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| REVIEWS: JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2000 | |||
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Welcome to the Reviews Archive: January - September 2000 Ivan Steward - Madman or Genius?, Holyrood Tavern, EdinburghIVAN STEWARD - the legendary Comedy Referee - was on magnificent form in the wake of his appearance on Channel 4's Big Breakfast. He had just returned from London where he had been interviewed on the basis that he had Edinburgh's 'worst show'. In truth, he has one of the best, but the Ref wasn't about to miss the chance to score a publicity goal! And flushed with his new-found fame, he played a blinder! The Ref was everywhere - flashing his yellow and red cards at any punters who dared to question his judgment. The gags came fast and furious - too fast for two Scottish boilers in the front row who couldn't keep up with this express train of a gagster. The Ref did his window cleaner's bucket trick to tumultuous applause - whirling the full pail above his head without getting the audience wet (much). His guests were also on top form. Filthy Australian comic Pam Ford was on top form, really amusing the women in the front row. Newish comic Eric had a good Orangeman joke, and American comic and horn king Randy Wilson did a first-rate and very distinctive set of gently amusing stuff. Martin Beaumont - formerly Dave Dave - was also good, in his modest, self-effacing way. But the real star was the Ref - an act so deliberately manic and shambling that the more stupid critics just don't get it. Madman or genius? Both, of course. STAR RATING(out of five): ***** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Mad Mack and Alfie Joey, Holyrood Tavern, Edinburgh MAD MACK - a.k.a. former Channel 4 press officer Barrie Hall - and Alfie Joey would not at first glance seem the ideal comedy pairing. Mack is a nutter - a Sunderland cabbie with a violent temper and a mum who allegedly sucks cocks in Tesco's. Joey is a crooner, a light entertainer with a disturbing tendency to turn himself into Brucie (Forsyth). Yet their two-hander at the Edinburgh Fringe worked admirably. Joey did some of Mack's stand-up lines over a back stage mic as feed lines - while Hall did the best of his London comedy-circuit act. And somehow the duo worked in some of the best American material from Joey's first idea for an Edinburgh show - a nostalgic Hollywood play that he had wisely strangled at birth. The Holyrood Tavern is certainly not the finest of venues, but Hall and Joey made the most of what facilities there were. And the audience thoroughly enjoyed their efforts and were left in no doubt that Hall is a character comedy of real quality and Joey has 'showbiz' running through him like the letters in a bar of rock. STAR RATING(out of five): **** Ollie Wilson September 2000 The Stand Up Show, Holyrood Tavern, Edinburgh THE venue was packed to the rafters for this show - driving the heat level in the room to stifling levels. Not that it put off the crowd who greeted compere Brian Damage with great enthusiasm. Damage is the man who put the dead in deadpan - a marvellously depressive character who can find negativity in everything. I must have heard his gags a hundred times but still laugh at them. First act on was Kevin Sherwani who is really getting good. He is a handsome lad with a lot of self-confidence and an endearing style. His material is solid and his persona very endearing. And the story about his tartan trousers was a corker. Next came boy and girl sketch team Tara and Guy. The playlet they'd contrived - about a Wacky Races kind of battle over a Welsh rugby player's missing magic boots - was quirky to say the least. And Tara was so drop-dead gorgeous, her beauty was distracting. But they performed it well, and with a certain amount of self-effacing comment that added to the mirth. The temperature in the room was getting totally unbearable by this stage. The final act, Robbie Pointer, was one of those stand-up comics who concentrates on taking the rise out of members of audience, which is always a bit cheap. Unfortunately for me, I buckled under the heat and momentarily fainted during one section of his set. I came round a couple of seconds later to find I can dropped my pint, which had shattered on the floor, and Pointer was taking the piss out of me. All is fair in love and comedy. But when it gets crowded and hot in the Holyrood, they could do with some effective air conditioning. For all that, it was a good show, with no weak links in the chain - and young acts who will surely get better and better. STAR RATING(out of five): *** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Craig Charles and His Band, Pleasance, Edinburgh CRAIG CHARLES was in emotional mood. The star of Red Dwarf and Robot Wars seemed a bit on edge, when the show finally got underway 25 minutes late. Chain-smoking and with an excellent five-piece band behind, he came