40 Years of Fringe : Jenny Eclair 5*****

Gilded Balloon marks four decades at the festival with a series of special in-conversations featuring comedy greats. Tonight is comedian, novelist and actress Jenny Eclair.

Jenny is joined in conversation with Kaye Adams. This is a career which has spanned … Read More

Alison Spittle – Big 4.5 ****

I have seen Alison Spittle a couple of times live, and obviously a few times on TV, and have always enjoyed what I have seen, so along with may others packed in to see her latest offering. There was a … Read More

Emma Holland: Don’t Touch My Trinkets 4****

Fresh from competing in an antipodean season of Taskmaster, Holland is back and fame hasn’t marred her bubbly, perky and very funny style. All the good bits from Holland’s previous Fringe show remain, but amplified and polished. The art’s still … Read More

Aerosmith to ZZ Top – The A to Z of Hair Metal with Steve McLean 4****

Comedy in front of a rock-literate audience is a high-wire act. Too often, stand-ups retreat into their safest material — watching it land with all the grace of a dropped cymbal — or bluff their way through the subject, exposed … Read More

Rubber Duck 3.5***

In a room that need a dehumidifier more than air con, Elle Bert put a room of clammy audients, a majority of whom had been hooked in off the street, immediately at ease and got us on board with the … Read More

Eric Rushton – Innkeeper 4.5****

Eric Rushton opens to a packed room — sold out, with queues outside for returns. Winner of the Channel 4 Sean Lock Comedy Award and Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, Rushton hits the stage as a consummate professional — … Read More

Knight, Knight 4****

Sometimes the comedy is in testing the limits of an audience. What will we tolerate, which plot elements are a smidge too far, what does it take to make us squeal and cringe. Can a character the audience has only … Read More

Comedy Sheep: Best of Wales Stand-Up – 4****

A total over-dose of Welshness, 5 of Wales creative talents take to the stage in this wonderful showcase.  Hosted by Ignacio Lopez, this group of Comedy Sheep have us in stitches with snippets of their own personal performances.

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Stuart Mitchell & Festival Friends 4 1/2 ****

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There’s no doubt that Stuart Mitchell is fast becoming a new favourite Scottish comedian.  He’s happy to rip the backside out of audience members and turn their responses to his questions into fantastic comedy moments.  His dead pan sarcastic … Read More

Abby Howell’s: Welcome to My Dream 3.5***

Abby Howells’s entrance on stage is soundtracked by the somewhat unsettling and bizarre Tiny Tim song ‘Welcome to My Dream’ – the title obviously inspiring the name of her show. One of Abby’s first disclaimers is her regret in … Read More