Articles by Ryan O'Connor

Crave

For anyone unfamiliar with Sarah Kane’s work, the first reaction is often shock.

Josie Long

A few ideas structure Josie Long’s new show, the central one being simply that “not everything is for everyone.

Alex Smith – Real Man

The laws of stand up hold that childhood diaries are always good for a laugh.

Frankie Boyle: Prometheus Volume I

Withstanding the daily increase in the threat of nuclear annihilation, there really hasn’t been a better time to be a political stand-up.

Richard Brown: Hold Tightly to the Walls

For some Fringe performers, their tech gremlins are the cute ones from the movie franchise.

Tommy Tiernan: Under the Influence

‘This isn’t a platform for sincerity,’ says Tommy Tiernan towards the top of the show.

Lucy Pearman: Maid of Cabbage

Greeting each and every audience member with a handshake after they take their seats may seem like you’re overdoing the niceties, but we soon find out that Lucy Pearman’s Maid …

Sarah Kendall: One-Seventeen

In 1986, the Kendall family stood in their back-garden, staring at the Australian sky and hoping to catch a glimpse of Halley’s comet.

Mark Forward Wins All the Awards

Single father Mark Forward has decided the time has come for him to be appreciated as a comedian.

Sophie Willan: Branded

It is a bittersweet moment in any girl’s life when they find out that The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft isn’t their real father.

Tom Houghton: Class Half Empty

There are many indicators of class membership in British society, but if you have lost count of how many times you’ve been in the same room as the Queen, then it’s a safe bet t…

Goodbear

As their hotel receptionist alter-egos, Henry Perryment and Joe Barnes help us check into The Hotel Après Vie for an hour of horror movie-themed entertainment.

Tom Binns is Ian D Montfort: Ian Talk Three

Ian D Monfort communicates with many famous figures who have passed to the other side.

Home

The fact that Home is “partly based on true events” makes Cate and Gia’s situation all the more distressing.

Bob Blackman's Tray

“The Tribute Act To The Act With No Act”has solved a problem that dogs all but the most innovate of performers: why bother making the effort to come up with something new when …

Luke Stephen: Commit No Nuisance

Returning to Edinburgh for the second time, Luke Stephen brings with him all the emotional baggage you would expect a self-destructive, early 30’s Essex bloke to have.

Pun-Man Two: Girls Just Wanna Hear Puns

Leo Kearse, in his guise as Pun-Man, has a simple mission: to save the world of comedy from banal observational stand-up and self-righteous, long-winded anecdotes.

All in the Timing

Often, first-time Festival goers arriving in Edinburgh can be paralysed by choice as a result of the sheer volume of shows on offer.

Pete Otway: Six Years from Then

Pete Otway takes the opportunity in his first Edinburgh solo show to get audiences up to speed with what’s been happening in his life up to now.

Steve Bugeja: Unpronounceable

Due to the fact that the Edinburgh Festival Fringe demands that performers submit a name for a show months in advance of performance, many titles do not represent the content of th…

Ali Brice Presents Home is Where Eric Meat is

We join Eric Meat on what is a sad occasion: the day is due to move out of his childhood home.

David O'Doherty: Big Time

Based on a gauge adapted from his previous call-centre telemarketing experience, David O’Doherty rates being a professional stand-up as an eight out of ten, with two points dropp…

Tim Renkow: King of the Tramps

Tim Renkow has a handy tip for anyone who feels uncomfortable around him as a result of his cerebral palsy.

MacBain

At first glance, there are other plays by Shakespeare that would offer more fruitful parallels with the Kurt Cobain story than Macbeth.

Craig Campbell's 'Easy Tiger'

The whole fish-out-of water shtick is a difficult one to pull off – the performer has to be au fait with local idiosyncrasies while at the same time be looking in at them from th…

Daniel Nils Roberts: Honey

Life from a bear’s point of view is as strange and wonderful as you would expect it to be.

Christian Talbot: C60

A near universal truth about comics is that they will bear some sort of emotional scars from their childhood.

Richard Herring: Happy Now?

His 20’s were a fist of fun, his 30’s spent deciphering the intricacies of Big Cook and Little Cook’s business partnership, and then, oh fuck!, he was 40.

Daniel Kitson and Gavin Osborn

Review
★★★★
Ryan O’Connor
UK Regional & Tours
Multiple Venues
19th Oct, 2015

About halfway through the second story of three, in the middle of a series of thoughts on the benefits for men of sitting down on the toilet, Daniel Kitson breaks off, looking u…

The Power of Music

There’s something infectious about certain ad jingles.

Tommy Tiernan Alive in Edinburgh

Before he took to the stage, Tommy Tiernan took in some shows around Edinburgh.

Jack Heal: Do Scientists Dream of Synthetic Sheep?

The answer we get from Jack Heal to the question of his show’s title is that, not only do scientists dream of genetically engineered sheep, but they are actively pursuing how to …

The Brendon Burns Show Again

When Brendon Burns announced last year that he would neither be promoting his Fringe show nor charging for tickets, a few eyebrows were raised.

Chutney Exhibition: Anyone for Armageddon

The only things that will survive Armageddon are bacteria, cockroaches, and sketch comedy.

Aidan Killian: Holy Trinity of Whistle Blowers

Aidan Killian is not the kind of performer to shy away from big questions.

