Page 1 of Edinburgh Festival 2007

Didn`t see a thread about this so though I`d start one in case anyone else is going along...

Post your reviews / thoughts / anything here!

Tony Law - Revenge Of The Dog Of Time
Strange one, this. A bit like The Mighty Boosh crossed with Harry Hill. A two man (well, 3 men), one polar bear, 2 sausage dog show about Tony and his time travelling sausage dog companion Cartridge Davison. I wasn`t really sure what to expect with this one but not being a huge fan of the Boosh-type thing I was a little baffled. Amusing though.

Why Is This Man Naked?
I`ll be honest, we only went to this one as we got free tickets and it was on upstairs from Tony Law. Plus it sounded intriguing. One main guy and guests from other Festival shows onstage doing their bit - in the buff. So the line-up changes every night. To be fair I don`t think we caught the best night, it being the first couple of shows and no-one seemingly knowing quite what to expect. Had the acts all done some sort of routine or come out with some jokes rather than just sort of stand there and comment about being naked, it might have been better but as it stands (and thankfully it didn`t - stage fright?) what we got was a short fat ginger Canadian with an acorn, an English guy who put glitter on his balls and then put on a condom while a member of the audience read out the instructions, and two female clowns who were pretty amusing. Especially when one did a cartwheel. At least it was free!

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Jay: So you`re the man who didn`t know if he had a pimple or a boil!

Homer: It was a gummy bear.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 8th August 2007, 09:13

Seeing a lot of theatre at the Fringe - 4 so far and another 12 to go...

"Venus as a Boy" - bit of an odd tale but very well performed
"Pit" - drifting towards the wierd end of the scale, but still interesting
"Love Labours Won" - humourous homage to Shakespeare - good fun
"Emergence-See" - Stunning performance of characters, funny and powerful

Full reviews at www.viewfromthestalls.co.uk

Today`s shows...

Debbie Does Dallas - The Musical
Lots of fun, great songs and highly amusing, not at all pornographic but definitely a little on the saucier end of the scale - think of a slightly more adult version of Grease. Definitely worth a look!

Steve Hughes - Heavy Metal Comedy
Saw this guy at the Comedy Store in London and was mightily impressed, glad to see his full show was just as funny. Very political, lots of Bush / McDonalds / NWO material but plenty of other material - Ozzy Osbourne selling out ("I Can`t Believe It`s Ozzy"), enjoying metal while taking cookery classes ("Satan`s cool, but you`ve got to eat.") and so on. Highly recommended.

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Jay: So you`re the man who didn`t know if he had a pimple or a boil!

Homer: It was a gummy bear.

3 more on Tuesday for me...

"The Butler Did It!?" - p***take of Agatha Christie style romps. Started slowly but warmed up in the second half to a great finish.

"Turn Me To Stone" - Bit of a stange tale but some strong dialogue and characterisation, but the two parts of the story don`t really mesh.

"Killer Joe" - (With DazMack`s Tony Law in the Title role) Trailer Trash American Comedy/thriller. Nudity/Sex/Language/Violence - everything you could ask for really but the ending is a bit of a let down

This item was edited on Wednesday, 8th August 2007, 00:39

Just the one last night, but a doozy.

Mark Watson - Can I Briefly Talk With You About The Point Of Life?
My mate`s choice, this one - after Tony Law I was a little apprehensive but this was a great show. Very conversational, laid back and the energy of this man is unbelievable, I felt exhausted just watching him. A full house in one of the larger Pleasance venues, I can see this being repeated throughout the month as he truly was superb. Started off in the middle of the audience (much better way to break the ice than by being on the stage, as he put it) and proceeded to spend the next hour just chucking out stories of his nemesis on the checkout at Somerfields, trying not to think about killing Jamelia while on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, his uncontrollable urge to provide running commentaries to day-to-day things such as watching a man run for the train and assorted other observations on life.

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Jay: So you`re the man who didn`t know if he had a pimple or a boil!

Homer: It was a gummy bear.

This item was edited on Thursday, 9th August 2007, 13:41

Only went along to see one show last night and ended up making a night of it:

Sean Lock
Bit of a fan of 15 Storeys High, haven`t really seen 8 Out Of 10 Cats but like his style - quite deadpan but not in that annoying as hell, smartass, patronising Jimmy Carr sort of way. Anyhoo, a small venue but packed, plenty of good material tried out ahead of his tour later this year. Ladyboys, masturbating tramps, and fair play to him for picking on the guy who walked to the bog through his punchline - there was no escape there.