over as an affable figure, opening up to the audience about his feelings about his son, his divorce and his new wife. I liked his songs because they were about those real issues - and not the mindless pap most singers feed their fans. And Charles has a voice of real power and quality. Between the numbers, he did his comedy. It was mainstream stuff, but good, solid gags that were easy to laugh at. The audience loved the performance, appreciating the natural rapport he had with them. He used the standard heckler put-downs ('I remember my first pint of lager' etc.), but what the hell? They never fail to win a laugh. And his band, which included a first-rate cellist, was great. Overall, it was thoroughly enjoyable show. STAR RATING(out of five): *** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Paddy Courtney (Ire) vs. Des Bishop (USA) - The Main Event, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh THIS was a fairly odd show. It was split between the whimsical stand-up comedy Paddy Courtney, from Ireland, and the hip hop performer Des Bishop, from New York, now living in Ireland, accompanied by the Irish disc jockey DJ Lee. Courtney had the better material and a lovely delivery. He was a fun observational stand-up with an eccentric Irish family to joke about. Bishop was a strange hybrid act. He was not entirely sending up the hip hop / rap world like Ali G and numerous other acts do. He genuinely seemed to want to do hip hop numbers. Yet he was also a stand-up, albeit one with some fairly ropey material. It probably was not his best performance of the festival. There seemed some tension between him and DJ Lee and his quips with the audience were hit and miss. All the same, you couldn't help liking the bloke. For a brash New Yorker, he had a pleasant way about him and ended with a really funny, quirky routine about immersion heaters. So who was the victor of this contest? On the night, Paddy Courtney had the upper hand. STAR RATING(out of five): *** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Custard, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh THE performers wanted to cancel out of their disappointment at the small size of the audience. But once theyıd been gently persuaded to do the show, it was a right old laugh. Alun Cochrane was a natural compere, chatting urbanely to the 10 punters, slipping in some good male-house material and, generally, creating a good atmosphere. Comedy poet Jason Raper kicked off with some clerihews, although to my ears he seemed to refer to them as ³cherishoes²! No matter, there were some amusingly sick ones on recently-departed celebrities. But his real strength were his longer poems, which were very funny and inventive. Next was Shaun Pye, whose act has come on enormously in the last year or two. I really enjoyed his ad-libbing, particularly when he got talking to an oddball French journalist in the audience who was apparently eager to tell the most stupid lies. Finally came Karl Theobald who was so surreal, he almost shimmered out of view. It was hit and miss stuff, but when he was on a roll, it was very amusing. It was a good night for them. Despite their initial misgivings, I hope the acts can now see why the show had to go on. STAR RATING(out of five): **** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen, Pleasance, Edinburgh I HAD heard this show was good - but had no idea how good. Through the music of Leonard Cohen, Smith tackled the hard issues of hard: boredom, addiction, misery, depression, love, betrayal and ducks. The script was sharp, funny, moving and sad. And the enjoyment of Cohen's music was enhanced, rather than spoilt, by the fact that Arthur is not exactly God's gift to singing. It was totally in keeping with the loser spirit of the songs. Ronnie Golden, who accompanied Smith on guitar, was also fabulous. He used his few lines to great effect and did a hilarious guitar solo, playing the axe with his teeth, apparently spitting out a loose one. At the end of the show, the applause was deafening. And the audience was right. It was most probably the best comedy show at Edinburgh this year. STAR RATING(out of five): ***** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Dominic Frisby, Komedia @ Southside, Edinburgh DOMINIC FRISBY has come a long way during the three or four years since he first performed the Upper Class Rapper. Now he has two other fine characters - Ludwig the Bavarian and The Morris Dancer - and a great stack of excellent impressions. On the night I saw his show, he was faced with the toughest and most thick of audiences. But he ploughed on like a true trouper, delivering cracking material to minimal laughter. His hanging on the Prayer Line to Heaven was particularly funny and the Bridegroom's Speech was excellent. I also liked the 'wet towel' routine - and Frisby's Tony Blair impression was spot-on. It was a lovely show, strangely under-appreciated on that particular night. STAR RATING(out of