Latest news with #KieranHodgson
The National
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Five of the best things I've seen at the Edinburgh Fringe so far
The Fringe is incredible for taking you on a journey through the full spectrum of the human experience, from cringe-inducing low to euphoric highs. These five picks can be placed in the latter category. Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes Catherine Cohen is performing at the Fringe (Image: Dev Bowman) Cat Cohen is an absolute whirlwind of a woman. She comes on stage in silhouette, before the lights reveal a fantastically glamorous sequinned get-up and she bursts into song. The diva energy is palpable from the outset. Cohen's hour-long show focuses on her experience of having a stroke in her early 30s – combining themes of self-doubt, millennial self-interest and showbiz ambitions with her health journey. Her ability to coin a phrase is incredible (I can't stop thinking about describing hospital lighting as "giving cellulite), and almost as impressive as her extremely catchy cabaret songs (which I hummed on the train all the way home). This is an incredibly tight hour of comedy and music from a young woman absolutely bursting with talent. The future is incredibly bright for Miss Cohen. Rating: 5/5 Find out more here Kieran Hodgson: Voice of America Kieran Hodgson is probably most recognisable to Scottish audiences from his role as Gordon in Two Doors Down. What you might not know is that Kieran had a minor role as "Sandwich Guy" in DC film The Flash. The team behind the film required that he perform with an American accent – prompting the English-born, Glasgow-based comedian to reckon with his understanding of what it really means to be American in 2025. This is a seriously smart hour of stand-up, which also manages to showcase Hodgson's exceptional impression skills. He is also just a seriously likeable guy. Note: I am slightly cheating here, as I saw a preview of this show in Glasgow rather than at its actual Edinburgh run. Rating: 4/5 Find out more here The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here)) The Fit Prince has maybe the longest title of any Fringe show this year (Image: Awkward Productions) Having already seen Awkward Productions' brilliant Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, this was one of my must-sees going into Fringe 2025. It more than lived up to expectation. The Fit Prince is an extremely funny, extremely silly take on the sorts of cookie-cutter Netflix Christmas films and Hallmark movies that get pumped out of the Content Factory every year and inexplicably make massive amounts of money. With low-budget props and clever use of pre-filmed segments from LGBT+ cult favourites, the talented team behind the show create a lot out of a little. The highlight is the mini-concert from Swedonian favourites BAAB (obviously a play on ABBA), with creators Linus Karp and Joseph Martin donning their sparkly dresses for renditions of everyone's favourite pop hits – including Movement King. As ever, the latest production from this team includes lots of hilarious audience interaction ... so be prepared to take to the stage and become a part of the cast if you head to this one. Rating: 4/5 Find out more here Mark Jennings: Bread and Circuses Marc Jennings is seriously funny. I first came across him years ago online as he was doing a pitch-perfect impression of former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross. I've followed his career ever since. The stand-up comedian and podcaster is an underrated talent who deserves a lot more attention. Maybe this latest show will do the trick. Discussing everything from modern dating to the mess of UK and Scottish politics, Jennings darts easily from one topic to another with the ease of your mate at the pub. This one has some seriously quotable punchlines too. Rating: 4/5 Find out more here Body Count Issy Knowles is the writer and performer behind Body Count (Image: Body Count) Body Count, a new one-woman show from Issy Knowles, explores the horrifying world of competitive sex. Based loosely on the infamous escapades of women like Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips, this show imagines the inner life of those who participate in increasingly extreme sexual activities. With only a smartphone, a bed and a whole lot of condoms, Knowles brings together a thought-provoking, well-structured performance. I would have liked more exploration of how social media led us here, rather than some of the more cliched and one-dimensional depictions of the men in the story, but overall this show is a real talker. Go with your friends, and discuss it over a pint afterwards. Is the line between empowerment and degradation really so thin? Rating: 3.5/5 Find out more here Let us know what your favourite shows have been in the comments.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
My Festival – Kieran Hodgson: 'I end the day sitting bolt upright in bed screaming silently'
