****The sketch show is dead, long live the sketch show. Every year a fresh-faced young troupe pitches up and finds a new way of doing theatrical skits. This year the word on the cobbled Edinburgh... more
Reviews
***Liam Williams has one of the best voices in stand-up. In two senses. He has a deeply resonant, Yorkshire tone and he often says something, angry, political and relevant. Following last year’s... more
**** Here is one of the most interesting things that Edinburgh has thrown up this year. A monologue about sex, written by an anonymous woman, read by a comedian who has not seen the script until... more
*** Before the Fringe started I wrote a preview of Lewis Schaffer and said something like “the good gigs are worth seeing, the bad gigs are utterly, uniquely compelling.” This was one of the... more
***How many years should you have to wait for someone to fulfil their potential? I’ve been recommending Alfie Brown as a name to watch for so long it is starting to get embarrassing. Maybe this... more
****When Sofie Hagen decides to do something she certainly follows through. Whether it is becoming the world’s biggest Westlife fan at the age of 13 or making it on the UK stand-up circuit. The... more
***Legend has it that if you are putting on a play in Edinburgh and you want to shift tickets you list it in the Comedy section rather than Theatre. That is surely the only reason that Adam Riches’... more
***I’ve never done it before but for the first time I thought I’d walked into the wrong show. As I arrived at The Hive I was greeted by a small woman in a massive wig pretending to be Dolly Parton... more
****We all know about the “dead dad” shows in Edinburgh by now don’t we? The sad ones that tug at battle-hardened award judges heart strings? Well, Steve Hall’s show Zebra takes the opposite approach... more
***There has been an intriguing resurgence in interest in the early days of alternative comedy in recent years. Stewart Lee has namechecked various veteran acts, Alexei Sayle has gone back onstage... more
