Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Edinburgh Reviews #1: The Early Edition


The Early Edition
Company: Marcus Brigstocke, A
Venue: Udderbelly – Pasture
Date: 21 Aug '07

Brigstocke was Brigstocke-y, by which I mean pretty good. His one-liners were funny (“The Daily Mail – for those who aren’t familiar, just think of a version of the Metro with the nerve to charge”), and when occasionally he slipped into tirades against things that annoy him, he made good enough points about them that I didn’t especially mind. At one point after a rant about the Daily Express’s Madeleine coverage, he dejectedly remarked that “I don’t know why I said started talking about that, people never like it”; he should not mistake an absence of laughter (in response to what is after all a depressing subject) for disagreement with his view (which was that the justification for Madeleine coverage has long gone, and the Express’s continual insistence on putting her on the front of the paper is wholly manipulative and commercial).

André Vincent was quite limited; he made a few funny remarks, but rather too often fell back on a comedy-camp-person voice almost anywhere he could make one fit. The two guests were Adam Hills and Hattie Hayridge. Hills managed to crowbar in a few obvious bits of material off the back of news items, which he performed with probably the most energy of any of the comedians on the stage; twice in the show he got up from his seat to physically demonstrate some joke or anecdote. He made me want to see his show, but didn’t impress me all that much here. Hayridge didn’t say much, but when she did it was often with a well timed punch line which attracted some of the biggest laughs of the show.

The overall experience was quite enjoyable, but nothing extraordinary.

3/5

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