Edinburgh Fringe 2024 Preview – Part Five
From thinking person's comedians to classic clowns...
Alex Kealy
Alex Kealy has been building up quite a head of steam for himself in recent years as one of comedy’s smartest stand-ups. In his 2022 show he tackled the rise of Big Tech, now he is back with a show about Fear. 2024 is set to be the best year of Alex’s life. Or at least it should be. He is getting married, but as an anxious overthinker he can’t help wondering when it is all going to go pear-shaped. Some call it catastrophising, he calls it “the fear”. We’ve surely all been there in one way or another. But is it possible to overcome the nagging feeling that the good times won’t last?
Maybe, asks Kealy (pictured, © Matt Stronge), our fears are a shared imagination that draws us together to create durable societies and structures that enable our flourishing? Expect jokes fashioned out of his over-examination of coffee machines, the book of Ephesians, duty free shopping, monarchy, how love is like totalitarianism, beach holidays, death, losing your voice, organised religion and chocolate bars that look like little mountain ranges. That sort of thing.
Kealy is a comedy circuit regular and also the co-host of the Gig Pigs podcast, with Ivo Graham, where guests are taken to a live music gig and then give their verdict afterwards. He has written for shows including Mock The Week and The Now Show (though that’s not the reason they were axed) and regularly makes the top jokes of the Fringe lists. If you don’t go you must need your brains tested.
Monkey Barrel, July 29 - August 25 at 16.15.
The Last Laugh
If you want a break from pure stand-up how about some theatre about comedy? In The Last Laugh three of Britain’s all-time comedy greats – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse – meet in a dressing room. Old friends, comedy colleagues and masters of their craft … together they discuss the secret of life, death, and what it means to be funny…really funny.
The Last Laugh is a new play, written and directed by the award-winning Paul Hendy. It is based on Hendy’s short film of the same name which won ‘Best Film’ at Manchester Film Festival, ‘Special Audience Award’ at Oxford Film Festival and ‘Best Comedy Drama’ at The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.
The show stars Edinburgh Fringe legend, Bob Golding, who returns to the festival as Eric Morecambe following his performance as the comedy great in The Olivier Award winning Morecambe by Tim Whitnall, Simon Cartwright, returning to the Fringe as Bob Monkhouse following the 2015 hit The Man Called Monkhouse and Damian Williams, who starred in the 2013 natonal tour Being Tommy Cooper.
I’ll let Hendy explain: “I’ve always been fascinated by what makes something, or more importantly someone, funny, I wrote this piece to examine those very questions and to delve into the mechanics and intricacies behind the comedy. For me, and for many others, it seems, memories of watching these comedy greats on television as a family are seminal childhood memories. These heroes who made children, parents and grandparents all howl with laughter became gods to people like me embarking on a career in entertainment.
I grew spellbound as I wondered what these three men with very different styles and approaches to comedy would say to each other about the pressure of always having to be funny… of always having to have the last laugh. As this year marks the fortieth anniversary of the deaths of great Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe, this play is my love letter to the golden age of comedy.”
Assembly George Square Studios, July 31 - August 25, 13.20.
Ivo Graham
And just to wrap up this latest round-up in a neat bow here’s someone who works with Alex Kealy and has a play as well as a stand-up show at this year’s Fringe. In fact Ivo Graham (picture, © Matt Stronge) must be putting in an early bid for Hardest Working Comic at the Fringe this year, with further activities as listed below.
His main stand-up show is Grand Designs. By his own admission last year’s crack at a game show, Organised Fun, was not his finest hour, so he is setting out to make amends , invoking the spirit of Kevin McCloud surveying a great folly. He knows what a risk this all is, but he also knows that he’s spent the last decade becoming one of the most engaging stand-ups of his generation, a wordsmith with a skilled turn of phrase and a life that hasn’t exactly dried up when it comes to source material.
If you are after something a little more theatical there’s also Graham’s Carousel, a play but a funny one, about parenthood, nostalgia and his determination to run a marathon as fast as he can. Having seen a version in London this year don’t be put off by the word ‘theatre’ - Carousel has all the hallmarks of textbook Graham, from anxiety and introspection to a yearning for happiness and contentment which often seems just out of reach.
And if that’s not enough Graham in your life he’s also hosting some DJ battles with some of the Fringe’s top comics toughing it out on the disco floor.
Ivo Graham: Grand Designs, Pleasance Grand, July 31 - Aug 25, 21.20.
Ivo Graham: Carousel, Assembly, George Square, July 31 - Aug 25, 14.20.
Comedians' DJ Battles, Assembly George Square, 2nd, 9th, 16th Aug & La Belle Angele, Aug 24.
Read more Fringe recommendations here.
The Edinburgh Fringe runs from August 2- 26, previewing from the very end of July. For tickets and more details of all the shows here go to edfringe.com.