Comedians' DJ Battles
Edinburgh Fringe comedy review
Best not to think of this one as a comedy show. It’s a club night. But can a club night also be funny?
Music obsessive and side-project fan Ivo Graham runs the whole thing, as well as his theatre and comedy shows at the Fringe. Every Friday night throughout the festival, pairs of comedians battle, each challenged to select three songs that fit into some not-particularly-policed category – in tonight’s instance, songs from a range of Olympic years. The audience then vote for their favourites, by, a little surprisingly, holding up their phone torches.
So Patti Harrison and Amy Annette are given the somewhat challenging brief of playing three party-starting bangers from the year… 1942 (they wisely don’t burden themselves by strictly abiding by the rules). Vittorio Angelone and Mike Rice play Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson, followed by Oom-Pah-Pah from the Oliver! soundtrack.
If you like the comedians taking part, you will naturally enjoy the whole thing substantially more. Everyone brings their own on-brand energy during their rounds. Nish Kumar and David O’Doherty drop Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track Not Like Us, and Kumar blurts out certain highly libellous accusations, before 20 seconds later getting back on the mic to add: ‘ALLEGEDLY. ALLEGEDLY.’
Chloe Petts and Huge Davies easily show the most determination to win, taking a Route One approach to crowd-pleasing with their choices: Icona Pop, Blink 182, Natasha Bedingfield then The Killers. During that final song, they commandeer the centre of the dancefloor to guarantee the crowd are firmly in their pocket.
Some comedians are a little late for their sets, adding a faintly shambolic edge to proceedings which does nothing to harm the night’s charms. Things properly get going at midnight – Ivo warms up with a DJ set beforehand, and again after 1:30am. Expect Dua Lipa’s Illusion, Hot n Cold by Katy Perry and Boney M’s Daddy Cool.
All sounds like an ideal Fringe night out, right? Well, just one issue. It’s a club night, so Ivo sensibly opts to use his microphone sparingly, instead providing PowerPoint commentary via the upstage screen. Much of the audience will struggle to read it, as the venue has a low ceiling and only a slightly-raised stage, so most opt to just dance around instead, more like a conventional night out. A couple more screens dotted around seems like a necessity.
It’s a shame, as the visuals are where a lot of the show’s comedic skill and charm are derived from. And you can hardly accuse Ivo Graham of lacking comedic skill or charm.
Review date: 16 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Mark Muldoon
Reviewed at:
Assembly George Square
