Stand-ups getting serious

Believe it or not, there is life in the Edinburgh Fringe beyond comedy! But to ease you gently into the more serious stuff, here are ten comedians who can be found in the theatre section of the programme…

1. Ivo Graham

Fresh from Taskmaster, the comedian branches out into the theatre section, with a show called Graham In The Green, which promises to examine ‘the usuals – relationships, responsibilities, regrets’ without any promise of logic or laughter. Graham self-effacingly says: ‘It takes a meaty whack of self-absorption for a comedian to book an extra slot at the Fringe just to gaze further at his navel without punchlines: please only do come if you can forgive such indulgence.’  And here’s a picture of him as a child which is being used to promote the show.

Graham is also unveiling his new stand-up show, Organised Fun, at Pleasance Courtyard and also hosts the Comedians’ DJ battles at Assembly George Square on Friday nights. 

Pleasance Courtyard, 2.30pm, August 17 to 27 only

2. Frankie Thompson 

The comic, clown and actress won much acclaim last year for Catts, her manic, finely-timed lip-synchced  roller-coaster ride into her chaotic mind. This year she moves into the theatre section to team up with another anarchist clown, Liv Ello, for Body Show, which is described as an ‘electric, eclectic love story about the meeting of dysmorphia, dysphoria, and dystopia’ 

Pleasance Courtyard, 5pm

3. Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas has often straddled the line between comic and dramatic storytelling, whether in his tales of socialist campaigning or delving into his family roots in South London.

This year, he appears in the first monologue he hasn’t written for himself. But England And Son was created just for him by playwright Ed Edwards, a former circus performer who previously wrote The Political History of Smack and Crack.

It is based on characters the comedian knew in his childhood and the writer encountered in  jail on drugs charges. It’s described as a ‘kaleidoscopic odyssey where disaster capitalism, Thatcherite politics and stolen wealth merge into the simple tale of a working class boy who just wants his Dad to smile at him’ – which seems very much in Thomas’s wheelhouse..

Summerhall, variously at 1.10pm or 2.40pm.

4. Otto & Astrid

This is very much a comedy/cabaret/musical piece, but this year the doyens of  European art rock have plumped for the Fringe’s theatre section.

The dysfunctional siblings – the alter-egos of Aussie performers Australians Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias –   have spent years arguing about which songs should appear on their fifth Die Roten Punkte album. Unable to reach a consensus, they decide to break up to pursue solo projects, but it doesn’t quite pan out like that…

Read our review of this show from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival here.

Assembly George Square Gardens, 7.25pm

5. Ben Target: Lorenzo

Ben Target is a critically acclaimed comedian, but in 2020 he gave it all up to become the live-in carer for an irascible octogenarian prankster.

 Described as a life-affirming story about death, this show, presented by Soho Theatre, is one of the last projects to be directed by Adam Brace before his untimely death at 43 earlier this year.

Summerhall, 11:55am 

6. David Callaghan 

The comedian, who featured in the BBC New Comedy Awards of 2012 and 2013, reprises the show he brought to the Fringe last year: Everything That's Me Is Falling Apart. It’s a multimedia compilation of  funny and bittersweet tales of missed connections and lost chances.

Greenside @ Infirmary Street, 12:40pm, August 4 to 12 only.

7. Malia Simon and Caroline Hanes 

Quitting Comedy  is a mixed media play that does not offers a particularly edifying look at the stand-up circuit. Young New York comics Malia Simon and Caroline Hanes use their real stand-up material, scripted satire,  ‘painfully accurate impressions of egocentric comedians’ to ponder whether the scene is best left behind. 

Exploring misguided attempts to address sexism in the male-dominated industry, the show also recreates the experience of watching bad comedy, portraying comedians who resort to insulting their audiences and pandering to social media algorithms.

PBH's Free Fringe @ Legends, 7.20pm

8. Paul Zenon

In Monkey Business, the comedy magician – and long-standing debunker of hokum – takes a look at the weird stuff advertised in vintage American comics. X-Ray Specs, spy cameras, that sort of stuff. Just a bit of fun, or as he would have it, cynical con tricks?

Le Monde, 2.30pm

9. Nick Wilty

‘Globetrotting’ is the adjective that always seems attached to comedian Nick Wilty. But before he was a stand-up he was a soldier who foolishly volunteered for anything The British Army could throw at him – and was duly despatched to the Falklands War. He says that the show, entitled Veteran Comedian ’will have funny parts’ but also be much darker than his usual comedy work – hence the show’s placement in the Theatre section.

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, 1pm

10. Henry Naylor

The former double-act partner of Andy Parsons also has a story about war – but from the point of view who had no right to be there. Afghanistan is Not Funny covers his trip to Kabul  in 2003 to research his fringe farce Finding Bin Laden – which really is beyond the call of duty for a comedy show. It premiered last Fringe and returns to the Gilded Balloon Teviot from August 11 to 18 at 7.15pm. 

Naylor isn’t strictly a comedian any more - three Fringe Firsts have definitely established him as a serious theatre-maker –  and this year he also premieres his new play, Let The Bodies Pile, based on the story of murderous GP Harold Shipman, and the death of more than a dozen pensioners in a Yorkshire care home at the height of Covid.

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 4pm.

Published: 14 Jul 2023