So many comedians, so little time. As the Edinburgh Fringe enters its final week, with awards fever to come — the shortlist for the rebranded Perriers, the if.comeddies, comes out on Wednesday — the time is ripe to round up some of the acts that we’ve not yet had space to mention.
Shappi Khorsandi (Pleasance Courtyard) mines her own Anglo-Iranian background in her show Asylum Speaker. But the looser first half of this entertaining show also reveals that she’s graduated into a self-possessed, quick-witted comic. She’s got a lot to say — too much in the second half-hour, which rushes her fascinating story of growing up in West London the daughter of an exiled Iranian satirist. But overall it’s a persuasive mix of the personal and the political.
Over at The Stand, Andy Zaltzman offers his delectably intelligent brand of sociopolitical goofing. He was due to perform the show as a loose double act with John Oliver, until Oliver was poached by the American TV satire The Daily Show. So this hastily rejigged 70 minutes sometimes sags — Zaltzman is at his best when he’s got something, or someone, to provoke his more fanciful side. But it’s an affable and stimulating slice of satire all the same.
At the Assembly Rooms there are strong sets from the increasingly assured Will Smith, railing in his borderline OCD way against the bogusness of cool, and the endearingly low-key Irish comic David O’Doherty, playing inspired songs on his knackered old mini-keyboard. Displaying a hitherto hidden musical bent is the character act Count Arthur Strong, whose attempts to turn his life into a musical are undermined by his own dyspeptic decrepitude. It’s uneven but stunningly performed, and studded with moments of genius.
The Irish comic Andrew Maxwell (Pleasance Courtyard) delivers a brilliantly sustained trio of travellers’ tales in his show Round Twilight. It’s not his most ambitious show, but it’s probably his most entertaining. And finally the Aussie comic Brendon Burns (Pleasance Dome) is finishing off his Brendon v Burnsy trilogy in style. This is the story of how he faced up to addictions to love, sex, drugs and drink with a month in a mental institution. And while his transgressive self-analysis won’t ice everyone’s cake, Burns is near his best after last year’s so-so second instalment. Even at an extended 80 minutes, it goes by in a flash. And how many shows can you say that about?
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Pleasance box office: 0131-556 6550. The Stand: 0131-558 7272. Assembly Rooms: 0131-226 2428