Politically incorrect: Alexandra Hudson in King of the Carpark.
Despite having no brief or intention to review this year, couldn’t help taking some notes and sharing some thoughts.
Shows were selected randomly by turning up at the Town Hall box office at odd times, looking at the “shows starting soon” scroll and picking the next gig, often minutes before they began.
The Best of the Edinburgh Fest pleased a strong crowd of about 350 at the Capitol, with William Wang delivering a pleasant, if sedate opening set of amusing cultural observations and a few jokes about genitals, which he warned us about.
Things upshifted with a solid set from Laura Lexx, a beleaguered mother of vintage bemoaning her adult kids and excoriating the owners of rescue pets. Golden stuff.
Struggling with the realities of middle-age, Jimmy McGhie offered a terrific smackdown about life as someone whose nightlife is now governed by the need to turn in early.
An engaging relationship narrative laces Getting Dragged Backwards Through a Hedge by Grace Jarvis. Performing to about 10 people, the set took a bit of time to coalesce in the Town Hall Lunch Room but the snappy delivery about her UK gig experience and reflections on autism warmed the room. Well done.
Really enjoyed Alexandra Hudson’s King of the Carpark at The Westin whose leisurely look at living with cerebral palsy was smoothly dispatched and often very funny.
Aided by illustrations displayed on a large screen, her resolutely non-PC cuddling of terms such as “cripple” and “spastic” spiced up a beautifully structured routine. She made hay of the fact the room was empty but for the first row and included some fun audience participation.
(One note – make all the visual stuff digital rather than having to hold up print-outs.)
Hardest laughs came via 100% Scottish Comedy, caught on a blustery night in a packed upstairs room at the iconic Elephant & Wheelbarrow.
David Callan and Rosco McClelland absolutely killed with fast and furious sets, Iain Pringle’s laid-back style brought the pace down too much before Jojo Sutherland brought things back on track as her reflections on life at 60 took the show home.
Sorriest gig thus far was Comedians of Europe. Playing to 12 people upstairs at The Oxford Scholar, the show struggled before totally collapsing.
The opening Greek gent did OK (apologies; could find their names anywhere), then the Portuguese guy spent the first half of his brief set reading notes from his iPad (terrible) before the comedian from Estonia illustrated the importance of research by not doing enough of it.
After scoring some chuckles via crowd work (including with yours truly) he simply lost what tenuous connection he had with the small gathering when celebrating how innocent we Aussies are because we don’t know tragedy.
For the love of Mike. 20 seconds on ChatGPT. That’s all it takes.
The Full Irish discharged a full, fun hour to a crammed room (over 100 peeps) at Kicks with Danny O’Brien and Alan McElroy riffing on their love of Australia, good weather and St Kilda.
Both proved masters at crowd interaction, getting big laughs without insulting anybody, apart from those who weren’t there (Kiwis; Americans).
A double act of roughly equal halves, O’Brien sustained a higher level of rapid-fire energy, warming the room up nicely for McElroy’s crowd-pleasing musings on Bali, influencers and Gérard Depardieu, one of the subjects covered in songs that also dealt with cheese and Die Hard (“Shoot the glass”).
Wrapped things up with a visit to The Racist Immigrants, a line-up of five kooky funsters hailing from strange, distant lands such as Footscray, Perth and even New Zealand.
Playing to a packed room at Captain Melville and introduced by crowd-loving ad-libber Paul the Black, they each hit home with cracks about living in Australia though they played it pretty safe, their funny jibes about cultural and racial stereotypes landing congenially and laying bare the playful nature of the show’s title.
It was also a treat that most of the acts could be found beforehand at the door, selling tickets and chewing the fat with patrons. One of the benefits of low-budget ComFest productions.
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