4 days ago
It's been a standout year for standup at the Fringe, says Veronica Lee. This week's highlights? A man obsessed with pigeons, and a woman disguised as a potted plant...
Kate Dolan: The Critic (Assembly George Square)
Verdict: Absurdly good
When Kate Dolan emerges from the audience dressed as a potted shrub and declares herself an audience plant, you know we're in for a treat.
It points the way to more absurdist comedy in The Critic. But the show's title refers not to pesky reviewers, but Dolan's inner monologue, which she renders through a voice modifier.
That inner critic questions how the Midlander's material lands; her decision to do (excellent) audience work — and, of course, critiques her performance.
It's a constant push-and-pull between joyfully daft material and ruminations on Dolan's life, her sleep problems and her mum's death.
The result is a heady concoction — a gloriously daft, energetic hour with lots of big a banana. Highly recommended.
Kate Dolan: The Critic is on until August 24
The Burton Brothers: 1925 (Assembly George Square)
Verdict: Fraternal fun
Rating:
Brace yourself, because we are going back in time. Back to the Fizz Bang Radio Hour in America in 1925, a heady period when people were oblivious to the stock market crash heading their way.
It's a neat conceit that allows Australian real-life brothers Tom and Josh to assume various characters, from radio presenters and traumatised former WWI soldiers to circus performers and a deluded vaudeville act convinced his dreadful ditty will make his fortune.
It's a delightful mix of finely wrought gags, song-and-dance numbers, physical comedy (particularly in the clever Hall of Mirrors sketch) and precise characterisation.
The performances are terrific as the brothers weave the various strands into a satisfying whole, while the strike rate for the jokes is pleasingly high.
The Burton Brothers: 1925 runs until August 24
Toussaint Douglass: Accessible Pigeon Material (Pleasance Courtyard)
Verdict: Distinctive debut
Rating:
Londoner Toussaint Douglass loves pigeons, as he tells us in Accessible Pigeon Material. They're the outsiders of the avian world and he, once a geeky kid brought up by his grandmother — or his 'flatmate' as he calls her since moving back in with her — knows all about being an outsider.
It's a neat construct and Douglass swiftly moves from birds to humans as he discusses coming from an odd family, his emotionally absent father — there's some edgy audience work with a hand puppet representing his dad — and what masculinity means to him.
He conjures up the important characters from his life and the joke count is high.
The show doesn't go where you expect it to, and this debut hour shows a comic of real promise.
Toussaint Douglass: Accessible Pigeon Material runs until August 24
Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: DEAD!!! (Good Fun Time) (Monkey Barrel)
Verdict: Hellishly good
Rating:
Joe Kent-Walters deservedly won last year's Edinburgh Comedy Awards best newcomer gong.
His outrageous character Frankie Monroe made a pact with the Devil to save his beloved Rotherham working men's club from closure, and then went to Hell.
Now, in the best 'Bobby in the shower from Dallas' tradition, Monroe has been resurrected in this equally funny follow-up.
Frankie comes back to Earth when he hears his nemesis, Vegas Dave (also Kent-Walters), is taking his beloved working men's club upmarket, serving — oh the horror — IPA.
Puppet Mucky Pup and the Sausage Slapper are here too, and it's another hot mess. Some jokes won't land if you didn't see the original but this is the kind of feelgood show the Fringe was invented for.
