Thursday 24 August 2017

Funny Women, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe

Does what it says on the tin.  A line up of women comedians that changes daily.  On this occasion the host was Amy Annette did the audience interaction bit that hosts do and talked about lying.  A pleasantly amiable introduction to the hour.

The first of the four acts was Emily Lloyd-Saini who finds that, being half Indian, the TV roles she gets offered are predominantly medical - doctor, nurse, even vet.  It might be stereotyping but at least her Indian father is proud of her for almost making it....  There were several good gags in the routine and I could happily have listened to her for longer.

I reviewed The Kagools earlier this week, and although this short set had much in common with their full show it remains hysterically funny to watch, not least because of the audience interaction.  The best set of the show and I even got a hug from a Kagool - albeit leaving one side of my face covered in salsa....

Effusive Australian Sarah Benetto has her own ways of testing British reserve, and testing the limits of what it takes to get someone to intervene.  She holds pretend phone conversations on buses that everyone else pretends not to listen to but is secretly horrified by.  The imaginary chats were well structured, building up the tension and adding a few twists along the way so there were plenty laughs.

Last act of the day was air stewardess Maria, aka Alice Fraser.  The faux-Latin persona began to drag a bit, but was saved by a very funny commentary on an air safety demonstration film.  The character needs more depth though, so I'm not sure what her full show would be like for quality.

Who and what you get on the day will vary greatly, but it's one of those shows that's useful for discovering talents you might not otherwise come across.  There was nobody awful in this line up, but it did highlight, once again, that The Kagools have definite star quality.

Funny Women is on in the Gilded balloon at 12.00 until 28 August.

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