While the goal of European Comedy is to showcase talent in and around Europe, some shows are just too good to be missed. Read on to see our top picks of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Stamptown
The Fringe is not the Fringe without a night at Stamptown. This haphazard and unhinged variety show is more of an experience than a “show”. Featuring acts from across Europe and the world, it gives audiences a taste of a full fringe experience, allowing them to sample a smattering of all the wonderful and weird that the festival has to offer before committing to watch a full hour of one act. From stand-up comedy to clowning, to acrobats and jugglers, galore, you never know what kind of crazy stuff you’ll see.
Aside from the acts, host Zach Zucker and Co. always have several running gags throughout the show. Zach himself is likable yet problematic to say the least, a caricature of a “woke” man with questionable morals, and the crew conveys their bumbling buffoonery via poorly timed slapstick comedy that somehow works just right.
This is a night of delicious debauchery you don’t want to miss. If you’re not thinking, “What the hell is going on here?” then it’s not Stamptown, and if it’s not Stamptown, it’s not Fringe.
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins
You don’t have to be a book-lover to fall in love with Classic Penguins. The show begins with Australian clown Garry Starr donned in nothing but a trench coat, frill, top hat, and penguin feet. Although jarring at first glance, the show is so good you forget his penis is even there, except for when he reminds you for comedic effect of course. He is on a quest to save literature, one Penguin Classic at a time. Through clever audience interaction and creative prop play, Garry recreates literary classics like Dracula and Frankenstein to Grapes of Wrath and the Little Prince, taking the audience on a journey they’ll never forget.
This show, by its very nature, should be messy and experimental; however, it is an expertly curated experience from start to finish, a living masterpiece, and a perfect example of clowning genius. Garry surprises audiences, subverting expectations at every turn, where (almost) nothing is out of the realm of possibility. In just sixty minutes, there will be fruit throwing, treasure hunting, and time travel that stuns us into side-splitting laughter.
Julia Masli: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Inevitably, every year at the Fringe there are some shows that can only be described as “pure magic”, and Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha by Julia Masli is just that. Magic. Perhaps it is infected by the spirit of the festival, which gives it its fervor, but more likely it is Julia herself whose ethereal presence captivates audiences. Julia is a trained clown from Estonia, though that might not be what comes to mind when you see her on stage; after seeing her show three times, the word wizard seems more appropriate.
Her goal? To solve audience problems, both big and small. Hungry? Wait, a second, there’s lettuce falling from the ceiling at the snap of a finger. Tired? Julia’s got that covered too, with a bed on wheels. Grieving a loss? Got a relative with dementia? Frustrated with the state of the human race? She welcomes the realities. Julia holds space for sadness, leaving way for tender moments to awe the crowd and demonstrating the sheer magnitude of her clowning prowess as she is confident that no matter the problem, she can and will eventually lighten the mood.
With alienesque improvisation and an astute sense of funny, Julia makes her way through the crowd and brings them together in equal parts, relatable sadness and unbridled joy. Every show is unique because every audience is unique; some shows will be sillier, some will be more serious, but there’s one thing you can count on: you will leave feeling like the world is a better place.
Get a Grip, Kurup’s second outing at the Fringe, is built around her desire to receive a mental health diagnosis to explain her various idiosyncrasies.
Shalaka Kurup – Get a Grip
The show is dense and tightly written with an almost forensic attention to detail on word craft and callbacks – perhaps unsurprising from a whip-smart artist who has both dominated the world of Roast Battle and has a ‘PHD in Trains.’ Shalaka appears nerdy and unassuming, but her dark and sometimes absurd humour shines through with unexpected references to her beloved Fast & Furious movies and an ending that added a welcome injection of playfulness.
Jack Traynor – Before I Forget
The theme of this outstanding debut hour from Jack Traynor is based on his family’s history of dementia and the sad inevitability that one day it will come for him.
Traynor’s appearance – long ginger hair, wispy moustache, glasses and strong Glaswegian accent are so quintessentially Scottish you could be excused for thinking this was someone doing a character bit. But he doesn’t just look funny. Traynor delivers a string of hilarious stories, bad taste jokes and fearless crowd riffs at maximum energy. The bleaker, the topic, the funnier he becomes.
Comedians can often work for years before finding their unique on-stage voice and persona. Jack Traynor is one of the exceptions, making him truly unforgettable.
Alex Kitson – This is Water
Performing in a yurt beneath an underpass, Kitson delivers a high-paced show with a clear message about the subjectivity of our individual realities and lived experiences. Immensely likeable, Kitson’s rapid, stream of conscious style gives the illusion of someone making it up as he goes along. But when he hits you with one of his many expertly constructed punchlines (including one insanely original tennis-based pun) it feels like he’s caught you in a fiendish trap.
Given the pace of his delivery, non-native English speakers may struggle to pick up on the more subtle parts of his material, but he is so earnest and self-aware that you can’t help but enjoy spending time in his company.
Roger O’Sullivan – Fekken
Roger O’Sullivan’s Fringe debut is about as finely crafted and hilarious as it gets. In Fekken, O’Sullivan explores his relationship with his father via the medium of tightly packed jokes and various self-made video animations, inspired by his beloved Playstation One games. Fekken hits its emotional mark seamlessly. A lot of Fringe shows lean on ‘the serious bit’ to get the tears flowing, but O’Sullivan manages to do it through humour as well. If this is his first effort, we can’t wait to see what he brings next year.
Jessica Aszkenasy – Tit Clown
Absolutely nothing mysterious about the title of this show. Jessica Aszkenasy is a clown with large breasts, which she uses in increasingly imaginative, anarchic and occasionally disturbing ways to entertain the audience for an hour. It was hard to tell whether this show was truly a commentary on body autonomy and desexualisation of the female form, or just someone having a great time with their boobs – something Aszkenasy does address at a key point in the show. Deeper meaning aside, she clearly has masterful stage presence and a mischievous wit which makes ‘Tit Clown’ a very enjoyable hour of physical comedy.
