Mark Watson – All The Thoughts I’ve Had Since I Was Born

Despite keeping a packed room at the Pleasance Grand entertained for an hour, Mark Watson notes that he can’t help but be frustrated with the fact that one particular member of the audience has seemingly failed to crack a smile the whole night. Letting that get on his nerves seems ironic for a show about Watson trying to stop getting so annoyed about unimportant things. “Will it still be important in a year?” is the question he has been trying to ask of things that get him upset in a bid to lower his stress levels. In a years time, Watson will no doubt be back performing another excellent show while the woman in question will hopefully have gotten the money together for an operation to make her able to laugh again. ****1/2

Josie Long – All of the Planet’s Wonders (Shown in Detail)

I can’t imagine anyone not liking Josie Long. Going to one of her shows is like going round to a mates house and having them put on a show for you that they’ve just made up and you think it’s probably not that good really but it’s your mate and they’re so enthusiastic that you can’t help but piss yourself laughing anyway. It’s a little like that anyway. In this year’s show Josie talks to us about her love of finding out stuff that she didn’t know. By her own admission, Long doesn’t do proper jokes. One of the only “proper” jokes in her set was along the lines of how much does the sport cost to organise in Harry Potter? Quidditch. Thankfully, Long’s personality and enthusiasm carry the show along just fine. It really is difficult to put your finger on why Long is so funny. If you’ve seen her and liked her then you’ll get it. If you’ve seen her but didn’t like her then you probably won’t like her this year. And also you must surely be dead inside. ****

Stewart Lee – Scrambled Egg

In the sweltering heat of the Edinburgh Stand, Stewart Lee plays mainly to a packed room full of people who are already predisposed to liking him. Nevertheless he insists, stand up comedy is the hardest job in the world. Sarcasm is this man’s backbone and in this years show, basically a rehearsal of old and new material in preparation for his forthcoming BBC2 series, he uses it to full effect. Turning away from the grander themes he has covered in the past like 11/9, political correctness and vomiting into the gaping anus of Christ, Lee turns his attention to ridiculing the painfully obscure, like American comedian Franklyn Ajaye and Chris Moyles second autobiography. In the case of Ajaye, Lee focuses on the comedian’s 1974 comedy album “I’m a Comedian, Seriously”, squeezing every last laugh out of the hilariously pompous cover and contradictory track listing, having never actually listened to the album, or indeed removed the original cellophane wrapping. In the case of Moyles, Lee contemplates the success of a book aimed at being a great toilet book that in Davina McCall’s opinion is butt-clenchingly honest.

If this show is any indication, and by it’s definition it is, then Lee’s TV show should be well worth watching. *****

Bill Bailey – Tinselworm

I think I forgot to mention I was going to see this last night. It was well worth the wait. Bailey is one of the few acts able to really do good musical comedy. He’s an amazing musician in his own right, seemingly able to play anything placed in front of him. As focused as ever Bailey switches from exploring sinister sounding doorbells to his love for emo to shouting at cars in the street. In between we get George Bush soundbites and David Cameron dancing. It all makes more sense when you see it live. Though even then it doesn’t really make much sense. I didn’t get the feeling this show was as good as his previous ones but it was still a hilarious couple of hours. ****

Daniel Kitson – 66a Church Road – A Lament, Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases

It’s Daniel Kitson, how the hell is it not going to be brilliant? In his own words, this is Kitson’s break up show for his flat of six years. Kitson’s affection for his flat, which he admits is not even that great a flat, highlights the attachment we can place on things that we really shouldn’t. All too often we will concentrate our attentions on the things we think are important, overlooking the things that really are. His fear of somehow losing the memories he has created in the flat threatens to hold him back from making new memories elsewhere. On the surface, you would suspect the theme of the show has the potential to turn into a straightforward “Home is where the heart is” type message, but Kitson never simplifies things to that extent. At it’s heart this is an exploration of the suffocating hold nostalgia can have over a person and in spite of a half hour technical delay in starting, was never anything less than excellent. *****

