Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Fringe Binge 2015 Show #17 - The Best Of Irish Comedy at Stand 3, The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh, 14-Aug-15 at 1800

Just as it sounds, this was a compilation show hosted and featuring folks with their own shows and were Irish (tho' most were Norn Irish so I'm not sure if this contravenes some comedy labelling and/or misrepresentation legislation).
The show was compèred by Martin Mor and featured Elaine Malcolmson, Ryan Collins and Jarlath Regan (I hadn't heard of any of them).
Mr. Mor was big and loud and had an enormous beard. Most importantly he was extremely engaging and funny - so much so that he slightly over-shadowed the other three performers. But a very funny chap (and in his 50s too! Yay for older comics!).
First up was Elaine Malcolmson. She seemed very nervous and, certainly compared to the compère, slightly hesitant but she soon got into the swing of things. I can't remember much about the contents of her set but her delivery was straight-faced and deadpan and her timing was spot-on. Good but not great.
Second up was Ryan Collins (I think - tbf I didn't quite catch the name and he wasn't flyering afterwards). Another dead-pan comic his material was much more misanthropic and all the better for it. But again, slightly over-shadowed by the larger-than-life Mr. Mor.
There was then a 10-minute interval. In a 1-hour show. Where we were encouraged to buy drinks. Now, I know venues need the cash but this just seemed like blatant milking to me ...
Last up was Jarlath Regan, the headline act (apparently). He was however much slicker than the others and while I may not know of him it was clear he was higher-up the comedy ladder than the first two. Slick, funny, good material if pretty safe (mostly focusing around those Fringe comedy staples of moving to London, getting married, shit your partner says/does, having kids). Nice bit at the end about getting older and trying to get fit - he talked about Boot Camp fitness training (which I certainly know about) and shared a couple of good anecdotes, leading to the nice line "how bad is the obesity crisis that we need to get the army in?"
All in all a good show and nice to see a number of new (to me) people. Not hugely memorable, but pleasant enough.

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