Phil Kay
Was a little unsure of being burnt a third time, saw Phil twice in Aberdeen while a student and both times he died on his arse. I think the majority of the audience walked off before he finished on one occasion. Thankfully this time was a different story, he came on half-cut (as he admitted) and proceeded to launch into an hour long rant on iPods, phone chargers - in both cases with musical accompaniment, once as a `personal iPod` to a woman in the audience, singing quietly in her ears and once using an actual charger provided by an audience member as a `three-pronged plectrum`. And also hauled an unimpressed-looking guy down onto the stage for a fight. Lunacy. I don`t think any 2 shows of his are the same, he just goes off on a complete tangent and the way his mind works is amazing. Third time lucky there!

Christina Davis - Sex
I`d like to say the fact that it was about the only show on at midnight near where we were was the reason we went, but the poster featuring the very hot Christina Davis in nothing but heels, pants and covering her chest, with the large word `SEX` emblazoned across the bottom did have something to do with it. Apparently she was on Aussie Big Brother, but the show was a good laugh. Completely revolving around (unsurprisingly) sex, covering such things as fantasies, fidelity etc. Kicked off with a very funny pole dance and ended with `the perfect strip tease`, but this wasn`t just one for the guys - in fact, we got more than our share of slagging. All in good humour though. Nothing too taxing or new but lots of fun.

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Jay: So you`re the man who didn`t know if he had a pimple or a boil!

Homer: It was a gummy bear.

Okay, Wednesday saw -
"Damascus" - not the big political play a lot of people expected but probably much the better for it. Political cultural issues are largely on teh edges and this is more about teh individuals. Pretty funny with good performances.

"Mehndi Night" - youth theatre show about the traditional Bengali version of a hen night. Sharp, funny and very well performed. Everything it should be.

Back through again on Saturday for -
"Armageddon & Fishcakes" - just about funny enough to make a good start to the day.

"45 Minutes" - simply awful.

"Rebus McTaggart:Crimewarrior" Hilarious. Very very funny just about all the way through. More consistently funny than last year, but maybe not quite as sidesplitting.

"James II" Good historical play in a gently humourous style with excellent `close up` acting from all involved. Brilliant.

Reviews for the first 3 now posted at www.viewfromthestalls.co.uk

Would recommend:-

Stewart Lee, Mitch Benn, Reginald D Hunter @ Udderbelly

Hattie Hayridge, Richard Herring @ Underbelly

Sean Hughes @ Gilded Balloon

Jason Byrne @ Assembly Hall

Bill Hicks: Slight Return, Lucy Porter, Punt & Dennis, Russell Howard, Tim Key @ Pleasance Courtyard

Brendon Burns @ Pleasance Dome

And more besides!

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Rich Goodman
Columnist and Site Reviewer
DVD Reviewer

Haven`t had much chance to update this in the last few days...

Thursday night:

Rich Hall
Grand show, very entertaining but did start to run down a bit before the end. Plenty to say, this man!

Best Of The Fest
Runs at the weekends, bit of a mixed bag of acts. When we went it was Adam Hills as MC (great stuff), Maeve Higgins (never heard of her either), Nina Conti (ventriloquist, very entertaining), Marcus Brigstocke (class act, wish we`d caught his other show as well) and Stewart Lee... or rather would have been if they hadn`t screwed up the bookings. So we got an African dance troupe instead, The House Of The Holy Afro. Class name, strange act. Not REALLY their audience, to be fair.

Friday:

Francesca Martinez
Or `the girl with cerebral palsy from Grange Hill / Extras`. Show started well, some quite edgy material throughout but after about 15min it just started to lose it for us. Didn`t help that we were in a tiny room which was swelteringly hot. Not a great sign when you start checking your watch after a while either!

WSPA Benefit
World Society for the Protection of Animals show, got tickets quite late on but very glad we did! Decent line up - Sean Lock (same material as the other night of course), Lucy Porter (amusing enough), Norman Lovett (unbilled, nice surprise - his stuff was very funny), Simon Munnery, Robin Ince, Phill Jupitus (in a bit of a mood, or was that part of the act? Seemed well p***ed off), and at long last Stewart Lee - would have loved to see his full show, the stuff he did had us in stitches. Not bad for £15.

Finally, the Saturday shows:

Ian Stone - Healthy Disrespect
The compere when I saw Steve Hughes at the Comedy Store, was glad to see him turn up in Edinburgh. Brilliant show, another sweltering venue though. Too soon for Madeleine McCann jokes though?

Tony Lee - XXX Hypnotist
Another last-minute decision, incredibly funny. Entertaining enough guy even before the hypnosis, but when he hauled the poor sods onstage and put them under... to see grown men acting like Playboy centrefolds is a strange experience. Amazing how funny you can find someone`s unknowing humiliation!

Phew! Was glad to not have anything to go to tonight in all honesty. Now, this week its the start of the Film Festival...

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Jay: So you`re the man who didn`t know if he had a pimple or a boil!

Homer: It was a gummy bear.