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ROBIN INCE Old clever clogs tiptoes back into the comedy zone
L ong considered one of the cornerstone British comics you turn to when you want your brain nudged as well as your funnybone tickled, Robin Ince is back in town with a show entitled In and Out of His Mind. For this touring work, the former showbiz sparring partner of Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr ‘looks at the last 100 years of psychiatry, psychology and skewiff brain dabblings’. That invite from Jongleurs has yet to arrive.
If you want any further evidence of his intellectual credentials, check his website’s homepage, for there he is snuggling up to Prof Brian Cox (twice). He has, of course, conduced a TED talk and once upon a time came up with the idea of a Bad Book Club.
Still, despite all that mind-challenging nonsense, Ince is not immune to the joys of the
daft. Why else would he have picked the late, great Rik Mayall as his comedy hero when we raised that subject with him back in 2006. ‘If you look at what he created in the early 80s, the manic intensity of his performances is just phenomenal,’ mused Ince. ‘Manic intensity’ is not something you will read in reviews of shows such as Happiness Through Science or The Importance of Being Interested. And on a science festival panel in 2012 for an event called ‘Humour Me’, he laughed like a crazy drain at footage of Mayall slipping on merde de chien in More Bad News. Whatever you think of Robin Ince, he clearly has exquisite comedy taste. (Brian Donaldson)
The Stand, Edinburgh, Sun 22 Jun; The Stand, Glasgow, Mon 23 Jun.
52 THE LIST 12 Jun–10 Jul 2014
HITLIST THE BEST COMEDY EVENTS
✽ Dawn French One half of French and Saunders (as though you didn’t know) takes a very rare solo show on tour for you lucky people. Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 12 Jun.
✽ Aries Spears The US actor and comic, from Fox’s series MADtv, makes an extremely rare appearance on these shores with his impressions and sketchy fun. See feature, page 28. Òran Mór, Glasgow, Mon 16 Jun.
✽ Frankie Boyle Another big hitter of Scottish comedy doing a work-in-progress
thing. It’s all the rage, clearly. The Stand, Edinburgh, Tue 17 Jun.
✽ Robin Ince See preview, left. The Stand, Edinburgh, Sun 22 Jun; The Stand,
Glasgow, Mon 23 Jun.
✽ Adam Buxton Presents BUG
More larking around with YouTube, screens, music videos and funny voices as the Adam & Joe guy stays young at heart. See 5 Things, page 53. ABC, Glasgow, Thu 26 Jun.
✽ Al Murray Terribly clever title this from the
Pub Landlord: One Man, One Guvnor. And yep, it’s a work-in-progress. The Stand, Edinburgh, Sun 29 Jun; The Stand, Glasgow, Mon 30 Jun.