Early afternoon gigs are generally seen as low-profile, low-quality slots in the hierarchy of festival scheduling, but sometimes they can hide events that definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. A lunchtime comedy showcase featuring some of the best acts plying their trade at this year’s Fringe, the Big Comedy Lunch is great start to any Fringe-goer’s day. Emceed by Katerina Vrana, this lunchtime saw Alex Edelman, Gerry Howell and Darius Davies.
An accomplished emcee who’s been tipped as an up-and-coming comic in her own right by the media establishment, Vrana has a fast wit and has the ability to adapt to her audience with quick ease. Vrana, madcap and intimidatingly awake for so early in the day, made for an eccentric and amusing host prior to and between the acts at the showcase.
Alex Edelman was a smart and funny comedian who constructed his short set around the differences he’s found living as an American in London, between the US and the UK. Edelman was a good storyteller and his condensed routine felt the most original of the show; his jokes were intelligent and funny without being too knowing, and he played the audience well.
Gerry Howell, shabby and slightly odd, was amusing but had trouble condensing his winding, rambling humour into a ten-minute showcase spot. His weird, uncanny knack for embarrassing the front row and finding the absurd within the mundane (after all, it’s not often you see comics basing jokes around the seasonal availability of pumpkins) probably deserved a longer set and it would be interesting to see how he copes in a full-length show environment.
Darius Davies, the most high-profile of this afternoon’s trio, killed the audience with an expertly directed spiel about Britishness and three-pin plugs. His comic delivery was perfect, and mixed with a brilliant sense of timing, he was easily the best received act from the showcase. Despite this, it was hard to shake the feeling that Davies’ set was a contracted excerpt from his show and that this was merely a preview – and therefore, he rarely strayed from what was a scripted, closed performance.