five): **** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Big and Daft, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh THE BIG AND DAFT boys were back in town - leading their audience into their surreal world once again. Rob Rouse, Ian Boldsworth and Jon Williams followed up their hit show at last year's Fringe with another blistering performance. The opening may have been a little ponderous but once they got into their stride the laughs came by the torrent. The guys have cunningly kept the best bits of last year's show - and added some amusing new material, such as Rob's courtship of, subsequent marriage to and divorce from two potted plants. A fine performance from three of the brightest young comedy talents in the UK. STAR RATING(out of five): **** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Oram and Meeton, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh IT'S unusual for modern double-acts to have warmth and chemistry between them - but Steve Oram and Tom Meeton display oodles of it. They seem completely at ease with each other as they banter and performed quirky sketches that had the audience in stitches. The nervous arts administrator and Russian performance artist sketch was a classic, as was the farmer sketch. And verbal ping-pong sketch was a lovely piece of writing. Their ad-libbing was also good. They could pull most situations back and still an enormous capacity to make light of themselves. I am sure they are a double-act who we will be hearing a lot more of in years to come. STAR RATING(out of five): **** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Norman Lovett, Pleasance, Edinburgh NORMAN LOVETT may be best known for his work as the computer Holly in Red Dwarf, but he is also a very fine comic. Lovett took the interesting approach of basing his laconic rambliners around objects he had placed on a table: an automatic apple peeler, a book of household tips and various other oddball items. The fun he derived from these things was extraordinary. And he also handled hecklers beautifully, getting something positive (and funny), rather than nasty (and sneering), out of their comments. Lovett left everyone with a lovely warm feeling inside. STAR RATING(out of five): **** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Tears of a Clone, C, Edinburgh THIS production stank of desperation. The company had stopped charging for entrance - because they 'were sick of playing to three people' - and had even thrown in a free beer to try to pull a crowd. Even so, there were only 15 people in the audience of the large venue. The cast - 16-year-olds Tom Martin and Adam Shindler - were dressed in dinner suits most of the time, and were pretending to be private school headmaster / teacher for much of it. To be fair, they were quite good, although clearly actors rather than comedians. The script, by Jenny Wafer and Peter Yates, was a predictable and cliched. But there were enough laughs in it to keep the small audience fairly happy. Unfortunately, Martin and Shindler spent too much of the show shouting at the punters and their inexperience made it hard for them to handle heckles. Any half-decent London circuit stand-up could have made verbal mince meat of them. Still, all credit should go to them for attempting an Edinburgh Fringe show at such a tender age. And they certainly show early promise as actors. STAR RATING(out of five): ** Ollie Wilson September 2000 Tone Dead, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh IT is not often that you see a comedy performance with no redeeming features. But with Tone Dead, the company - who immodestly described themselves in the Fringe programme as 'five of Scotland's hottest talents' in a 'hilarious new comedy' - created something that was quintessentially poor. The show - about the progress of a pop band - was hindered by the low standard of their acting and the weakness of the writing. Some members of the audience laughed once in a while out of politeness - but, in all honesty, funny lines were few and far between. In keeping with the youthfulness of the fresh-faced cast, the humour was juvenile and puerile. Tone Dead was a triumph of self-confidence over ability, enthusiasm over content. One of the cast even seemed to be having trouble remembering his lines. But they should not feel disheartened. The performers need now to learn from their mistakes: take some professional acting tuition or go on a comedy course, so they can return to the Fringe with a show more of the standard that one expects at a top venue like the Gilded Balloon. STAR RATING(out of five): * Ollie Wilson September 2000 Jongleurs, Bow, east London JONGLEURS' clubs on Friday and Saturday nights pretty well guarantee strong bills of entertaining comics who do around 20 minutes each - and Bow proved no exception. I was pleased to see some acts that were new to me. Strangely, they each compared themselves to more famous people. Scottish compere Brian Higgins (not a snooker player) was