A collection of festival-bound physical comedians

Modern-day clowning’s been going through a purple patch in recent Fringes, and this year looks like being no exception, with the absurd, physical, character acts out in force once more. Here’s just the tip of the iceberg...

Natalie Palamides: Weer

The Upright Citizens Brigade alumna and Stamptown regular is a pioneer of the genre, from her maternal Laid, which won her the 2017 best newcomer gong, to the hypermasculine Nate – subsequently turned into a Netflix special by Amy Poehler's production company. In Weer she recreates a 1990s romantic-comedy-drama, playing both sides of the star-crossed lovers, rowing at a New Year’s Eve party.

Traverse Theatre, 9.30pm, August 5 to 24

Elf Lyons: Horses

Another performer always pushing at the boundaries of the comedy artform, Lyons (pictured) this year presents the first ever comedy show performed by a horse, adding to a wide-ranging body of work that’s covered economics,  Tchaikovsky and the horrors of her education. 

Pleasance Courtyard, 9.20pm

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins

He’s previously saved theatre by performing every single genre with an hour, and brought the Greek classics to the masses by retelling every single myth. Now the mesmerising alter-ego of Australian/British performer Damien Warren-Smith will take on every Penguin Classic novel ever written. We think there are 596 of them. Oh, and far warning, he’ll mostly be naked, ‘but with flippers, he points out.

Pleasance Courtyard, 8.30pm

Rob Duncan: The Basement Child

Rob is one of the Duncan Brothers who created Logs and Legs with Julia Masli, breakout star of last year’s Fringe, and the absurd story of how the Segway got invented. This year they go their separate ways. In Andy Andy With Andy, his brother, Andy, tries to deliver an hour of relatable observational comedy that he can absolutely do solo (Hoots @ Potterrow at 6.30pm from the 15th), while Rob plays a man who has spent 40 years alone in a basement and only now is he accepting visitors. 

PBH's Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth - Banquet Hall, midnight

Lil Wenker: Bangtail

Lil Wenker is a Gaulier-trained clown from Minnesota now based in London, whose alter-ego is the cowboy turned an accountant looking for a sense of purpose as he undergoes a crisis of masculinity. In a recent interview to promote the show, Wenker said she was drawn to the spaghetti western genre as 'everything is hyper exaggerated: the scowls, the grunts and groans in place of dialogue, the uber-masculine lead-with-your-penis walk’, which all seems ripe for physical comedy 

Pleasance Courtyard, 4.15pm

6. Knight, Knight

Meanwhile, Madeleine Rowe – one of the many Gaulier-trained performers in Edinburgh at the moment –  takes on another masculine archetype, the knight of yore in this clown tale of ‘courage, duty, determination, brotherhood grief, and most of all, horses’ 

Underbelly, George Square, 8:50pm

7. My Brain is Soup, Your Hands Are the Spoons

Earning its place in the list for the imagery of the title alone, Chris East – alumni of the Soho Theatre Labs scheme – promises ‘unformed thoughts, bizarre plots, plans, ambitions, celery and characters’ in his hour. He says he draws on the cut-and-paste DIY attitude cultivated through his youth in underground music to create this show, which features a LOT of costumes.

Hoots @ Potterrow, 1.55pm

Mattia Sedda

Billed as The Sardinian Forrest Gump, Mattia Sedda is an immigrant with the dream of being a professional actor in the UK. He has trained with the best (Gaullier, natch)  learnt from the best, and worked at the best... fast-food venues. And now he presents his magnum opus, Choin,  a ‘very professional’ theatrical showcase. 

Laughing Horse @ The Raging Bull, 10.15pm

Luke Rollason, Luke Rollason,  Let Down Your Hair 

He’s one of the lead characters in Disney+’s hit superhero comedy Extraordinary, where his role as shapeshifting cat/human Jizzlord makes fine use of his physical comedy skills. And for the last couple of years he’s put up some dosh for an inappropriately-named ‘memorial’ bursary helping fellow oddball acts at the Brighton Fringe, this year won by Liam Harney and Rachel Barker. Rollason’s own offering this Edinburgh is described a ‘physical comedy fantasia of kings and clowns, and one absolutely hideous duck’.

Pleasance Dome, 7.10pm

I Am Claire Parry (Very Funny Stand-Up)

Claire Parry is the physical comedian behind Boorish Trumpson, a power-mad ​conductor who shared more than a few traits with the 45th US President. Her formidable performance made that show one of the hits of the slimmed-down post-Covid Fringe of 2021 – and enduring enough that she’s still performing, it, with a two-week run this festival (Assembly Roxy, 12.10pm, August 1-15). Meanwhile for her new show she unveils an even more monstrous creation: a stand-up comedian.

Assembly Roxy, 2.50pm,  August 1-15

Published: 26 Jul 2024