From Thursday 27^th to Saturday 29^th April 2006 the headline act at the Stand Comedy Club Edinburgh is Phil Nichol with Jane Mackay as the host, including Tara Flynn and new boy Gus Tawse and either Bruce Fummey or Gary Delaney.

On the Thursday we first saw Jane Mackay who is new to both of us. She is a fairly unique comedienne, not one of the petite ladies we have seen recently. She coped very well with a very vocal and interactive audience. We both found her very funny, but I also found her very, very scary and I certainly won’t be close to the front of any of her shows.

The first act on was Bruce Fummey, a physics teacher from Perthshire. Although not seen by either Geoff or myself, Bruce was part of the 2005 Fringe and is returning in 2006 with an all new show. We both enjoyed him very much he reminded me slightly of Omid Djalili in looks. His topics range from dyslexia, bird ‘flu, London and sizest jokes.   His promotion of the enjoyment of his teaching discipline, includes the importance of experimentation in physics ie guessing the size of the female in the front row not only by visual measurement but by hand estimation.

Bruce only appeared on the Thursday and Gary Delaney is on Friday 28^th and Saturday 29^th April.

The second act of the night was Gus Tawse, an Aberdonian with a broad accent, which however did not seem to create a barrier even if there was a wide geographical distribution within the audience. . His humour is fairly droll, covering the death of his first wife in the snow, by snow shovel, the destruction of his beloved car and its replacement by a brand new one with a cassette! Where can you get modern taped music!!  His final section covered his use of satellite navigation, not perhaps the top of the range model, but the one with an accent he can understand, that of Sean Connery, but it usually ends its instructions with “pull over and ask someone!” An interesting act, certainly one to look out for in the future.

The final act before the second interval was Tara Flynn, this bubbly Irish leprechaun like person is one of these with boundless energy, she switched accents over and over again aurally returning to her native Cork, one which she reports as being aggressive. Her set covered many topics but she finally returned to her accent and the fact that she is the voice of O2 in Ireland. Describing situations she imagines finishing with things she wishes she could have recorded for them.  Although seen by Geoff during previous Fringes she has been seen mainly in Impro shows.  She is a very appealing person and we would both go to see her again.

Finally, last but not least Phil Nichol.  Being known to both of us we were both looking forward to seeing him. Geoff has followed Phil’s stand up career at the Fringe for several years and has always said how talented he is. I, however, have only seen him in plays and particularly after seeing “Zoo Story” in last years Fringe I knew what a superb actor he is. I hadn’t realised that the manic character he portrayed in that play is very similar to his stand up persona.  He is one of these performers frantic, constantly moving, both physically and mentally. I had no idea what a talented musician he is. I know Geoff has mentioned it in the past, but it hadn’t sunk in. His comedy covers every conceivable topic you can think of although one of his continuing themes is picking out an obviously heterosexual male and treating him as an ex lover. Phil has such an innocent appealing grin that you don’t always notice the totally devilish glint in his eyes.

I was left wondering how a show with Phil and Boothby Graffoe would go with them both being excellent musicians and both looking far more innocent than their comedy frequently is. The greatest difference is Phil is manic and Boothby so laid back. Fortunately I have a fairly vivid imagination.

Both Boothby and Phil will be performing in this year’s fringe. Phil is not only doing his act at The Stand Comedy Club, he is also involved in two plays. We hope to get to see all three but exactly who will get to see what we don’t know yet.

We would recommend any of the above performers to lovers of comedy. Plus Phil is so cute!