comedy reviews

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Adam Kay: Undoctored ★★★★

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Adam Kay: Undoctored ★★★★

Upon enetering the auditorium, we're faced with a big exit sign from the cover of Adam Kay's new book, Undoctored: The Story of a Medic Who Ran Out of Patients, as well as a large heart rate monitor flashing in bright showbiz lights. Beneath them stand three pill bottle podiums – one…

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Aaron Simmonds: Baby Steps ★★★

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Aaron Simmonds: Baby Steps ★★★

When Aaron Simmonds decided to do the Edinburgh Fringe this year, he had no clue what he was going to get up and say. But he knew one thing for sure: he was going to do it standing up. For those of you furrowing a brow right now, we should add that Simmonds has cerebral palsy. Since he…

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Simon Brodkin: Xavier ★★★★★

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Simon Brodkin: Xavier ★★★★★

Character comic and original prankster Simon Brodkin is probably best known for playing cheeky chappy Lee Nelson, handing Theresa May her P45 and for dumping golf balls adorned with swastikas in front of Donald Trump to highlight his racist views. But he's also an exceptional…

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Ivor Dembina: Old Jewish Jokes ★★★★

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Ivor Dembina: Old Jewish Jokes ★★★★

Thirty years ago I saw Ivor Dembina walk onto a stage in north London and announce to an unsuspecting crowd: “Right, let’s have the Hatikvah” (a 19th-century Jewish poem and Israel's national anthem). It was an early sign of the path he was looking to tread. One of my favourite…

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In the Weeds ★★★★

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In the Weeds ★★★★

"I don't wanna leave: it's so nice having people here. Cooo-al!" It's approaching midnight in a miserable, drizzly Edinburgh and Liza Treyger has come to the end of her show. "So enjoy the rest of your lives. Go to therapy and then you could be here too, in a trailer." Treyger, 31…

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Party Nights ★★★★

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Party Nights ★★★★

As a rule, I don't repeatedly tell 50-odd people in a moderately sized room that "I deserve salmon" on a weekday evening, but such is the force of the Fringe and Emmy Blotnick's bubbly nature that it would have been churlish not to have joined in. The 31-year-old New…

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Hero Worship ★★

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Hero Worship ★★

Joel Sanders, who has lived on a canal boat moored mainly in the south of England for the past decade, has two shows at the Fringe. One, called Angry Boater, is about living on a boat with hypertension, few practical skills and against the advice of his late father who told him: "Jews don't live…

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Boycotted: Comedy from Israel ★★★

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Boycotted: Comedy from Israel ★★★

It's good to see three Israeli comedians pitching up at the Edinburgh Fringe, with a show free of government sponsorship and therefore – contrary to allusions in the title – not in danger of being boycotted by the local pro-Palestinian brigade. It's the first day of the trio's…

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Friday Night Sinner! ★★★

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Friday Night Sinner! ★★★

It was a Friday night and as I wasn't going to a Friday night dinner, so what better way to spend it than by going to Candy Gigi's mock-horror musical Friday Night Sinner!? The eerily lit action loosely follows the plot of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, with Gigi – aka 30-year-old Brit…

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Disabled Coconut ★★★★

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Disabled Coconut ★★★★

Aaron Simmonds has spent the past year working on his story-based show about how he was trolled online for not being disabled enough and it's clearly been time well spent. The 29-year-old comic, who has cerebral palsy and has used a wheelchair since he was 15, particularly loves being…

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100% Simon Brodkin ★★★★

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100% Simon Brodkin ★★★★

Simon Brodkin is best known as the sarf London geezah Lee Nelson, his comic creation who starred in three series on BBC Three. He's also gained a reputation for performing stunts on Donald Trump and Theresa May, scattering swastika-covered golf balls on the former's golf course…