Exposed: Comic who uses bogus Fringe reviews

Irish stand-up Dave McSavage has been exposed for fabricating a complimentary review to promote his Edinburgh Fringe show.

The blurb he submitted for the official programme comprised just one gushing quote from Scotsman critic Kate Copstick saying: ‘The best show I've seen on the Fringe... and that includes dance, and theatre.'

Only trouble was, she never wrote that.

In fact, she slated his show last year with a withering one-star review, which read: ‘McSavage is like a prototype Phil Kay, without any of the talent. His vague ramblings are occasionally - and pointlessly - sung. I am rarely moved to heckle, but, had I not been reviewing, I would have dragged him off the stage myself.’

Defending his lie in today’s edition of the paper, McSavage said: ‘I was just doing it to have a poke at Kate Copstick - just to get her review and stick it where the sun don't shine.

‘And really, does it matter a damn? I mean, nobody reads that bloody thing anyway. People only look at the pictures.’

The paper has also taken issue with Jim Jeffries’ poster quote, supposedly from The Scotsman, saying: ‘Hysterical ... a man untouched by political correctness’.

While the second part of the quote is true, the word ‘hilarious’ did not appear in the three-star review Jeffries received last year – which promoter Brett Vincent blamed on a genuine mistake in collating press quotes from the comic’s former PR agency.

The practice of using made-up quotes is not new. Last year, Sony had to pay $1.5million to disappointed movie-goers in an out-of-court settlement after using a fake critic to praise its movies, including A Knights’ Tale.

And in 2002, comic Geoff Boyz claimed Chortle had called him ‘the best comedy act I’ve seen on the fringe’ – when his show hadn’t been reviewed. He had used semi-anonymous comments submitted by punters or friends.

Published: 29 Jul 2006