Assembly Roxy***Character comedy hasn't had a really good run on the Fringe since the breakthroughs of Otis Lee Crenshaw and Al Murray over a decade ago, but it is still alive and kicking if you look... more
Reviews
Just the Tonic at The Caves***What's in a name? Quite a lot if it means you end up seeing the wrong show. A couple of years ago I enjoyed a show by sibling duo Toby and heard that they'd changed... more
Just The Tonic at The Tron****I wrote earlier this week about how the scheduling of shows can be crucial to their success and that dysfunctional comedian Bobby Mair should have been booked into a... more
Underbelly****When I launched Beyond The Joke back in January one of the first performers I wrote about was Alfie Brown. I'd seen him at the 99 Club in London and from the moment he came onstage he... more
Pleasance***Winners of the So You Think You're Funny award have a good track record when it comes to bagging bigger awards later on. Both Tommy Tiernan and Dylan Moran went on to win the Perrier... more
Pleasance***The Edinburgh Fringe is a marathon, not a sprint. Three and a bit weeks of hard work making the public laugh while being judged by critics and awards panels. In an ideal world a show... more
Underbelly****Nish Kumar is the kind of genial, warm, chatty comedian that makes you feel immediately relaxed. He is a safe pair of hands in the best of senses. Intelligent and amiable and never... more
Just The Tonic at The Tron***Comedy is all about timing and I think somebody got the timing seriously wrong with London-based Canadian Bobby Mair. This scruffy, potty-mouthed, debauched,... more
I finally managed to see The World's End last night. Not at a press screening but in a normal cinema with normal people. Or as normal as people in Brixton get. I was expecting to sit there irritated... more
Normally when I go to Latitude I plan my assault on the Festival with the precision of Montgomery planning El Alamein. Spreadsheets and marker pens have been involved. Frankly though this is easier... more
