Link and Lorne @ The Stand's New Town Theatre

A poor reception stifles Link and Lorne's TV seminar

Review by Polly Glynn | 23 Aug 2018

Telly. What is it? What can we do with it? What is good telly? Welcome to Link and Lorne’s seminar on making iconic television, brought to you by the creator of Scot Squad (Link) and the 'eighth best TV editor in Scotland' (Lorne).

With the advent of Slow TV (crackling log fires, long train journeys and the like) the next generation of reality TV should make creating a hit easy. Turns out, it is! And you can tell by using the (presumably patented) Link and Lornula: Title + Talent + Timing = Top Telly. Morrissey on a vegan farm with a film crew? Cracking!

Unfortunately, Joe Hullait and Ewan Denny's obvious talents as writers aren't best showcased in this Fringe show. The format of a professional(ish) seminar, on a quiet Friday night, means jokes fall on deaf ears and there aren’t enough willing participants to extract ideas from. Mentions of East 17’s unlucky Brian Harvey seem to be too niche this evening. Meanwhile, Phil and Ghost, an inter-dimensional detective show, splits the room. It's a shame, likeable hosts though they are it makes Terrestrial is the Bestrial feel stretched too thinly. And, while the material underneath might be strong, they have few failsafe fallbacks to deal with a sparse crowd.


Link and Lorne: Terrestrial Is the Bestrial, The Stand's New Town Theatre, until 26 Aug, 9:30pm, £10

Scroll on to read more of The Skinny's 2018 Edinburgh Fringe comedy reviews; click here for a round-up of all the best reviews from this year's comedy and theatre programmes