We caught up with British character comedian and actor Kieran Hodgson on what he's looking forward to this Fringe, as well as how his cat's morning wake-up call sets him up for a good day. Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, 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... There are thousands of shows in Edinburgh this month. Please tell us why we should come and see yours. Safe pair of hands (?) What will we learn from your show that we didn't know before? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ooh, that's a funny one. Normally, my shows are hideously educational and have been described contemptuously as 'a lecture with jokes' or 'edutainment', but this year I set out not to teach anyone anything and try to be funny instead. Let's see how that goes. Who or what was the biggest inspiration for your show? I have come to hate everything I've ever done, and in particular the quite theatrical, comedy-play-style performances of recent shows. So instead, I looked to people who were bringing people big laughs in a very direct, no-fuss way, particularly with an American angle (oh yeah, I should have said, my show's about America, btw), and found myself rewatching the first-ever stand-up show I saw on video: Eddie Izzard's 'Dress To Kill', and listening to a lot of US comic Mike Birbiglia's albums. I then made a show that bears almost no resemblance to either of those acts. What's the best review you've ever had, and the worst? My worst review was a lovely one-star from One4Review for my student sketch show in 2008. It began with the immortal line 'I usually hate student sketch shows', which made us all hope that we would be the exception, until the following sentence came along and it really was downhill from there. Best review? Ah, no comedian remembers their good reviews, they don't count. Who or what are you most excited about seeing this year? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad David Elms is going to be the hottest of tickets, believe me. His improv show 'David Elms Describes A Room' is an extraordinary, joyful, utterly unique experience. Book now! Who do you most like spending time with in Edinburgh? My cat in Glasgow. Tell us something about you that would surprise people. I've never been to Stoke. What are the best and worst things that have happened to you at a festival? The best thing at a festival was probably a brief Fringe romance in 2008. Really cheered me up after that review and we managed the perfect ending by saying goodbye at sunrise on Grassmarket after the end-of-festival fireworks. Must write a novel about it one day. And there are no worst things because it's always a privilege to be at the Fringe. What's the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The cat's usually ended up on my pillow during the night so I start the day by giving him a kiss. Then I end the day sitting bolt upright in bed screaming silently at all my fears and terrors. I'm a morning person. Thanks for the interview! We'd like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking? We're going to the Dagda Bar for a hauf and a hauf: half a pint of cask ale and a single of whatever their 'Malt Of The Month' is. A perfect Scottish wind-down after the emotional rollercoaster of this questionnaire.
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Review: Kieran Hodgson at the Fringe is a riotous road trip
Pleasance Courtyard, until August 24, 9.30pm. Gayle Anderson Four stars Appropriately for a show about the land of plenty, Kieran Hodgson has super-sized his offering this year. Voice of America begins with Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA booming through the speakers. Hocus POTUS! We're instructed to please welcome the future president of the United States, before Kieran high-fives his way through the auditorium and onto the stage. This is a long way from Two Doors Down, but it promises to be less shock and awe and more shock and aww. Dressed in double-denim and very nearly getting away with it, Kieran describes himself as looking like David Tennant's nephew. Who would doubt him? He's warm, funny and utterly engaging as he tells the story of his life-long love affair with the USA and his attempt at carving out a career in Hollywood. Kieran Hodgson is at the Pleasance Courtyard until August 24 (Image: Paul Gilbey) It's a slick, carefully-crafted show, packed with smart one-liners and silly catch-phrases. His railway timetables tic is a favourite. It's train-spotting geek style rather than Leith style. Throughout the show, Kieran explores his adoration of all things Americana. As you'd expect, there's some masterful mimicry. All that's missing with his three 90's movie impressions is the popcorn and his JFK stump speech sent shivers. Not all former presidents fare quite so well. It's (stars and) swipes at George Bush and his infamous Bushisms. Even Obama doesn't escape unscathed. As far as the current White House resident goes, Kieran has pleaded the fifth. But will the mango menace make a guest appearance? You'll have to see for yourselves. Big reveals are for losers… Read more: In 2021, Kieran's two-minute on-line parody of The Crown became a viral sensation. It gave him a taste for Tinseltown. So when the producers of a Hollywood superhero movie come calling, can Kieran convince them he can play an American? Will his Sandwich Man cut it? This is a well-planned, riotous road trip full of delicious detours. But, a bit like the Hodgson family holiday tapes, my feelings on the ending were mixed. Will the four-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee's name be in those ballot boxes this year? I wouldn't bet against it. Other Shows I Recommend This Week… Jonny Pelham: Is It Me? Hive 2 at Monkey Barrel, four stars. Emmanuel Sonubi: Life After Near Death, Pleasance Courtyard, four stars. Vittorio Angelone: you can't say Nothing any more, Monkey Barrel, four stars.
