Edinburgh Fringe Review 2019 – Amused Moose Comedy Award Final, Just The Tonic: Page 2 of 2

News: Results Of The Amused Moose Comedy Award 2019.

Next up was Scottish rising star Stephen Buchanan. I'd only ever heard him on the radio so didn't even realise he was shorter than average, but on this occasion a chunk of his eight minute set was about being five foot five and a half, which he tends to round up...to six foot. It was a funny, assured set which also took in observations on his hometown of Glasgow – apparently known for both stabbings and being vegan-friendly. Best of all was an original running gag about El Paso Fajitas where he quipped that you pretty much have to do most of the work yourself to make them. You didn't have to do any work to enjoy Buchanan, he had an engaging, accessible style.

Archie Henderson's spot was the most innovative of the night, using music, sound cues and visuals. It was just a shame that the quality of his material was uneven. Did we really need to hear what Bohemian Rhapsody would sound like if sung by Arnold Schwarzenegger? A routine in which he turned a social media chat into an opera was very funny though and he must be one of the few acts on the Fringe to get a laugh out of Handel's Zadok The Priest. His crowdpleasing style won the People’s Champion Award, based on audience votes at the final.

I've seen Aaron Simmonds' full show and it is well-worth catching. This small excerpt gave just a hint of his sharp, fluid, sometimes smutty storytelling. Simmonds has cerebral palsy and performed at this gig in a wheelchair, immediately getting the audience onside with some wheelchair-based parkour. The meat of his set was about a visit to the cinema when his girlfriend was mistaken for his carer. The classic "does he take sugar?" patronising cliche was pushed much further than you might expect and what he says he did to get his revenge got him some gasps as well as giggles. He certainly finished in style, with a leap off the stage in his wheelchair.

Last on was James McNicholas, whose show The Boxer is fantastic. The trouble was that it worked less well in an excerpt. The show is about McNicholas' grandfather, champion fighter Terry Downes, but here it looked for a while as if McNicholas was simply doing character comedy in his sweaty Lonsdale training outfit, a sort of boxing equivalent of the Pub Landlord. It started to go down better when he broke character and read from his youthful diary. There were some excellent laughs but you really need to see the full show to appreciate how good this is. The Amused Moose version highlighted that maybe classic stand-ups fare better in this format. The Boxer is at the Pleasance until the end of the Fringe. 

  

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