The five star and one star reviews write themselves,
although in truth I only give out one or two of each a year. Not as a result of
any sort of grading curve, you understand, just because that level of
brilliance or awfulness is pretty rare.
I do write quite a lot of two, three and four star reviews, however, and
within each range hides a great deal of variety. I’m going to look at four, four star reviews
of comedy from this year to give you an idea of what I mean. In the order I’m going to deal with them,
they are David Baddiel, Seann Walsh, Phil Ellis and Seymour Mace.
David Baddiel’s first Fringe show in fifteen years is less a stand-up routine and more a highly entertaining, intelligent lecture on the experience of being famous. Covering the highs and lows of being marginally famous, including the joys of groupies and the perils of Twitter, Baddiel’s anecdotes have the audience laughing and thinking in equal measure. Not quite the acerbic firebrand of his youth, Baddiel is none the less a charming, interesting speaker. Sadly, the show lacks the razor’s edge needed to elevate it from good to great. Although funny, one gets the feeling Baddiel is more at home with the written word than performing live these days. Regardless, this is an amusing hour of thought provoking comedy.Assembly George Square, until 11 Aug, 7.30pm.tw rating 4/5 | [Andrew Bell]
This review is one of the rare occasions when I wished I’d
had more words to work with. Baddiel
made a point that he hadn’t done a full Edinburgh stand up show for 15 years or
so and I would be inclined to say he still hasn’t. Instead, Baddiel’s set felt like one of the
better TED Talks – funny, interesting and erudite. I tried to make this point in the review, but
left out the TED reference, as I wasn’t sure how widely that would have been
understood. I’m pretty sure 90% of my
friends would have known what I meant, but they’re hardly a representative
sample of the population at large. The
show was also, by its very nature, rather self-indulgent and name
dropping. I couldn’t criticise this – it
worked perfectly in the intellectual, humorous discourse Baddiel presented –
but it would have been nice to mention.
However, there was no way of getting that in without going well over the
word limit. Likewise, I would have liked
to expand more on the contrast with Baddiel of old and the new, older Baddiel
but there was no room.
This show also typifies one of my problems with four star
reviews; it’s almost – but not quite – a glowing recommendation. It’s “good, but…” Usually, there’s some caveat or another that
makes it hard to wholeheartedly sell the show to someone else. In this case, it’s not really stand-up as one
might expect. Sure, it’s one bloke, a
microphone and a bunch of funny stories, but if you’re expecting a laugh a
minute, you’ll be left a little disappointed.
If you wanted that, you’d be better with:
Seann Walsh does not get an easy ride from his sell-out audience – they’re in vocal, if friendly, mood – but he deals with it with the energy, wit and aplomb that characterise the rest of his set. From the everyday yoga positions to the only time he moves quickly, Walsh’s material is sharp and funny and his timing is spot on. Tightly scripted and razor sharp, Walsh’s set keeps the laughs coming thick and fast, never letting the audience pause for breath and segueing smoothly from one apparently unconnected topic to another. The only misstep is the ending, which feels a little padded and weak. Otherwise this is a show packed to the brim with high octane laughs.Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 9.20pm.tw rating 4/5| [Andrew Bell]
Walsh’s show was a pleasure to watch. Fast paced and funny pretty much throughout –
ending excepted. In fact, it was almost,
almost, a five star review, but fell foul of my “if in doubt” rule of
thumb. The ending just scuppered it for
me and, in conjunction with a few odd spots of less than excellent material,
led to the four star rating. (On
reflection, I’m glad I went with my rule on this one. It was good, but not absolutely amazing.)
