Nick Doody vs The Debonair Assassin – 5*****

Nick Doody is a likeable comic, with a way of making even quite dark topics incredibly funny. His opening about buying a hammer then wanders past Edinburgh flats near schools, and inner and outer versions of ourselves, with some black … Read More

Pam Ford: Happy in Your Skin Too – 3***

This show is actually an update of Ford’s previous show “Happy in Your Skin”, but with progress between then and now. It stands alone perfectly well.

At the very start, Ford gets the audience to put pieces of paper in … Read More

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical – 5*****

It’s such a simple premise – take suggestions from the audience and improvise a musical around them. The Showstopper team make this look so ridiculously easy you forget they and the band are making up everything, including the set, on … Read More

Flamenco for Kids – 4****

Getting children from age four to fourteen to do the same thing can seem like herding cats. Yet if that’s the case, guitarist Ricardo Garcia and dancer Frederic Gomez, aided by costume lady Julie Gunn, rounded up twenty or so … Read More

Hate ‘n’ Live – 2**

The concept of this show is just great. Comedians ranting about the stuff they hate. As opinionated creatures, this could be brilliant, but as a partly improvised show, this obviously depends on the wit, and writing speed of the performers, … Read More

Bob Blackman’s Local – 3***

This show is almost impossible to describe, without spoilers. It’s packed with silliness, changes of pace, and random, utterly surreal moments. I don’t even know if this is a recommendation or a warning. Not every gag or skit hits the … Read More

James Dowdeswell: Wine, Ale and I – 4****

I was sold on this show by the promise of learning how to get free wine, but there’s so much more to it than that – an education in wine and beers, and also plenty of gags.

Dowdeswell is a … Read More

The Comedian’s Comedian Podcast with Stuart Goldsmith – 3***

The premise of this show is simple. Comedian Stuart Goldsmith interviews a fellow comedian – in this case Bridget Christie – about the art, business, or simply life of being a comedian.

Obviously each show is different, as the guest … Read More

Thom Tuck: The Square Root of Minus One 4****

This show wasn’t in the Fringe guide, but is under of one of the free festival umbrellas, so I’m counting it as Fringe. However, that means you might only know about it if you know about Thom Tuck, … Read More

John Robertson: The Dark Room 5*****

I had a mild panic during the explanation of the rules that participation would be compulsory and that I wouldn’t have a clue what to do. There are three reasons this was unnecessary. Firstly, participation is (except in … Read More