Festival Comedy list.co.uk/festival
Telephone Booking Fringe 0131 226 0000 International Festival 0131 473 2000 Book Festival 0845 373 5888 Art Festival 0777 169 3470 CLEVER PETER Rude sketch troupe sticking some eggs into their appropriate baskets
Despite a widely praised debut, the thrusting chaps of sketch troupe Clever Peter are back at the Fringe with greater ambition, tighter writing and less sexual gratuity, if not crudity. Dental torture and primate anal rape are the abiding memories of their 2008 offering. And though this year opens more naturalistically, with a man on the phone attempting to fix a problem with his credit card, expect 25 more frantic, inventive sketches woven around another knockabout tale. ‘We want to show as many different worlds, scenarios, characters and funny things as possible in one hour,’ Will Hartley enthuses. ‘We want them leaving and saying “How did they do that, that was amazing!”’
Regardless, they might still go to shameful lengths to publicise themselves. ‘Last year we walked down the Royal Mile in silver hotpants with pictures of our own faces on our groins,’ he admits. ‘We’ll happily pimp ourselves out to shift tickets.’ Looking ahead, they’ve recorded a radio pilot on spec ‘to send out after Edinburgh if anyone’s interested. But we wanted to really focus on the Fringe and not put our eggs in loads of different baskets. “Put all your eggs in one basket”: that’s what they say, isn’t it?’ (Jay Richardson) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 9–30 Aug (not 18), 8.10pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7–£8). Previews until 8 Aug, £5.
ALEX AND HELEN’S RADIO NOWHERE Footlights duo with deluded Facebook-inspired character tale
Alex and Helen are naive. Their plan to find stardom by broadcasting a radio show to a hamlet of only ten people forms the basis for Alex and Helen’s Radio Nowhere, which, as the writers/performers explain, is off the map in more ways than one. ‘They’re completely deluded – which is always
fun,’ says co-creator Alex Nash who, alongside comedy partner Helen Cripps, developed the show from some playful video diaries on Facebook. Somewhere between a sitcom and sketch show, Cripps explains the duo play ‘versions of ourselves and a number of different characters, so there is a lot of variety throughout the show.’ Both Cambridge Footlights
graduates, Nash and Cripps first performed together last year in their play, Happy Now. But the pair were less than chuffed about some of the ‘free fringe’ attitude. ‘Even members of the venue staff were walking across the stage during the performance!’ says Cripps who is most recognisable from her appearances on BBC3’s universally panned Horne and Corden. ‘Like any sketch show, there are ones you really like and ones that aren’t your cup of tea,’ she says diplomatically. Let’s hope that Alex and Helen’s particular brand of comedy is a little more palatable. (Emma Lennox) ■ The Caves, 208 0882, 8–30 Aug (not 18), 3pm, £8.50 (£7.50). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £6.50 (£5.50).
MARCEL LUCONT Gallic arrogance with a somewhat unhealthy passion for the female
FRISKY AND MANNISH Pop song parodies and mash-ups from anachronistic vocal duo
Popular music is a serious matter, with the risk of ridicule for those who don’t know the Sugababes from the Sugarcubes, and Flo Rida from Tinchy Stryder. Luckily, singing duo Felicity Fitz-Frisky (Laura Corcoran) and Hansel Amadeus Mannish (Matthew Jones) have made it their mission to educate the masses through the time- honoured teaching method of the parody song. Corcoran reveals that these two classically trained, yet ignorant of modern culture, characters have ‘found something different in pop music that people have never found before . . . the true meanings behind pop songs.’ From the four founding fathers of
pop to the correct answer to the equation Kate Bush + Kate Nash = ?, they uncover these hidden meanings, plundering material that schizophrenically jumps from music hall to girl band and rap to opera, often in the same number. An appearance in the line-up for cabaret show The Devil May Drag You Under at the Brighton Festival Fringe in May led to filling a pull-out slot with School of Pop, with the show being nominated for Best Cabaret and Most Groundbreaking Act. Bringing it to Edinburgh for a hectic month of nightly
shows and daily slots on cabaret bills, the pair will head off straight after their final show for a turn on the main stage at Manchester Pride on 31 August. Jones suggests that pedagogical sobriety rather than showbiz excess will be the best way to survive it. ‘We’ve both done the Festival before in different guises and we’ve done it in that very student way of being 24- hours drunk and screaming in bars and clubs. It’s going to be more like we’re doing a run in a theatre for a month and being very clean living about it.’ Which is probably the most important lesson anyone can take away from the Fringe. (Suzanne Black) ■ Underbelly, 08445 458 252, 8–30 Aug (not 18), 9pm, £6.50–£10.50 (£8–£9.50). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £6. for GLASGOW COMEDY see non-Festival magazine
‘I am France’s premiere misanthropist and lover,’ persuades Marcel Lucont. ‘You can expect everything that’s important to be covered in my show. Life, love, sex, death, cheese, wine. My talents have spread to first England and now Scotland, and it’s an honour for you to have me.’ Ah, the famous Gainsbourgian Gallic arrogance. Always a winner if you happen to be a London-based comedian named Alexis Dubus, pretending to be a stuck-up lothario for the purposes of some cross-Channel amusement. Except Marcel Lucont is more nouvelle vague than ‘Allo ‘Allo.
‘Why do I perform?’ he ponders when I ask about his Sexual Metro set. ‘Oh, the money and the women. It’s the perfect opportunity to talk at the women for one whole hour. There’s usually a queue at the end. What do I think of the Scottish women? Wild. A little bit scary, but I like a challenge. This is my first full show at the Fringe, but I did Spank! at the Underbelly and was hosting some shows last year. The weather was shit, the food left quite a lot to be desired, but it was worth it for the female drama students.’ Merci for that. (David Pollock) ■ Underbelly, 08445 458 252, 8–30 Aug (not 19), 10.20pm, £6.50–£10.50 (£8–£9.50). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £6
Shirley & Shirley David Walliams and Mackenzie Crook are big fans of this identically monikered new sketch
duo (actually Joanna Carolan and Pascale Wilson). Take what you will from that information. Among their characters are an over-enthusiastic X- Factor wannabe, a Peckham pair cleaning up their community via beatboxing and a highly pressurised Jennifer Aniston. ■ Underbelly, 08445 458 252, 8–30 Aug (not 17), 5.05pm, £6.50–£10 (£8–£9). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £6.
32 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 6–13 Aug 2009