2010 Edinburgh Fringe
The Comedy Doodle review
Comedy Doodle, part of PBH's Free Fringe, bundles together four up-and-coming comedians to deliver surreal stories, witticisms and straight stand-up. It's an appealing format for punters, because the risk of spending an hour with a comedian that doesn't appeal is reduced significantly by the fact there's multiple comedians here, each of whom brings their own distinct style with them.
The hour is compared by Robbie McHugh, who proves to be an affable host and warms up the crowd quite quickly. Aside from introducing the other acts, he also delivers stand-up routines himself in the gaps. The results of this are a bit mixed, with no particularly notable killer lines, but nothing terrible either. The banter with the audience sadly didn't manage to elicit much comedy gold on the afternoon this review is based on - perhaps McHugh should have mentioned at the start that there was a prize on offer for the best audience member, as when a deliberately rubbish picture frame bought from a charity shop was produced at the end as the prize - a nice comic touch - the audience suddenly was more keen to get involved.
Andrea Hubert delivered stand-up on fairly standard subjects, with no really memorable jokes. The audience seemed to appreciate the storytelling and audience interaction aspects of her act more. In one particularly amusing segment she asks a male audience member a rather difficult question - it's a cleverly constructed device because, whatever reply comes back from the poor picked upon soul, a big laugh is almost certain to follow.
Surrey born Matt Thomas has some strong material, and an ace t-shirt. However, despite some well-crafted routines and a couple of very good gags, the laughs from the audience didn't always match the level deserved. This may partly have been down to the fact his academic demeanour was not something instantly warmed to... or it might just have been that the mainly-Scottish audience didn't appreciate the good but rather disparaging gag about their country which he delivered at the top of his set.
The final act was petite Stephanie Laing. It was impossible not to warm to her kooky personality, sunny disposition and seemingly eternal optimism. Her very whimsical style drew smiles from the audience rather than any strong laughs though. Much of the set was made up of self-penned nursery rhyme style songs - funny for a period for sure, but Laing will need to develop her general stand-up skills too should she wish to progress to half-hour slots.
All in all, a diverting enough hour - and it's certainly hard to complain when the entrance fee is zero.
The Comedy Doodle Presents Matt Thomas, Stephanie Laing, Andrea Hubert and Robbie McHugh listing