comedy reviews
Veronica Lee

The Dave Edinburgh Awards went abroad this year – Australian Sam Campbell won for best show at the Fringe, while American Lara Ricote won best newcomer.

Veronica Lee

Joseph Parsons, The Mash House 

Veronica Lee

Jake Lambert, Pleasance Courtyard 

Jake Lambert warms up the audience by describing how much he enjoyed lockdown (despite a relationship break-up), and he suspects that football players enjoyed playing for a season without spectators too – “Whose job wouldn't be improved by removing thousands of people calling you a wanker?”

Veronica Lee

 

Hal Cruttenden, Pleasance Courtyard 

Veronica Lee

Randy Feltface, Assembly George Square 

Veronica Lee

Ania Magliano, Pleasance Courtyard 

Ania Magliano is debuting at the Fringe with Absolutely No Worries If Not, an hour that explores her sexual awakening. She has only recently realised she's bisexual, which means she still likes straight culture. “I think All Bar One is a great space,” she say drily.

Veronica Lee
Sara Barron, Pleasance Courtyard 

Sara Barron is known for her no-holds-barred comedy style – or “American energy” as another mum at her son’s school calls it – but in her fast-paced new show she pushes even further, addressing as she does her fertility treatment and a miscarriage.

Veronica Lee

Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Monkey Barrel 

Wearing a heavily sequinned leotard - she thought this was how we’d all dress after “living in trackies during lockdown” - Kiri Pritchard-McLean wants to address some very serious subjects, such as racism, imperialism and white privilege. But first she wants to deliver some funnies, and there are lots of them in Home Truths, a show bursting with energy and ideas.

Veronica Lee
Colin Hoult: The Death of Anna Mann, Pleasance Courtyard 
 

Anna Mann – actress, singer, welder (you’ve got to have a back-up in this business, darling) – is the monstrous creation of Colin Hoult.

Veronica Lee
 
Tiff Stevenson, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★
 

Tiff Stevenson doesn’t like labels, and is particularly irritated by how the once mildly mocking insult “Karen” is now just another misogynistic slur. So she invented a label for herself, Sexy Brain, which is the title of her show, and over the hour she explains how she arrived at it