Glenn Moore, Olga Koch, Colin Hoult, Chloe Petts - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
Published: Monday 15th August 2022
As we're a decent way through the month, now might be an okay time for a general health checkup on the Fringe? We know there's less shows this year than in 2019, and anecdotal evidence suggests a seemingly high number of acts struggling to get audience numbers into their shows. Yet accommodation prices are higher than they were in 2019. If that trend continues, you'd have to guess that the Fringe will probably shrink again in 2023, rather than grow. More acts will decide it's not financially viable for them to bring shows here, with working class performers obviously affected more than anybody else.
For now though, Edinburgh still feels like a thrilling place to spend an August. There's a good chance you've tapped your way here because you want to know which performances are the most thrilling. What the five-star shows in town are. Here's three more for you:
Colin Hoult has taken his always-amazing Anna Mann character and, for the first time, set her within - and sorry for getting a bit Guardian-y on you here - a 'truly satisfying theatrical narrative'. The show takes us through Mann's life story, basically. There's also brilliant meta moments acknowledging the overlap between Hoult and Mann. If this all sounds like it's targeted more at reviewers than comedy fans, rest assured: a huge amount of the show has the audience howling with laughter. It's also touring in autumn, FYI.
Glenn Moore somehow continues to improve on his already remarkable previous shows. The only danger is failing to keep up with the fairly relentless onslaught of great punchlines. It's a quantity and quality approach.
Finally, I'm not sure I've ever been more convinced I was watching a future star than when I was in Leo Reich's show. Very much a voice of Gen-Z, this is a densely-packed, joyfully funny show: he even mockingly tells the audience off everytime they attempt to applaud him - "no, we don't have time!".
It's still maybe early days, but if you're the type to enjoy the speculation then we can probably now offer up some predictions for how Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards might pan out this year. Colin Hoult, Glenn Moore, Josh Pugh (who memorably called his 2019 show Maybe the Real Comedy Awards are the Friends We Made Along the Way), Liz Kingsman, Olga Koch, Leo Reich and Tarot could all reasonably find themselves nominated for the Best Show award. Kingsman's One Woman Show - which I saw earlier this year - is particularly special: the best comedy show since 2019.
Rounding off that list of predictions, Olga Koch is performing her best show yet. The focus is on fun and filth throughout the whole hour. Expect high-quality punchlines. Side note: if anyone is thinking of setting up a 'No Context Ed Fringe' account on social media, you can have this quote from Koch's show for free: "British Airways killed Captain Tom and now I can't have a threesome".
If those are some of the frontrunners for the big award, there's also the Best Newcomer prize, which is arguably an even more crowded field this time. It makes sense: with barely any Fringe in 2020 and 2021, there are far more newcomers performing their debut hour this year. Intriguingly, both Liz Kingsman and Leo Reich are eligible for this newcomer prize, but are actually strong enough to be bumped up to Best Show contention. Elsewhere, Amy Gledhill, Lara Ricote, Shelf, Ania Magliano and Chloe Petts would make up an incredible 2022 shortlist.
Plenty of newcomers arrive in Edinburgh as relative unknowns, hoping their shows will generate buzz that will enable them to take their careers to the next level. That's probably not quite the case for Chloe Petts, who is debuting despite - with TV appearances and tour support for Ed Gamble already under her belt - her career success already feeling pretty guaranteed. She's also - let's be clear - amazing. Plenty of her material dissects identity politics but there's always a super fun joke at the end. Petts is at ease and fully in control of proceedings at all times.
Shelf will have felt the pandemic's effects on the cultural landscape more than most. The British Comedy Guide team saw an (already amazing) version of their show Hair at a comedy festival in Wales in May 2019. They actually intended to debut it not at that year's Fringe, but in 2020. So they've been waiting a long time for this moment. Pleasingly, they're well worth the wait. A queer double act riffing on, amongst other things, how often people mistake them for young boys, they're surely destined for the big leagues.
Finally on the subject of Best Newcomer predictions, Ania Magliano is another assured new name. Her show discusses Jacqueline Wilson novels, Lush shops and coming out to her parents as bisexual. She has a natural confidence and this is a well-engineered show.
The nominations are announced on Wednesday 24th August, should you be interested in how it all pans out.
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