Bombs, Booze and Haggis Strikes Back

The title of this show refers to the three core acts, Gary Sansome (all Scots like haggis, right?), Irishman Andrew Gilmore (the booze, of course), and Israeli standup Daphna Baram…

Christian Schulte-Loh: Return of the 50 Foot German Comedian

Review
★★★
Ryan O’Connor
Edinburgh Fringe
Sin
13th Aug, 2015

I don’t know exactly how many German comics there are on the circuit but, as Christian Schulte-Loh points out, such is their rarity that he has managed to secure both the germanc…

Steve Bugeja: Day Release

The title of Steve Budeja’s show is misleading.

Hurt and Anderson: Sketchbombs

In Sketchbombs, Georgina Hurt and Laura Anderson take one of the cornerstones of the British entertainment tradition – the comedy double-act – and give it a fresh and invigorat…

John McKeever: Multifarious

On top of talent and comic-timing, McKeever has charm by the bucket-load.

Carl Hutchinson: Learning the Ropes

What have you done in your life that you can say you’re proud of? This is what Carl Hutchinson asks at the top of his show Learning the Ropes.

Keith Farnan: Anonymous

Keith Farnan recently became father to a baby girl.

Mark Simmons – Laugh Yourself Thin

Not every comic has the wherewithal to build the feedline of a joke into the title of their show.

Jonny Awsum: Everything is Awsum

Using only the bare essentials of a guitar, some toy instruments, and a few lighting changes, Jonny Awsum delivers an hour of musical comedy with plenty of laughs and the sort of t…

Laura Lexx: Lovely

There’s probably some truth to the idea that going through a profound personal crisis makes it easier to produce a stand-up show for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Mark Forward presents Mark Forward

‘I could tell you anything I want and you would have to believe it!’ yells Mark Forward about twenty minutes into his show, as an invisible falcon perches on his arm.

Sophie Pelham: Country Files

The trip from busy Edinburgh to sleepy Wiltshire is down a short flight of stairs and through a door, upon which you’re greeted with complimentary sherry (dry or sweet, your pref…

The Shuffle Show

If The Shuffle Show is anything to go by, life behind the Genius Bar requires a very specific skill-set.

Dane Baptiste: Reasonable Doubts

Dane Baptiste returns to this year’s Fringe with a bit more notoriety than this time twelve months ago.

Diane Spencer: Power Tool

Fringe shows based on the last twelve months of a comic’s life are not uncommon.

David O’Doherty: We Are All in the Gutter, But Some of Us Are Looking at David O'Doherty

This time next year, the Assembly George Square Theatre will not be big enough to contain David O’Doherty.

Roughs (for Radio)

Beckett’s dramatic works are disorientating at the best of times.

The Jest: The Five Humours

Like some much of our interaction with the wider world, it starts with a button.

Baby Wants Candy: The Completely Improvised Full Band Musical

If you’re planning on making the trip to see Baby Wants Candy, get your title suggestions ready now! The audience for his fully improvised musical comedy has barely taken their s…

10x10x10

This year marks the 10th year the Comedians’ Theatre Company appears at the Fringe.

Phaedra's Love

To do justice to any of Sarah Kane’s work, you need to not be taken in by the maniacal, despairing nature of her scripts.

George and Co (The Solo Tour)

Australian comic George Dimarelos’s first full-length show at the Fringe is a solid effort, with his conversational style and obvious talent for observational comedy showing a lo…

Bob Blackman's Local

“And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” Fringe Festival folklore is replete with tales of life-changing shows witnessed in less-than-life-changing venues – seeing…

The Hibrow Comedy Hour

This was supposed to be a review of a stand-up comedy show.

The Internet: A Human Right?

Professor Michael Fourman of the University of Edinburgh hosted this event as part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, a series of seminars and lectures taking place during the Fr…

Bruchlandung

In the programme notes, the translation for the word Bruchlandung is “crash landing”.

The Mangina Funalogs

Leo Kearse takes the audience through the things that make it hard to be a man in the modern world.

Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana Sit in a 150 Seater at 10pm and Provide the Commentary to Bad Wrestling Matches

There’s no way to review this show without first admitting that the title does half the job.

Tom Stade: Decisions Decisions

Looking back at it, Tom Stade is the ideal performer to subdue the rowdy (but never disruptive) last-weekend-of-the-Fringe, Friday-night-on-George-Street, Assembly-Rooms-Ballroom c…

Hamlet

Secret Theatre’s staging of Hamlet, according to the show’s promos, will ‘make you question how much you really know this play.

Jonny Lennard: Tale Blazer

In his first full Edinburgh show, Jonny Leonard takes issue with stand-up comedians’ perennial bugbear – children’s literature.

Tom Shillue: Impossible

American stand-up Tom Shillue opens by asking why he, a comic on his first run at the Fringe, has the right to stand on stage for an hour and talk about himself.

Laughter Is the Worst Medicine

Basing your second Edinburgh show on the serious medical crisis which cut short your first run at the Fringe the previous year is patently logical.

Chris Griffin and Ross Leslie Present Two Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Review
★★★
Ryan O’Connor
Edinburgh Fringe
Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn
31st Aug, 2014

Ross Leslie and Chris Griffin are joined by Gareth Mutch for an hour of solid observational stand-up as part of the Free Fringe at the Beehive Inn.

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