There’s not a lot to add to this review, to be honest. It tells you pretty much all you need to
know, except for one thing. It was very
much standard, observational comedy. It
would be unfair to say it was safe – Walsh is left field enough that the
material doesn’t feel old or tired – but he’s certainly not on the bleeding
edge of comedy. Walsh’s set was classic
panel show fodder. It was funny,
interesting, slightly rude, but not so much as to draw letters of complaint,
and ultimately pretty damn amusing. You
could have taken any five minute portion and stuck it in the Mock The Week
“Wheel of news” stand up challenge section without having to change a single
word. And there’s nothing wrong with
that. (Although the section where he
mocked other, somewhat more famous observational comedians felt a bit
hypocritical and did contribute to that dropped fifth star.) If you’re hankering for something a little
different, however, you’d be better off with:
Careering haphazardly from faux fire alarm to technically perfect technical hitches, Phil Ellis’ delightfully chaotic set keeps the audience giggling, laughing and squirming with just the right amount of embarrassment. Nominally telling the story of learning he was an orphan, Ellis entertains with rambling tangents loaded with gags – the bit with the tent stands out from the stand up sections – while the banter with his tech, James, is consistently funny. The odd ad lib wanders a little too far from a punchline, but overall Ellis keeps us happy throughout, while his shambolic shtick provides a surprisingly effective backbone to the performance. Endearingly daft, cleverly constructed and solidly funny, this is a cracker of a show.Underbelly Bristo Square, until 25 Aug (not 12), 5.25pm.tw rating 4/5 | [Andrew Bell]
This show could almost have been written to appeal to
critics. After seeing a very great deal
of “man with microphone” sets, it’s a real joy to see something with a twist
that works. The core of Ellis’ routine
is still observational stand-up, mixed with a little absurdity, but it’s hung
upon the gloriously constructed disaster that is his set. From pretending to read his cues, to fire
alarms and walking out audience members, it took me a few minutes to twig that
this was part of the act. Once you’ve
found that mind-set, however, Ellis’ gig is cracking. Unfortunately, it’s even harder to
wholeheartedly recommend than David Baddiel as it’s straying further from the
classic set up. Not everyone is going to
appreciate the craft Ellis displays in his chaos – it’s only funny from a
certain point of view, after all. I
don’t really like the Alan Partridge/The Office style of cringe worthy
character comedy, for example. Doesn’t
mean it’s bad or that I have no sense of humour, just that a recommendation to
such a show wouldn’t work for me.
In fact, to highlight this very point, I'd direct you to the review of Ellis' show on Broadway Baby. I'd suggest it's a pretty spectacular case of missing the point - except I do wonder if Ellis hasn't planted it himself. "Going off on tandems" is just too good a sub-editing mistake to have happened by accident, surely? Also, this is what I meant by different strokes for different folks. If you don't like it, it's going to appear to be a shambles!
Of course, if it's outright silliness you're after, Ellis won't be daft enough for you. In that case, you might try:
Wild eyed, half dressed and totally mental, Seymour Mace’s alter ego, Marmaduke Spatula, won’t be to everyone’s taste, but he went down a storm with the audience tonight. Absurdist to a fault, Mace keeps the energy high and the laughs coming, with idiotic audience games (can YOU eat a bag of marshmallows?), bizarre intermissions and songs about people who weren’t pedophiles in the Eighties. In such an off-beat show there’s always the odd misfire, but Mace doesn’t let them linger and we’re straight on to the next ridiculous moment. The end is a little self-indulgent and his drawing isn’t reliably funny, but this is otherwise a rip roaring, ridiculous rollercoaster of a show.The Stand Comedy Club II, until 25 Aug (not 12), 7.10pm.tw rating 4/5 | [Andrew Bell]
We’re fully into the wilds here. This is comedy of the Reeves and Mortimer
branch. Either absolutely hilarious or
total crap, depending on your point of view, the skill of the performer or just
whether you’ve had a decent meal beforehand.
You really can’t recommend this without recourse to the “if you liked…”
trope. As a result, my review really
spends about fifty words when “like Shooting Stars, but more bitter” would have
sufficed. Maybe I should have gone with
that? But then, we’re right back round
at referencing TED Talks for David Baddiel and, hopefully, you see what I mean
about the four star, “it’s good, but…” conundrum. Any of these four shows could be a good call
for a comedy show, but any of them could fall flat if it’s not what you wanted
to see.
Basically, if you go and see a four star show on my say so,
don’t blame me if you think it’s crap.
Phil Ellis is at the Underbelly, Bristo Square until 25 Aug. Seymore Mace is at the Stand II until the same time. Seann Walsh is over at the Pleasance for a similar period.
David Baddiel finished his run on 11 Aug and buggered off back to London. Wuss.
Phil Ellis is at the Underbelly, Bristo Square until 25 Aug. Seymore Mace is at the Stand II until the same time. Seann Walsh is over at the Pleasance for a similar period.
David Baddiel finished his run on 11 Aug and buggered off back to London. Wuss.