much funnier than the person he likened himself to - Coronation Street's Les Battersby. As was the first act, Simon Clayton, whose opening line was: '33 years ago Fatima Whitbread and Bob Hoskins had sex!' Clayton's act revolved around being married, something he said he decided to do because he was getting tired of finishing his own sentences. The second act was Andrew Pipe who looked like Woody from Toy Story. He said he was surprised to find that, coming out of a rave after all night on E, he is a market researcher's ideal consumer. Next was Mandy Knight, a Jongleurs regular for many years, who has tweaked and toned her act, adding new lines to her ironic 'girlie act'. She had the audience in stitches. The closing act was Mark Billingham, another Jongleurs time-server who didn't do his 'cockporridge' joke - for once - and seemed to me to get off early after the audience became rowdy. Drink, food, a few laughs. A typical night at Jongleurs. STAR RATING(out of five): *** Peter Merrett August, 2000 Pear Shaped In Fitzrovia, London W1 THE LAST time I attended a show compered by Ivan Steward, The Comedy Referee, I was duly shown the red card. So I'd served my suspension and returned to witness him in action again. Ivan is reminiscent of the old music-hall comedians with his cheeky chappie persona. But the manner is more manic, employing a megaphone at times to deliver his material, all cracking stuff! Sabrina George kicked off the acts with her lascivious style which does more to arouse the males then to actually deliver punchlines. First substitution Spakka Hendrix was a mixed bag. Clearly, he has a juvenile desire to shock with his Hitler-like appearance and gags about rape, but on the other hand he comes out with gems like 'Imagine a world without hypothetical situations?' and 'The one thing money can't buy is poverty'. More coherent material and a less contrived appearance would make him easier to stomach. Baldy bloke John Torrens is an assured stand-up and his quirky observations encompass all manner of topics from anti-perspirants to Sony Playstation habits - all delivered in a laid-back style. Terry Lynch is another accomplished act and for all those suffering from Des-Lynam-on-Match-of-the-Day withdrawal symptoms I urge you to go and see him! The second-half saw a group of hecklers enter the room and the match really caught fire. They gave Sam Miller a tough time but he survived allowing for a late appearance from 'Kevin'. In his own words, Kevin is a paranoid schizophrenic and when he lets his hair down and reveals his alter-ego , Janet, you'd certainly believe him. His material can be cruel at times and this divides the audience, but he dealt with the hecklers in a quick witted way and prevented the evening from going too pear-shaped. STAR RATING(out of five): *** Ivan De Mello July, 2000 Comedy Cafe, London EC2 A HOUSE was packed for the naturally-zany comic Daniel Kitson, hosting this try-out night sprinkled with some established acts. First up, Chris Hawkins ambled on stage dressed in hooded-top and jeans. You'd have been forgiven for mistaking him for the quiet one out of the Pet Shop Boys - but he speaks - with the slick repartee of a used-car salesmen . . . with gags. Next, Pam Ford, a feisty Aussie former pub landlady, did a rousing re-make of the Shania Twain Classic ' That Don't Impress' - only inserting an intimate part of the female anatomy neatly into the title. Enter: Jimmy Carr, a comic who happens to share the same hairdresser as Dawson out of Dawson's Creek. His act featured musings on life's little paradoxes. A clever twist on the car being an extension of the man's penis (think of women who own people-carriers!) and plenty of one-liners of a high standard. After the interval, brash comedienne Ninia Benjamin, who won act of the night, performed a hilarious set. Worth seeing alone for her impression of a fat woman running for a bus. Excellent magician, Danny Buckler - hardly a new act since he's had a pilot show on Channel 4 - followed, looking like the milk tray man but with a very different box of tricks. Then came Quincy, not television's favourite pathologist but a bold, black East End comic. A crowd-pleaser who did DJ re-working of a classic Chas & Dave number. The third interval started with the cheeky, affable Dave Blood with a strong set about the inept opinions of Cosmo magazine, the perils of escalating bank charges and sharp perceptions about the clubbing scene. Camp comedian Simon Happily carried the comedy baton on, leaving sassy American comic Jevonka Steele to round off a goodish evening. STAR RATING(out of five): *** Ivan De Mello July, 2000 Follies, The Round Table, London WC2 ON the hottest night of the year so far and with Euro 2000 soccer on the telly, this gig was never going to be easy. But with the aid of a giant sandwich board, promoters Waldo and Roly Moe managed to pull in enough punters to give it a whirl. Waldo introduced Moe as the compere which seemed