Scottish scalliwag Larry Dean is one of a number of performers at the Edinburgh Fringe involved in the success of SNL UK. As his TV appearances have underlined, Dean is an all-round talent but this latest show doesn't feel quite as fully formed as previous outings. As he admits himself, his intense, high energy shows often change after the Fringe blurb has been written because, well, life.
There is certainly no faulting his style in Hellbent (Pleasance Courtyard, three stars). Wearing tight jacket and quiff he looks every inch the star. And the stories flow out of him thick and fast, from proposing to his boyfriend in the Deep South, then having second thoughts about the location, to performing at the Royal Variety Performance. Dean has added some great impressions to his bow – he gives very good Head of State.
But I felt that at times he was coasting on his raw talent. After he says his boyfriend is from the Black Country he pauses and smirks because he knows the phrase alone will get a laugh. And when talking about the Iranian branch of his family he revives the old "Are you a Catholic Muslim or a Protestant Muslim?" line (the version I know is about a Jew being stopped during The Troubles, "are you a Catholic Jew or a Prtoestant Jew?"). Dean will never not be entertaining but he has delivered stronger, more cohesive shows than this. He is on tour after Edinburgh (and another SNL season) though and I expect this show will keep getting better.
Chris Cantrill has been doing Edinburgh for over ten years, sometimes with his comedy partner Amy Gledhill, more recently on his own. He is also a writer on SNL UK and in Rewilding (Monkey Barrel at Tron, four stars) he has lots of fun with sly digs about working there, how it's like a prison with little cliques and how he has been taken under the wing of the Gen Z and gay writers on the team.
Cantrill's show is half-autobiography, half-shaggy dog story. He touched on moving to the country in his last show and here he digs deeper, exploring how as a man in his forties he has difficulty making new friends (see also will Adamsdale's Dartmoor version). He is middle aged and anti-social, but goes to a dinner party with his wife to keep the peace at home. To his shock he does hit it off with someone, but then there is a catastrophe – a historic landmark is destroyed. Can Chris twig who the culprit is before his hour is over? Any similarity to the Sycamore Tree incident is, I'm sure, purely coincidental. Cantrill keeps you hooked and laughing until the very end.
Lara Ricote's show is the perfect mix of highbrow and lowbrow. Don't be put off by the fact that she starts out with a story from Greek mythology. Delving into the past for ideas hasn't done Christopher Nolan any harm and it doesn't do Ricote any harm either in Inkling (Monkey Barrel, four stars) in which she explores her own past with references to maxims from history. It's a stylish, deftly constructed set, using physicality, blackouts, various mics and some surprises dotted around the room. Ricote, who wears a hearing aid, says even with good hearing we maybe only get by on picking up 65% of what is said (by coincidence Larry Dean makes a similar point, though not because he is deaf, but because his boyfriend has a strong West Midlands accent). A theme is that you have got to be careful what you hear.
The main thread is the Mexican-American's recent relationship history, meeting another comedian and charting their ups and downs. Ricote is an assured buzzy, lively performer who brings every story to vivid life. She talks about being hard of hearing and sometimes she is so physical it's as if she is telling the story through her physicality for others who might not catch every word (and boy does she talk fast). Say it loud and clear, Ricote is an absolute star.
If there was an award for Fast Talkers, Ricote would have close competition from Shane Daniel Byrne, an Irishman who comes with recommendations from the likes of Tommy Tiernan and David O'Doherty and would give Dara O Briain a run for his money in the fast talking stakes. I think I was expecting something a bit quirkier, but Baby This Time (Gilded Balloon, four stars) feels like it is essentially a crowdpleasing hour of superb club routines.
Byrne covers a numbers of bases, from being gay and hiding pictures of cocks with post-it notes when he has a handyman round to wondering who the worst hecklers are - men or women? From having a bath with his socks on to growing up in a big family. The emphasis is always on getting a laugh. Even when he briefly gets serious and talks about the return of homophobia he finds the funny in it. Byrne won't win any awards for originality, but I doubt if anyone left his show without a smile on their face.
By contrast Li Jin Hao might just be the slowest talker on the Fringe. But every word is chosen with care. Dressed in floaty black he has the air of a buddhist monk and there is something philosophical about his comedy, which comes with a big moon hanging above the stage which changes colour to represent different types of anecdote.
Actually this show is looser than his past shows. There is crowdwork with the audience about counting numbers and letters and sometimes he will have a profound thought but make it feel as if it has just occured to him. Stories range from growing up in Singapore to going to the cinema in London. One joke is about how his flat tilts. He compares living there to reading italics (and the Tower of Pisa now seems straight to him). There is also something tilted about how Li Jin Hao sees the world as a whole. Falling From A Moon (Pleasance, four stars) may not be the funniest show on the Fringe but it is the loveliest and most poetic.
