The Comedy Blog

Hello and welcome to Fest's first comedy blog of 2009. I'll be blogging here every few days with tips and goss from the world of Fringe comedy.

Whilst the Festival is a little low on huge names this year, there's a lot of interesting new and emerging acts that we're looking forward to. An early tip is Brian Gittins, a sort of anti-comedy character act that I saw last night and really liked. It won't be everybody's cup of tea, relying as it does on a sort of so-shit-it's-good appeal and some truly surreal, Shooting Stars-style silliness. But it's worth a punt if you like your comedy strange.

Promising returnees include Adam Riches, whose official Fringe debut was last year but who got off to a bit of a false start, breaking his leg in a freak on-stage accident and having to cut his run short. Our man Ben Judge checked out his new, de facto debut last night and gave it the big thumbs up, praising his fusion of clever characters with daring audience interaction. Anna & Katy were big Fest favourites when they were last up at the Fringe four years ago, and I'll be having a look at the preview of their new show tonight.

At the press launch previews, we've been particularly impressed with Heath McIvor's twisted puppet character Randy and his Postcards From Purgatory; dark cabaret act Frisky and Mannish and their unsettling takes on classic love songs; Gavin Webster's convincing explanation of the difference between cunts, bastards and fuckers; and the brilliant Stewart Lee, who performed an absolutely stonking, misanthropic tirade that suggests his show this year will see him at his strongest.

However, all of the recommendations in the above paragraph are subject to change, as our judgement may well have been clouded by all the free alcohol.

Our intrepid reviewers are out and about snuffling more truffles for you as we speak, so we should have a load more tips on the next blog early next week.

Have fun til then, rat fans!

Tom Hackett, Comedy Editor, Fest