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kieran Hodgson: Voice of America review – meek Brit meets his star-spangled States
'I love America!,' says Kieran Hodgson, which is quite the opening gambit in a week when the country has risked kickstarting the third world war. But that is the Yorkshireman's point: there is a better US, now occluded by He Who Shall Barely Be Named, but still worth believing in. Voice of America traces Hodgson's lifelong love affair with the States, in the teeth of his Europhile parents' distaste, the disillusion of the Bush years and a recent doomed bid for Hollywood success. It joins as big-hitting a body of work as any in comedy, a suite of autobiographical shows itemising the nerdy obsessions (cycling; Mahler; European politics) of child and adult Kieran. Voice of America hits less big, for my money, partly because its subject is less lovably niche, and also because the binary thinking (America good? America bad?) is simplistic before Hodgson arrives at his predictably more nuanced conclusion. You may have to park your scepticism at Hodgson's vision (seen through the star-spangled eyes of youth) of the US pre-2000 as a paradise before the fall. This middle-class ingenue from Holmfirth looks in awe at Home Alone, Will Smith and the soaring speeches of JFK. His parents' dismissal of 'American rubbish' only fuels his fetish for Americana. Then comes his career in entertainment, and a growing sense that Tinseltown is the only place to be. The show circles around a tale Hodgson tells of his would-be breakthrough role in a superhero movie, and the can of worms prised open by his obligation to play an American. What, or who, is an American anyway? Is it the culture vulture he meets at the opera? Or is it the current president, whom our host refuses to talk about, but who keeps threatening a hostile takeover of the show? This all supplies a great platform for Hodgson's vocal and mimicry talent, and for neat jokes, too, like the Canadians/Ewoks number, or the one about the audio entertainment on Hodgson family road trips. Its structure may, like Trump, be crude – but this is another fine show about a meek Brit grappling with the all-conquering myth, and reality, of America. At Soho theatre, London, until 28 June. Then at Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 30 July-24 August.
Times
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Kieran Hodgson review — a Yorkshireman gets lost in the USA
You may know Kieran Hodgson for his four Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated shows, his YouTube TV parodies, his role on the sitcom Two Doors Down or just for his bit part in the superhero film flop The Flash. It's that troublesome role — 'Sandwich Guy' — that provides the pivot for Voice of America, his latest gag-rich yet erudite mix of satire, confessional and funny voices. If you've never seen the smoothly self-doubting Yorkshireman perform, you might be deceived by the beaming figure in double denim who strides to the stage at the Soho Theatre to the strains of Born in the USA. He contrasts the big-game glamour of American elections with the dowdiness of Keir Starmer. Yet is Hodgson wowed by America or duped by it? Is his idea of America lost in the greater optimism of his Nineties childhood? Or does his Europhile English teacher father have a point when he derides a country whose sheen has above all always concealed a passion for power? Any heavy stuff, though, is safely lodged in a far larger dose of fun stuff. Hodgson first lets us into the thrill of being offered The Flash after the viral success of his TV parodies briefly gave him showbiz currency during lockdown. Then he opens up about the challenge it posed him. He is 'a voices guy' yet, after a day of filming, his perkily ruthless new US agent informs him that his voice needs work. He gets the mechanics of accents but does he get the modern American mentality? Is he as off the pace as the Anglophile who is amazed that Hodgson is visiting his English pub in Portland, Oregon, rather than staying home in Britain to celebrate the Queen's birthday? You couldn't say the stakes are sky-high: it's a bit part and we know he keeps it. But The Flash gives a spine to strong stories and sharp observations as he talks about, and impersonates, several American presidents. He makes merry with his nerdishness, his upbringing, the disparity between the 'stupid America' of modern myth and the cultural elite he sits among at the opera in New York. Can he keep Donald J Trump out of it like he wants to? Good luck keeping Trump out of anything, buddy. It's another richly entertaining hour from a consistently captivating comedian. ★★★★☆
