Search form

Shop
Total: £0.00
Item Cost
Your shopping cart is empty.

Search form

Home > News > Blogs > Voices from the Spectrum > Sarah at The Fringe

Sarah at The Fringe

Sarah Dickinson

Sarah Dickinson is supported in our Lothian Area Outreach Service. A big fan of comedy, Sarah attended several events at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Here she shares with us her reviews of the gigs she went to.

Jason Byrne ‘You Name the Show’ Monday 4th August 9pm-10pm
 
I thought the gig was great and very well thought out. Jason Byrne’s idea behind the performance was that the audience would decide on the name of each gig throughout the duration of the Fringe.
 
At the beginning of the gig, Jason came on with a swinging ball. Everyone was whooping and cheering. Jason also incorporated a big wheel into the show. This determined what he would talk about. Topics discussed included his wife and Scottish people.

The voiceover at the beginning of the gig Jason asked a member of the audience if he could use their iPod for the walk on music. The music was really weird and reminded me of Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra. Jason said ‘What the......’ The audience laughed and I found it really funny.
 
At the end of the gig, 2 members of the audience participated and wrote down suggestions for what the name of the gig could be. Jason picked ‘ET bend over’.
 
It was great. I gave the gig 9/10


 
Mark Watson ‘Flaws’ Tuesday 5th August 9pm-10pm
 
I thought the gig was great and very well thought out.
 
Before the gig started Mark came onto the stage and was running on a treadmill. It was recommended by his therapist that he exercise for 20 minutes a day to alleviate feelings of anxiety. He decided that there was no better way to do this that run before his gigs and when they were finished.

The gig was so busy and as a result a member of the audience kept falling off his seat. Mark suggested that he sit on the stage instead. I thought this was really funny.
 
Mark explained that he had experienced a break down whilst he attended the Thomas the Tank Engine premiere with his son. He re-enacted this on stage with audience participation. He had the theme music blaring and threw whistles and balloons into the audience for them to blow and pop. This was over stimulating and really loud but this did not bother me and found it funny alongside the rest of the audience.
 
At the end of the gig Mark went back onto his treadmill for ten minutes whilst the audience were leaving the venue.
 
The show was great. I give the gig 9/10


 
Jimeoin ‘Is It’ Monday 11th August 7.30pm-8.30pm
 
I thought the gig was very good and very well thought out.
 
Jimeoin came to the stage and chatted about various subjects which included; saying hello to somebody, pubs, his wife and his experiences travelling. I liked jokes about the pubs the best. They really helped me to imagine what my local pubs would be like.
 
The gig was at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) which I haven't been to before. It was like a modern lecture theatre and conference room. I would go back to see a gig there in the future.
 
At the end he played made up songs and lyrics on his electric guitar. They were really funny.
 
The show was great. I gave it 9/10


 
Nina Conti ‘Work in Progress’ Thursday 14th August 6.55pm-7.55pm
 
I thought the gig was good and very well thought out.
 
At the start Nina came on the stage with a ventriloquist monkey in a bag. She picked members of the audience and put monkey masks on them. The members of the audience who were wearing the masks participated by doing the voices of the ventriloquist monkey that Nina had on stage. I didn’t really understand the jokes but the bits that I did were really funny.
 
At the end Nina was making an impression of a Monkey which was quite funny and the audience were laughing.
 
The venue was a letdown because the seats were hard and uncomfortable.
 
The gig was not bad. I gave it 8/10.


 
Comedy Gala 2014 Tuesday 19th August 7.30pm-10.30pm
 
I thought that the gig was great and very well planned and thought out.
 
The gig had 2 parts; Seann Walsh hosted the first half and Kevin Bridges hosted the second half.
 
Special guests included Mark Watson, Andrew Laurence, Nish Kumar, Andrew Ryan Pierre Novellie and Des Clarke.

My favourite comedian on the night was Des Clarke, I really understood his sense of humour and found his jokes really funny. I could relate to his jokes because he was Scottish. For example, both Des Clarke and Kevin Bridges were talking about the Scottish referendum.

My least favourite was James Acaster because I felt that his jokes were not that funny in comparison to the other comedians.
 
The show was at the Edinburgh Playhouse. The show was raising money for Waverley Care and was being recorded for BBC3. I even got to see myself on the television!  
 
The show was great and for a good cause. I gave it 9/10.

Archive