to come as a surprise to him. Roly quietly asked the audience where they were from (eight from Essex, one Russia, one South Africa, and London, three) and introduced the first act, Phil Zimmerman. Zimmerman, whose act includes a pigeon impersonation, did a better job of warming up the audience. The strength of his act is his peculiar persona and performance. Some of the laughs flow from his honesty ('How am I doing?', 'Does it need tweaking?'). Moe returned with two battling puppets, taking requests for famous movie scenes that audience members wanted recreated. It was weirdly funny - but nonetheless, three-quarters of the Essex crowd made a get-away. Finally, Waldo did his new act - W H Hard-on - a send-up of comic poets. The remainder of the punters were fighting to get out by now. Half an hour - and the gig was over. Classic humour it was not, but the event in its own right had been strangely amusing. STAR RATING (out of five): ** John Behrens June, 2000 Harry Hill and Omil Djalili, The Red Rose, London OWEN O'NEILL manages to wait a while before reminding us that his hair is of a reddish hue. As if we hadn't noticed. It's OK, we've already decided he's not just another ginger haired twat. He wins us over with his genial, on-the-ball observations on drink-driving, the curse of Australians, and the nightmare of suddenly finding yourself in Tescos on a daily basis. Iranian Omid Djalili has the crowd eating from his hand from the off, with his charming I'm-a fat-boy-kebab-shop-owner-Hezbollah-terrorist routine. He pulls silly faces, pokes fun at English politeness and gets the crowd participating in a jolly ethinic stereotype routine. Then Harry Hill bounces through his act without uttering any of his catchphrases. Never mind, he shows a great interest in the back wall, which inspires the classic: "That's a bit high for a skirting board." It may not sound funny in print, but the whole room fell about. And he was right, it was a bit high for a skirting board. If you've only seen his TV show, it's shite compared to the bizarre whirlwhind of Harry live. A storming night, expertly compered by Ivor Denbina! STAR RATING (out of five): **** Phil Craigie May 2000 Jimbo, The Oval, London THE legendary Jimbo is at his best when not speaking. Breathing and wheezing into the microphone is his speciality. If you're lucky, he might take his jacket off, scratch his back or neck, or, when you least expect it, develop a nervous twitch. If this sounds less than hilarious, go to see him. Mind you, he had everyone worried at The Oval. He came out in front in an audience that had dwindled from 11 to eight. To make matters worse, they had given up huddling together at the front trying to create an atmosphere and were scattered around the large room. Then Jimbo started talking. What was this? Material? Gags? Surely not! It wasn't funny. Jimbo was dying. Suddenly, a mad expression came into his eyes. His face went bright red. He seemed to be having trouble breathing. Then he started to splutter. The room exploded into laughter and Jimbo left the stage in triumph. We had witnessed a moment of comic genius. STAR RATING (out of five): **** Phil Craigie April 2000 Lee Hurst, Leicester Comedy Festival, De Montford Hall, Leicester A CAPACITY audience greeted Hurst as he appeared with his trademark grin. The East Londoner quickly got them laughing with a topical gag that Leicester people are friendly 'like Stan Collymore' - the troubled Leicester City star. Then Hurst went into a hour of fine comedy. The themes were not original - the weather, planes, supermarkets and relationships - but you could not fault his spot-on delivery or the quality of his gags, many of which he laughed at himself. He physically illustrated his routines, and was marvellously graceful and facially expressive. His improvisation was excellent and his stage persona was a crafty cockney combination of charm, cheek and aggression. This became apparent in the night's second half, when he invited questions. After easy ones like "What's your favourite football team?", a foolish punter asked: "What do you think of rich socialists like yourself?" Hurst did what a comic should never do on stage and lost his temper. He had a stab at justifying his brand of money-spinning socialism and then swore and shouted abuse at the quaking questioner. Evidently a raw nerve had been touched. With another soft question, Hurst reverted to cheeky chappy mode but looked less relaxed for the rest of the show. But that bizarre incident aside, it was an excellent performance. Hurst is a great talent, but, like Stan Collymore, needs to master his temper. STAR RATING (out of five): **** February 2000 Visit our sister site: Oliver's Poetry home Get your poems published for free Friends' Poetry home Oliver's Poetry Garret Interactive Blog Oliver's Poetry Garret No Frills Blog A-Z of Poetry Oliver's Poetry UK Click here for the Reviews Archive. |
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