Comedy
Garry Starr
CONQUERS TROY
Friday 7th & Saturday 8th June: 9 pm
£15/£10
Having single-handedly saved the performing arts in 2018 with his multi-award-winning debut solo show, comic wunderkind Garry Starr delivers another anarchic drama masterclass to remember.
Acting was invented by the ancient Greeks. Before that, people were just pretending. With the release of his groundbreaking new book An Actor Pretends, Starr delves deep into his Greek ancestry to enlighten us all with the ancient art of Pretendism, thus saving the performing arts from the evil clutches of Method acting.
“Garry Starr is back with a vengeance...a multi-layered comedic property which hits funny bones at all levels”
★★★★★ GLAM Adelaide
Comic genius’ ★★★★ Guardian
‘Clearly a talented all-round performer’ ★★★★ Evening Standard
Tiff Stevenson
THE BEST HOUR OF YOUR LIFE
(Edinburgh Preview)
Sunday 9th June: 9pm
£12.50/£10
Tiff Stevenson brings you some of best bits of her critically acclaimed tour shows. It's like a special but more special.
★★★★★ 'This is a heartfelt, hilarious, provocative, important hour of stand-up from one of the best in the business.' The Sunday Herald
★★★★★ 'It's punchy and political but in the best, most human sort of way. It's charming but hard-hitting and it's radical, but not self-consciously so.' The Mirror
★★★★★ 'Stevenson’s genius is that she draws you in over and over again for what you think is going to be something quite gentle, but turns out to be an artfully concealed switchblade that you don’t see coming until it’s too late. Ouch, she got you.' Edinburgh Festivals
Double bill: Ahir Shah & Steve Bugeja
EDINBURGH PREVIEWS
Monday 10th: 7.30 pm
£12.50/£10
Double Edinburgh Comedy Award ‘Best Show’ nominee Ahir Shah is one of the fastest-rising comedians of his generation. Shah’s sharp, intellectual brand of stand-up features a blend of philosophical inquiry, political vigour, and sweet gags.
‘Fiendishly clever and furious.’ ★★★★ Times
‘Excellent’ ★★★★ Guardian
Plus Steve Bugeja is one of comedy’s most exciting rising stars. Since winning the BBC New Comedy Award in 2013, Steve has gone on to host the BBC Radio 4 series Economics with Subtitles, and has made numerous appearances on TV shows such as Love Island: Aftersun (ITV2), Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central (Comedy Central), Zoe Ball on
Saturday (ITV1) and Dog Ate My Homework (CBBC).
“Bugeja has an eye for original comic detail that’s all his own." – The
Guardian
“Drum tight, as if polished by a sitcom writers’ room to cram as many jokes in as humanly possible” – Chortle
Double bill: Simon Brodkin & Adam Hess
EDINBURGH PREVIEWS
Tuesday 11th: 7.30 pm
£12.50/£10
Simon Brodkin:
You may know him as “comedy legend”* Lee Nelson or as the “unfunny pillock”† who gave Theresa May a P45, but you won’t know him as “tiny Jew”‡ Simon Brodkin. After three hugely successful series of Lee Nelson on the BBC, multiple TV appearances (Live at the Apollo, Sunday Night at The Palladium, C4’s Comedy Gala), and several world-famous stunts on the likes of Donald Trump, Kanye West & Sepp Blatter, Simon unveils his funniest persona yet: himself.
“Prodigious talent” The Times
“Get him out” Donald Trump
*The Sun
† Ex-Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green
‡ Twitter
Plus Adam Hess, Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated and star of ITV’s Tonight at the London Palladium and Live from the BBC, Adam Hess. He’s five foot eleven, he hates other families’ plates, and he had his 18th birthday party on a riverboat on the Thames so when people realised how boring it was they couldn’t leave.
‘For good quality gags per minute, there is no better comedian on the Fringe’ - The Independent
Double bill: John Kearns & Lou Sanders
EDINBURGH PREVIEWS
Wednesday 12th: 7.30pm
£12.50/£10
John Kearns is an actor, writer and the only comedian to have won both the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show (Shtick) and Best Newcomer (Sight Gags for Perverts) in the award's history. An internationally acclaimed live act, he since has delivered his ‘richly, idiosyncratic comedy’ (The Guardian) across the world, notably picking up two Melbourne Barry Award nominations along the way.
"A true comedy original” ★★★★★ Time Out
“A distant, absurdist cousin of Tony Hancock… one of the oddest and most original comic performers on the Fringe.” ★★★★ The Daily Telegraph
Plus Lou Sanders, who's recent appearances include 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The Russell Howard Hour (Sky 1), Alan Davies’ As Yet Untitled (DAVE), Live from the BBC and a live stand-up set on Russell Brand’s stand-up hour on Comic Relief (BBC1).
