It would be fair to say that one of the things most of us need after the last 16 months is a right good laugh.
The future seems brighter in the world of live comedy, with many of our top names and rising stars heading out onto the road as tours continue to be announced for this autumn and throughout 2022.
The breeding ground for pretty much all of the country’s leading stand-up acts, sketch stars and character comics was the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and while this August’s event is nothing on the scale we’re used to (though a little bit of rethinking and rebuilding within that particular part of the Festival infrastructure might not be a bad thing), we can definitely state that the Fringe is back.
Comedians on the live stage
There are plenty top comedians dipping their toes in live stage work again, and thankfully many of them are hotfooting it up to the busy (though not overly crammed) streets of Scotland’s capital this month.
Perhaps the most accidentally topical show of the month is Nina Conti’s In Your Face (Assembly George Square Gardens, Thursday 12 and Friday 13 August) during which the acclaimed ventriloquist gets punters up on stage and attaches a mask to their face before mouthing what they may or may not be saying to each other.
She also joins forces with Shenoah Allen of The Pajama Men for a live rendition of their hit podcast, Richard and Greta (Assembly Roxy, Thursday 12 and Friday 13 August).
One of the most reliably funny acts on the circuit is Simon Evans, and in The Work Of The Devil (Assembly George Square Gardens, Saturday 14–Sunday 22 August), he takes a deep (and amusing) dive into his own origins story, triggered by a trip to the doctor for what he thought was to be a rudimentary health check.
The Chase man Paul Sinha reflects on emotional happiness (or the lack thereof in his life) in Hazy Little Thing Called Love (The Stand, Wednesday 18–Saturday 21 August) while fans of a rather successful American sitcom will be in various levels of bliss for Friend: The One With Gunther (Pleasance at EICC, Monday 16–Sunday 29 August).
Comic actor Brendan Murphy aims to tell the story of 236 episodes in just one hour as seen through the eyes of that New York sextet’s favourite barista.
Nish Kumar delivers what will surely be a masterclass of constructive complaining in Control (Monkey Barrel, Monday 16–Sunday 22 August) as he contemplates the political and social upheavals of the last couple of years.
Christopher Macarthur-Boyd proclaims Oh No (Gilded Balloon Teviot, Friday 13–Sunday 29 August) in a show about ‘sex, drugs and pasta’ while fellow Scot Fern Brady brings us her fifth solo set Autistic Bikini Queen (Monkey Barrel, Friday 6–Tuesday 17 August) which, without much pre-publicity info and going by the title alone, you’d have to guess might touch on mental health and feminism.
Viking Fifer Daniel Sloss continues to roam around the big league and with Hubris (Corn Exchange, Friday 6–Sunday 8, Wednesday 11–Sunday 15 August; Festival Theatre, Saturday 21 August) he is laying the foundations for another massive year.
Ex-Inbetweener Joe Thomas is Trying Not To Panic (Pleasance Courtyard, Friday 13–Tuesday 17 August) with his debut stand-up hour, having been in sketch shows and double acts with the likes of Simon Bird and Jonny Sweet through most of his live career to date.
Shaparak Khorsandi has been round the stand-up block a little longer and It Was The 90s! (Gilded Balloon Teviot, until Tuesday 10 August) considers her time as a twentysomething during that hectic decade. Perhaps she’ll pass on some wisdom to the young folks through the medium of comedic punchlines.
Having worked out that he statistically may be more or less halfway through his life, Mark Watson has come up with This Can’t Be It (Pleasance Courtyard, Tuesday 17–Wednesday 25 August).
The Bristolian who has done a few 24-hour shows in his time limits this one to just the 60 minutes, as he merges ‘spiritual enquiry with high-octane observational comedy’.