Ed Byrne – Different Class

Even before his show started Ed Byrne could do no wrong in the eyes of my fiance. Taking a seat at a table in the Assembly Hall, I left her to get drinks, smiling on the way as I realised who was sitting next to us. My fiance never noticed until I was at the bar and whispered to me when I came back. I told her I had noticed. Ed Byrne was having a conversation with fellow comedian Nick Doody (who is brilliant in his own right by the way). Playing it cool, she asked him to sign her ticket. Byrne was pretty cool and made her night even before cracking a joke. She would have been laughing at him even if he was rubbish.

He wasn’t rubbish. The show touched upon Byrne’s opinion of himself being neither working or middle class, occupying somewhere in between. On the way he talks about kids being dressed provocatively, dvd piracy and getting married. From beginning to end, Byrne has the crowd in the palm of his hand. And it’s a big crowd. The room is the biggest venue on the fringe and was pretty close to being full. Byrne calls attention to this, saying that he was asked in an interview what sport he would compare his show to. His answer: Curling – because the only people watching are in Scotland. *****

Richard Herring – The Headmaster’s Son

In his latest show The Headmaster’s Son, Richard Herring explores whether or not he can blame the fact that he turned out a sex-obsessed, immature stand up comedian on the fact that several of his formative years were spent as a pupil in the same school his dad presided over as headmaster. The answer seems obvious from the outset but nevertheless the show is easily Herring’s best in years. It retains his usual reliance on being overly (psychotically?) pedantic and utilising flawed logic but unlike his previous few shows, the show is genuinely touching in parts, notably at the end. The only real problem with the show is that one hour doesn’t seem to be enough time to do it justice, as it never really is for a Herring show. This show is probably the best I’ve seen so far this year but I can see it being so much better when Herring takes it on tour. The DVD will be worth the wait. *****

Otis Lee Crenshaw

Rich Hall’s Perrier winning, redneck country singing alter ego Otis Lee Crenshaw returns to Edinburgh with another hour of improvised songs. By the nature of the act some nights are going to click a lot better than others. This one was a testament to that. There was a lot of stumbling throughout the hour. But even when things are going wrong, Hall/Crenshaw has a great gift for finding laughs. On one occasion, it took a lot of meandering for Hall/Crenshaw to find a conclusion to the song he was making up for a member of the audience. To be fair it was for an Undertaker. To Hall’s credit, he came up with an hilarious callback at the end of it where he admitted he should have went with his instinct to abandon the song earlier in favour of doing it about a cop in the audience. That’s the thing about this kind of show – it’s hard to review it when it’s going to be significantly different every night. It’s success in some ways depends on the audience as much as the performer. So if you’re going to go, make sure you’re a good audience. ***1/2

Russell Kane – Gaping Flaws

With the help of a real life Powerpoint presentation, Russell Kane spends an hour discussing why the British are so comfortable with the negative aspects of life, and less so with the positive ones. Kane tries to emphasise that his show itself is flawed, but ironically this is flawed in itself as his show is a pretty slick affair all around. Kane tells tales about trying to gain the approval of his racist father, drinking in britain and his best, and only, method of defeating the BNP. Nothing in the act is particularly groundbreaking, but Kane is very funny and extremely likable and the hour flies by. ****

Pappy’s Fun Club – Funergy

Pappy’s fun club return to Edinburgh following their 2007 if.comedy nomination. This time the four piece sketch show are tackling the issue of global warming. Their plan is to harness the energy from generating fun. Thus begins a series of random sketches involving past their prime stunt men, adopted blue whales and more songs than something that contains a lot of songs. A CD perhaps. This was my first time seeing the group, having heard nothing but good things about them. In the opening minute I was already beginning to come to the conclusion that I couldn’t see what the fuss was all about. This was foolish of me, because a minute later it became obvious. It’s just fun. Like really good fun. If you’re a fan of fun things then you will like this. If you don’t like fun this won’t be your cup of tea. ****