Consisting of four different acts each night, Big Value Comedy Late seeks to bring its audience variety and humour in equal measure whilst also giving them a sample of some of the excellent stand-up comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The night started out with Grimsby comedian Lloyd Griffin. Griffin's set was perfectly serviceable without ever really getting the audience to laugh heartily. His most successful moments were probably his impressions of various tapes- funny initially but quite quickly wearing, the only unique aspect of this stemmed from his quite frankly stunning choir voice. Whilst a certainly interesting set, from a comedic standpoint it was only so-so.
Griffin was swiftly followed by Kate Lucas who utilised comedic songs to great effect. A perfect mix of funny and just a little bit vulgar, Lucas' songs were musically solid as well as lyrically well thought out. A particular favourite was ‘Betty’, a song about inappropriate love for a geriatric women. Disgusting doesn’t come close but it was equally hilarious at the same time.
The night came to a close with Paul Myrehaug. With a slightly awkward yet very direct delivery style Myrehaug was easily the funniest of the night as he took the audience capably through the subjects of adult circumcision and his plans to fatten up any daughter he has. His comedy, whilst feeling more polished than the previous two, also felt more natural as he has an excellent turn of phrase to his jokes that has you laughing constantly rather than simply on the punchlines.
The entire night was compèred by Chris Mayo. Whilst perfectly capable I never really felt like he had the opportunity to get going and I'm not sure his humour translated so well to the five minute segments he had in between acts. Overall a very fun evening and if the rest of the performers are of this quality then its well worth the ticket price.
