Comedy news: Such Small Portions's review

Tweet

After refuting his label as a 'New Offender' of stand-up comedy by the Guardian a few weeks ago, it perhaps seems suiting that Brendon Burns looks like he might actually be mellowing a little.

Fans of his caustic approach needn't worry too much; this recorded stand-up show shows that Burns can still take on hecklers with the best of them, find bile for Fairtrade consumers, and ponder what the consequences are of the Chinese state circus women being so bendy.

His trademark approach of giving out tongue-lashings for the state of the world is also still alive and well, with time given to his fellow Australians, Brits, Americans, and especially the citizens of Liverpool (and to pull off insulting Liverpudlians without sounding like an eighties throwback is an achievement).

But alongside looking at what he thinks is wrong with the world today, there is also a fair portion of the show handed over to looking back at his own life.

With the recording made two and a half years since Burns went into rehab for drugs and alcohol, basing a section on the 'reasons not to leave a notepad next to the bed after taking cocaine' feels a little stale. Without that urgency, it doesn't have the heartfelt feel of his splenetic attacks elsewhere in the show.

Still, introspection is clearly never going to be a major problem for someone like Burns, and this is only a minor complaint. It's the oneliners you come for, and for those he doesn't disappoint (“say what you like about cancer, but it's a good way for bald kids to meet sports stars” would be one of the kinder lines).

To watch someone keep up an energetic anger for an hour-plus show is an impressive feat that's worth seeing.

Brendon Burns Sober Not Clean is out now on Universal

Andrew Mickel

Tweet

Lewis Schaffer is possibly the most unpredictable comic at the Fringe.

This year he has already attacked a group of guys that smashed his phone and been threatened with libel action for falsely claiming to be the new sponsor of the now defunct if.comedy awards. In short, he is unique.

With a new show, Bigger and Blacker, Schaffer has set himself the task of telling his audience why he is trying to punch above his weight and how he doesn’t always live up to his own expectations.

Watching Schaffer is at times like watching the dying throes of a tortured soul. You can tell that he has the seeds of a good comedian in him but he suffers from crippling confidence problems onstage; at one point he apologises to his audience and openly invites them to leave halfway through his set.

“I’m a fuck up, I really am," he says. "But there may be a woman who didn’t get enough attention as a child who may warm to me."

His gigs can quickly spiral downwards quickly, but Schaffer is also capable of moments of true comic genius. When Schaffer is irked little will escape his wrath as he blisters through a minute of biting satirical comedy.

The audience are repugnant, the English are a pitiful audience, the Jewish a despicable race; the rants build in intensity and Schaffer forgets where he is, his insecurity is momentarily abandoned and his real comedy voice comes to the fore.

If Schaffer can develop this and make his comedy more consistent he is well worth watching. At present you could call him a renegade comedian - you can never be quite sure what to expect.

Tim Clark

Lewis Schaffer, Bigger and Blacker is appearing at the Counting House until August 30th

Tweet

Take a series of sketches, add in a proportionally bi-polar comedy duo, sprinkle it with a little bit of niche film knowledge and a one big ego and you have Kiosk of Champions.

The semi-improvised sketch show by Stuart Goldsmith and Richard Sandling is a new take on the traditional sketch humour, interspersing skits of Good Cop, Bad Cop with what looks like unscripted on-stage banter.

Although the short sketches are good, Kiosk of Champions aren't going to win awards for sketch writing in the near future. Some work excellently while others feel like a work-in-progress.

In fact, at times their laissez-faire attitude to sketch humour makes the whole of Kiosk of Champions feel like you are watching two friends you know mucking about in your living room.

But what Kiosk of Champions have managed to build up is a genuinely approachable rapport - both with themselves, and by the end of the hour, the audience.

Richard Sandling’s incredibly likeable mannerisms work well with Goldsmith's amusing cockiness and it is the comedy persona that you learn to enjoy, not the sketches themselves.

And, although the improvised nature of the show means that the continuity is sometimes lost, Kiosk of Champions has the potential to mature into a very likeable and enjoyable comedy routine.

Tim Clark

Tweet

Thanks for voting in the inaurugal comedy cook off. The votes are being counted and we'll have the results on SSP for Jeff Leach vs James Acaster on August 20th. 

So put a bun in the oven and in the mean time, enjoy these tasty comedy morsels from Such Small Portions...

Secret Edinburgh: Jeff Leach walks the Gauntlet of Broken Dreams

Tweet

If Ladbrokes took bets on comedy career progression, I'd place whatever's left on my overdraft (£42) on 'Jack Whitehall becoming a very big deal on the circuit in just a few years' - or something to that effect.

That, or Burnley getting relegated. It's an either/or situation, really.

The reason? Jack's offensively young (21), very 'cool' (skinny jeans, cardigan, pointy white shoes), he's already hosted Big Brother's Little Brother (and endured all the Russell Brand comparisons that that entails) and he is genuinely very funny.

Slightly effete and ever so posh, Whitehall handles both the mike and the crowd with ease - and though the basis of his material is somewhat unimaginative (The credit crunch, swine flu, newspapers telling lies etc) his delivery and confidence win out, unafraid to offend as and when necessary. His poshness (lisp included) is something he capitalises on, rather than rejects, aware of his middle-class captive audience, with lines like "Sticks and stones may break my bones... but fuck it, I'm with Bupa."

The main theme of this, his first ever stand-up set, is "rebellion", well, everyday rebellion, which leads onto a long and thoroughly hilarious analysis of his somewhat 'eccentric' (read: 'right wing and shouty') dad. It's obvious that this is his most polished and perfected bit, and it's well worth the ticket price alone.

Without knowing it beforehand, there's absolutely no way you could have guessed this was his first major Edinburgh stand-up set. Whatever 'it' is, he's got it in spades.

Ali Plumb

Jack Whitehall is appearing at the Pleasance Courtyard until August 30th