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BUSSMAN’S HOLIDAY Jane Bussman started out as a celebrity journalist. Then she fell in love with a human rights negotiator, followed him to Uganda, realised on arrival that he’d gone back to Washington, stayed, and ended up reporting on the biggest child-soldier recruitment operation in the world. When she finally got home, her documentary on the Lord’s Resistance Army wouldn’t sell, so she re-edited it into stand-up. And here it is on the Fringe. In her own words: ‘Damn you, Aids orphans, this is your doing.’ All makes perfect sense. Bussman’s Holiday, Assembly, 226 2428, 24-30 Aug, 4.50pm, £9.50–13 (£8.50–12).

5QUESTIONS

Kristen Schaal & Kurt Braunohler have confessed that they’re back doing the same show that earned them an if.comedy nomination last year. Here, they give our Q&A a right leathering What five words best describe your show? Encore performance of last year. Can you name a comic who should be more famous than they are now? Stewart Lee should be so famous and so in demand that he is no longer able to make personal appearances. To solve this problem, he hires and trains lookalikes who appear in his place, doing his act, as him. We would like to be those look-a-likes and do his stand-up set as a double act. What bugs you most about Edinburgh in August? The darkness and the rain and how much fun we are forced to have. If you were given the chance to start a rumour about yourself, what would it be? That we actually wrote a totally new show and are just putting it up under the guise of an encore performance of last year’s. Shhhh . . . Which dead comic do you wish was still alive and working today? Andy Kaufman, so we could see him perform. Assembly Hall, 623 3030, 21–30 Aug, 10.05pm, £13–£14.50 (£11–£13).

Hitlist FESTIVAL COMEDY *

✽✽ Anna & Katy Madames Crilly and Wix pull out all the Pythonesque stops with a raving hour of all-out lunacy. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 31 Aug, 6.40pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8–£9). ✽✽ Pappy’s Fun Club A supersonic jaunt through a ludicrous yet hilarious number of sketches in a mere 60 minutes. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 31 Aug, 7.20pm, £12-£14 (£10.50-£12.50). ✽✽ Phil Nichol The crazy Canadian brings it down a gear to devastating effect with his creation Bobby Spade. See page 22. The Stand II, 558 7272, until 30 Aug, 9pm, £10. ✽✽ Kim Noble One former half of Noble and Silver returns to the Fringe with a difficult show confronting the darker recesses of his, and our minds. See page 20. Assembly Rooms, 623 3030, 25–30 Aug, 6.20pm, £12–£13 (£11–£12). ✽✽ Richard Herring One of the most anticipated comedy shows in this year’s programme delivers its promise amid a blur of passion and hilarity. Underbelly, 08445 458 252, until 30 Aug, 8.40pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50). ✽✽ Sean Hughes The London- born Dublin comic happily can’t stay away from the Fringe, even if he’s just popping by for a few shows. See page 21. Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, 22–30 Aug (not 27), 8.30pm, £12–£14 (£11–£13). ✽✽ Alun Cochrane One of the nation’s most merry daydreamers delivers another heavenly set. The Stand, 558 7272, until 30 Aug, 10.50pm, £9 (£8). ✽✽ Jonny Sweet The guy just announced as playing the young David Cameron in a future More4 production delivers a devastatingly funny show about a deceased brother. See page 26. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 4.45pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7–£8). For venue addresses see index page 80.

20–27 Aug 2009 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 19