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The Review - THEATRE by JOANNA CAIRD
Published: 28 June 2007

Al Murray

Eight stand-ups, not so many laughs

EDINBURGH AND BEYOND
Bloomsbury Theatre

AL Murray, pub landlord was our host for Paramount Comedy’s evening of pre-Edinburgh festival stand-up at the Bloomsbury Theatre. His warm-up act had us laughing at nothing at all but his between-act banter was often less than engaging.
The evening comprised eight acts, from straight stand-up to puerile singsong to character sketches.
Nick Doody and Deirdre O’Kane each supplied a few laughs with their mostly mediocre stand-up. Famous Guy was almost too dismal to mention, his misogynistic and repetitive act failing to entertain. Colin and Fergus, the first of the evening’s comedy duos, had some genuinely funny moments as Peter and Sarah Ogden, the Theatre Group. Their mockery of amateur theatricals hit just the right note.
The other pair, Mr Winchester and Tommy, tried and failed to make classic British racist humour funny with irony and wigs. Their only saving graces: excellent 1970s costumes and some good banter with the audience.
The funniest acts all came towards the end of the evening. Canadian Tony Law’s absurdist humour worked well, with images of bears on skateboards and panting hoodies leaving us wanting more.
We are Klang drew the evening to a close with their trademark puerile but clever act, while Greg, Marek and Steve singing dirty songs and bickering among themselves.
The star of the show for me was Stephen K Amos, his simple, clever jokes and anecdotes making us laugh like we had been wanting to all evening. This is the man I will be queuing up to see in Edinburgh in a month’s time.
One night only

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