list.co.uk/festival Top Tips | FESTIVAL COMEDY
TOP TIPS: WEEK 1
Some of the best comedy in the Fringe’s first week, all handily compiled for you in chronological order
NOON
FERN BRADY: SUFFER, FOOLS! The Stand II, 4–27 Aug (not 3, 14 & 15), 12.05pm, £10 (£9). Preview 2 Aug, £9 (£8). After two great Fringe shows in a row, Brady is back with another hour which will undoubtedly be close to the (funny) bone. See interview at list.co.uk/festival
1PM CANDY GIGI PRESENTS: BECKY RIMMER’S BAT MITZVAH! Heroes @ The Hive, 4–27 Aug (not 13 & 14, 22), 1.15pm, £5 or Pay What You Want at the venue. Becky Rimmer, along with her father and mother, Mervyn and Gaye Rimmer, invite you to join them in the celebration of Becky’s Bat Mitzvah! Another idiosyncratic hour (well, 50 minutes) from Ms Gigi.
MICHAEL LEGGE: JERK The Stand II, 4–27 Aug (not 14), 1.20pm, £9 (£8). Preview 3 Aug, £8 (£7). Irish firebrand Legge stormed the early afternoon timeslot in this same venue two years ago with a show about not meeting your heroes. This year, he’s asking (and perhaps answering) a
valuable question: why aren’t people more ashamed of themselves?
AUSTENTATIOUS Underbelly George Square, 5–28 Aug (not 15), 1.30pm, £12.50–£14.50 (£11.50–£13.50). Previews 3 & 4 Aug, £9. Join the highly talented and well turned-out cast as they improvise a hilarious new Jane Austen masterpiece, based on a single audience suggestion.
SEYMOUR MACE’S MAGICAL SHITCAKES FROM HEAVEN
The Stand III, 4–27 Aug (not 14), 1.30pm, £12 (£10). Preview 3 Aug, £10 (£9). The Geordie comic who was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2015 delivers yet another madcap hour with weird gameshow elements and stuff about depression. See interview at list.co.uk/festival
RICHARD HERRING’S EDINBURGH
FRINGE PODCAST New Town Theatre, 4, 11, 18 Aug, 1.50pm, £12 (£10). Armed with his book of emergency questions, the ‘King of Edinburgh’ (we called him that once) celebrates the 30th anniversary of his first Fringe with three Friday afternoon podcasts.
2PM ESHAAN AKBAR: NOT FOR PROPHET
Gilded Balloon Teviot, 5–27 Aug (not 15), 2.45pm, £10 (£9). Previews
2–4 Aug, £5. The debut Fringe show from 2016’s Piccadilly Comedy Club New Comedian of the Year features his transition from devout Muslim to booze-swilling bacon-chomper.
3PM SCOTT GIBSON: LIKE FATHER LIKE SON
Gilded Balloon Teviot, 5–28 Aug, 3.45pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9). Previews 2–4 Aug, £6. The Glaswegian victor of last year’s Best Newcomer Award is back with another highly personal show (his 2016 one was about some scary medical scrapes) about the various blokes in his family.
STUART GOLDSMITH: LIKE I MEAN IT
Liquid Room Annexe, 5–27 Aug, 3.45pm, free. The clever chap behind the Comedian’s Comedian Podcast describes his new show as his best one yet as he ‘commits to the bit’. We trust you, Stu.
TOM NEENAN: ATTENBOROUGH Underbelly Med Quad, 5–27 Aug, 3.55pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). Previews 2–4 Aug, £6.50. Heroes don’t come more heroic and treasures don’t come more national than the universe’s greatest living naturalist, broadcaster and adventurer, David Attenborough. Acclaimed character act Tom Neenan pays his own comedic tribute.
JAMES ACASTER Neatly sidestepping the whole ‘will-he, won’t-he win it this year’ argy bargy, the Kettering comic takes himself out of the Edinburgh Comedy Award running by performing his last three shows, Recognise, Represent and Reset. Full details of which show is on which night is right here at list.co.uk/festival Pleasance Courtyard, 5–27 Aug (not 14, 21), 9pm, £11–£14 (£10–£13). Previews 2–4 Aug, £8.
4PM CARMEN LYNCH: LYNCHED Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 3–27 Aug (not 15), 4pm, free. In her UK debut hour, acclaimed US-Spaniard Carmen Lynch shares her twisted, singular stand-up comedy about Jesus, giraffes, scoliosis, her mother and death.
NATALIE PALAMIDES: LAID Pleasance Courtyard, 5–27 Aug (not 14), 4.15pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11). Previews 2–4 Aug, £7. Directed by the legendary Doctor Brown, the absurd and funny LAID is so good that it helped land Palamides a coveted front cover. See feature, page 14.
DOMINIC HOLLAND ECLIPSED Voodoo Rooms, 5–27 Aug (not 8 & 9), 4.40pm, free. It’s been over a decade since this multi-award winning comedian played the Fringe and he returns to tell of a tragic tale: the fact that his boy Tom (aka Spider-Man) is now way more famous than him. See his Top 5 on other familial eclipsings at list.co.uk/festival
5PM BEN TARGET’S ORANGEADE Heroes @ Dragonfly, 3–27 Aug (not 14), 5pm, £5 or Pay What You Want at the venue. Target (pronounced Tarjay) delivers another slightly oddball show, but this time there’s an actual story going on in it. See Q&A at list. co.uk/festival
JOHN KEARNS: DON’T WORRY THEY’RE HERE
Heroes @ Monkey Barrel, 4–27 Aug (not 16), 5pm, £7 or Pay What You Want at the venue. The only winner of both the main and Best Newcomer gongs at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards returns for another set of jeopardy-fuelled comedy.
LAUREN PATTISON: LADY MUCK Pleasance Courtyard, 5–28 Aug (not 14), 5.45pm, £7.50–£10 (£7–£9.50). Previews 2–4 Aug, £6. One of the brightest young talents on the comedy scene, with a fresh and fierce female voice, Geordie comic Lauren Pattison will be discussing the joys of embracing your flaws. She might talk about gin as well.
6PM BRENNAN REECE: EVERLONG Pleasance Courtyard, 5–27 Aug, 6pm, £7.50–£10 (£7–£9.50). Previews 2–4 Aug, £6. After a glorious Fringe debut which resulted in a Best Newcomer Award nomination, the lad Reece will hopefully buck that difficult second album / show trend.
3–10 Aug 2017 THE LIST FESTIVAL 71