to relaunch himself with a groundbreaking piece of tragic theatre – the depressed love child of 'A Little Life' and 'Angels in America', cooked up in an effort to be taken more seriously by The Pulitzer committee and earn his one way ticket to success. 'Sad Gay AIDS Play' will see the brave and fame hungry Andrew Doherty throw the book at AIDS and ask the Arts Council to pick it up. Fans of Andrew's off-beat comedy will be satisfied with silliness, but ultimately his attempt to bask in the warmth of dramatic clout is doomed by the interference of supernatural forces, in true Andrew Doherty fashion. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The rising star has made a name for himself as one of the hottest, fresh new voices on the comedy scene. His unique style is consistently praised for being compelling horror comedy hours mixed with gleeful silliness. Andrew Doherty, Sad Gay AIDS Play Ahead of his debut run last year, he was tipped as one of the 'six funniest comedians at the Fringe' by The Guardian. He then went on to sell out his entire month long run and he later brought the highly praised show to London for three sold out runs at Soho Theatre. He has also performed the show at VAULT festival and at the Brighton Fringe, which saw him win the Best of Brighton Comedy Award 2024. As well as his work as a solo comedian, Andrew is well known as co-founder of the sketch comedy duo Megan from HR alongside star of One Day, Ambika Mod. Their 2019 show Children of The Quorn™' was a critical hit in Edinburgh. EDINBURGH FRINGE LISTINGS INFORMATION: Andrew Doherty: Sad Gay AIDS Play Venue: Pleasance Dome, 10 Dome Date & Time: 30th July – 24th August, 8.30pm Duration: 60 mins Twitter: @AndrewShandrew Instagram: @ADohertyComedy