‘Destined for hugeness’ Time Out
‘Something new is happening in comedy’ Independent
‘Genuinely different’ Scotsman
Double bill: Jonny and The Baptists & Gareth Richards
EDINBURGH PREVIEWS
Thursday 13th: 7.30pm
£12.50/£10
Musical satirists Jonny & the Baptists – real names Jonny Donahoe & Paddy Gervers – are among the hottest musical comedy acts on the UK scene, regularly appearing on TV, radio, at festivals and most recently a 50-date UK
tour of their hit show “Eat The Poor”. From silly songs to satirical anthems, their riotous live blend of comedy and rock gig has won adoring fans across the country.
★ ★ ★ ★ “Wickedly amusing’ - The Times
ROFL-ing… the melodies are as good as the punchlines” -
The Independent on Sunday
★ ★ ★ ★ “Superbly crafted”, The Metro
Plus Gareth Richards, as seen on Russell Howard’s Good News and Live at the Electric on BBC Three. As heard on BBC Radio 1, 2 and 4 and Frank Skinner’s award-winning Absolute Radio show.
'A delightful hour of comedy' - Guardian
'We laughed until we couldn’t catch our breath’ - Grazia
Alternative Comedy Memorial Society
Sunday 16th June: 7.30pm
£12.50/£10
Two hosts. Umpteen guests. Permitted heckles.
Much comedy. Some failure. NO JERKS.
“The madness is held at bay (if only barely), by its charmingly odd hosts, laconic John-Luke Roberts and rakishly tipsy Thom Tuck” - Daily Telegraph.
“The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society’s a great night. Comedians all trying this really weird, out-there stuff. I came away from it really inspired” - Harry Hill.
“Another ridiculously over-booked night at the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society as a parade of inventive comics muck about joyously” - Chortle.
Marlon Davis
EMOTIONAL BLACK MALE
EDINBURGH PREVIEW
Tuesday 18th June: 9 pm
£10
As seen on Live at the Apollo and Comedy Central's Comedy Store Live, Marlon Davis serves up a brand-new hilarious hour.
'Bursts on to the stage like a breath of fresh air, with impish grin, boyish enthusiasm and an effortlessly open, confident style' - Chortle
Desiree Burch
DESIREE'S COMING EARLY
EDINBURGH PREVIEW
Wednesday 19th: 7 pm
£12.50/£10
The breakout star of Netflix's 'Flinch' and BBC's 'The Mash Report'" and 'Live At The Apollo' brings a new hour of authentic and acerbic comedy.
As seen on ‘Have I Got News For You’ (BBC), ‘Qi’ (BBC), ‘Frankie Boyle’s American Autopsy’ (BBC) and ‘8 Out of 10 Cats’ (Channel 4).
★★★★ Scotsgay
★★★★The Scotsman
★★★★ The Guardian
RHYS JAMES EDINBURGH PREVIEW
Wednesday 19th: 9pm
£12.50 / £10
Rhys James from Mock The Week (BBC2), Roast Battle (Comedy Central), his own Radio 4 series (Radio 4) and Harpenden (Hertfordshire) brings you a work-in-progress version of his latest show Snitch.
I promise you I’m not being hyperbolic when I, the copy writer for this brochure/website, say this, but Rhys James is my favourite comedian in the world.
John Robins
HOT SHAME
EDINBURGH PREVIEW
Thursday 20th: 7 pm
£12.50/£10
Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner, Digital DJ, Vibe-Magnet, yells into a well. Join John Robins for his new stand-up show following the critically lauded, sell-out smash, ‘The Darkness Of Robins’. As well as receiving widespread acclaim for his radio show with Elis James, John Robins has gained a reputation as a stand-up for finding humour in our bleakest moments. Expect soul-bearing, self-lacerating, piping-hot shame!
Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner 2017
As seen on Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week, Live At The BBC, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown
“He fills the room with complicated joy” - The Guardian
“One of the most naturally gifted comedians I’ve seen” –Telegraph
Owen Roberts
I LET A SIX-YEAR-OLD WRITE MY SHOW
Thursday 20th: 9 pm
£12.50/£10
After a severe case of writer's block, Owen has thrown caution to the wind and decided to let a child write his show for him. Kids are funny right? What could possibly go wrong? She can't spell, she can't sit still for more than 30 seconds, and her ideas are wildly unrealistic, to say the least.
"Laughs other comedians dream of" The Guardian
"A tsunami of silliness" The Telegraph
