If monkeys could be butlers, I imagine they would be a little hit and miss in terms of the service provided. Likewise, The Monkey Butlers show is a little hit and miss when it comes to the comedy served up. There are some real gems in amongst the sketches, but also a few [...]

Oh dear. I think I may be suffering from multiple personality disorder… How can I love, hate, pity, loathe, admire and despise the same person in just one hour? Quite easily, it seems, if that person happens to be Ben Willbond (who I fear may be suffering from a similar condition). His [...]

The thing about Brendan Burke is that while he’s a stand-up, he’s not of the “story telling” ilk of comics. Obviously he has some material, but most of his charm comes from a sense that he has absolutely no idea where the act could go when he gets up on stage. And for the show [...]

After their success at last year’s Fringe, Aisle 16 are back with their own brand of ‘edutainment’ aiming to convert the masses into poets for the 21st-century. Assuming the persona of a boyband, Aisle 16 take to the stage dressed in white suits to give their Powerpoint presentation on Key Stage 3 poetry[...]

Armed with a boy’s toy of a guitar Rob Deering sings and smiles his way through a history of modern music. A capable musician, still lamenting his own failed rock career, Deering’s guitar is a vehicle and not a gimmick for his comedy.
His mockery of musicians great and small is brilliantly masked by a [...]

Starting off many, many moons ago at The Stand, then local hairdresser, now comedian, Craig Hill can easily fill the larger theatres at the Assembly Rooms. He’s a known name in the central belt of Scotland, making regular appearances on the television, but no chances were taken that his name alone would put bums on [...]

Biting comment on everyday life and its institutions is winningly delivered by this young, talented foursome from the Manchester-based Northern Youth Theatre. Undertaking a vast array of characters this is a confident cast and more importantly a funny one. In quick succession they tackle Lidl supermarkets, football hooligans and Conservative myopia, delivering an [...]

Dancing in the style of your dad at a wedding, comedians Jupp, Murphy and Ker take the stage to perform a series of sketches which veer away from tried-and-tested comedy staples. Expected punch-lines are cunningly replaced by unusual twists in a show which tests the comedic range and endurance of the performers, but pleasingly [...]

“Where was I?… No we’ve done racism – I did that already….”

“Do you have a script? Because this is getting tiring.”

Reminding us that this would not be a show of her father’s comedy, Rain Pryor’s warning was only too apparent as she lost her train of thought and struggled to fill the ensuing silence as her father would easily have done[...]

Jimeoin is an Anglo-Irish export who is very popular in Australia with his stand up comedy, and has even made a movie (according to his website). I only managed to catch him during fringe Sunday last year for around 10 minutes, but it was enough to impress me at the time.