COMEDY

DAN SODER: SON OF A GARY

Underbelly – Dairy Room

August 1-26th (not 12th) – 7:15pm

2 stars

This is Dan Soder’s debut year here at Edinburgh and I wanted to go in fresh, so purposely did not watch any of his stand-up online before seeing him live.

He strikes me as the “funny guy in a group of friends”. However, in this debut, he doesn’t fully live up to that image.

He introduces himself to the stage as someone who is “more American than monster trucks and food with steroids in it”. An instant turn off. It implies generality, blandness, an overall insipidness that doesn’t get me at all excited for the hour ahead.

Let’s get to the show itself. There are some interesting ideas in Soder’s material. You can tell he’s not new to this game. However, these ideas tend to fall by the wayside in favour of other, more broad gags to please a wider audience. For example, a potentially brilliant routine about ‘levels of dead dad’ is unfortunately not explored as much as hoped.

Soder’s comedy seems to rely on different elements to make the show funny, be that weird noises, strange accents to accentuate the punchlines or drug-related stories. Watching the show, I felt that there were very few times when we really saw Soder’s personality shine through – it would be nice to see something definitively unique about him and his jokes.

It was disappointing that many times throughout the show he kept looking to the audience for validation that he was actually getting laughs. Obviously this is the case for most comedians, but with Soder, it felt a little desperate. Did he even believe his own material at this point? It was hard to tell.

Maybe it’s a cultural difference, maybe it’s just not my type of humour. However, it’s a disappointing debut overall.

COMEDY

LONDON HUGHES: TO CATCH A D*CK

Pleasance Courtyard – Attic

August 1-25th (not 12th) – 8:15pm

Five Stars

When people ask me what I thought of London Hughes’ show “To Catch a D*ck”, the short answer I tell them is that I enjoyed it so much that I immediately went to the box office and booked another ticket for myself for the next day.

The long answer: I’ll share that with you now…

As I entered the Attic at the Pleasance Courtyard, Beyoncé was blasting through the speakers – the first sign that this would be an absolute banger of a show. Hughes walks in the room to her adoring crowd with a swagger and confidence that is absolutely infectious, going from 0-10 as soon as she steps in the room – her room.

From the outset, Hughes lets everyone know that the show is filthy and that the “D*ck” in the title is not short for Richard (unless her grandmother is in the audience, of course). As she powers through just over a decade of “dick catching”, the audience is absolutely engaged. When telling an absolutely word perfect routine about a man she dated who…let’s say ‘enjoyed’ her feet, I looked around at the audience. A bunch of girls in the front row, mouths slightly open, nodding along to the story, hanging on to her every word. By the end of that story, even I gave out an audible gasp.

As I wrote on my Twitter just after the show, London Hughes is the best live performer I’ve ever seen at the Fringe. No question. She owns the stage with ease and with a passion that I’ve never seen from another performer. Her personality shines so brightly through her material. She’s like the best friend you dream of having who’s always telling the funniest story at the party.

After seeing her show the first time, I immediately phoned my friend to tell him that I must see the show with him. After seeing it a second time, I realised that London Hughes really is that damn good.

See this show by any means necessary. London Hughes will be a name to remember.

COMEDY

PAUL ‘SILKY’ WHITE: THE SOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

The Stand Comedy Club – Stand Four

August 1-11th – 5:55pm

Four Stars

If you had told me that I’d be spending an hour chortling along to a man “looking like a haunted toe” (his own description) playing songs on a guitar, I would have said…well, it’s the Fringe, I probably would have believed you, to be honest.

But that is indeed how I spent my evening yesterday – seeing the wonderful Paul ‘Silky’ White.

Silky openly admits at the beginning of his show that there is no narrative structure to his set, a claim that, coming out of any other comedian’s mouth, could be seen as alarming. He also lets us know that there is no way that anyone of his shows can ever be the same as another, mainly due to there being a different audience each day.

This is where Silky absolutely shines: audience interaction. He is a master of improvisation and reels off person specific gags as though reciting written material. His razor sharp wit with several, rather rowdy, audience members shows that he is indeed a seasoned professional. Not only that, he truly appreciates a paying audience by making them feel included in the show, without humiliation or embarrassment.

In terms of material, Silky weaves through funny stories from home as well as his professional life before moving on to his signature guitar songs with new classics such as “Cat in a Pram”, the all-new banger “Pubes”, as well as old hits such as “I Love You So Much” (all non-official titles, of course.)

Paul ‘Silky’ White is a man who clearly loves comedy, loves his audiences and loves making people smile. The hour absolutely flew by. His shows may not be the same due to a changing audience, but if Silky himself stays the same, he will consistently be one of the best.