By Kate Copstick

Published 10th Aug 2023, 10:59 BST

Updated 10th Aug 2023, 11:10 BST

Trevor Lock: You Are An Elephant And All Your Friends Are Blind ***

Voodoo Rooms (Venue 68) until 27 August

Dickie Richards: Sexual Tyrannosaur 2023 **

Globe Bar (Venue 161) until 27 August

Jack Traynor and Daniel Petrie ***

JTT@The Caves (Venue 88) until 27 August

Angles of the North ****

Trevor Lock: You Are an Elephant and All Your Friends Are Blind

Southsider (Venue 148) until 27 August

So You Think You're Funny?

Gilded Balloon Teviot

I am not surprised that Trevor Lock has a full on migraine which has engulfed him for the past couple of days. But he takes to the stage in The Voodoo Rooms (mic not working so the gig becomes acoustic) so as not to disappoint his people. And we are his people.

He is obviously unwell, but You Are An Elephant and All Your Friends are Blind turns into a gently enjoyable hour with an interesting and interested audience. The show's title is taken from the old Indian folktale about the blind men who get to 'see' an elephant for the first time – one stands by the trunk, one by the ear and one by the tail and so, of course, they all 'see' a completely different elephant.

Yet again, Trevor creates something that is fun and funny out of nothing but an idea and a migraine. In he final section of the show (which is in a way, by popular request), he reads one of his own poems, a brilliant piece called Identity. It, alone, is worth all of these stars (and more), even if it had been the only thing he did for us today.

Dickie Richards has a full show, packed with one liners and every other short form joke you can think of. There is so much content here, there are changes of tempo, changes of joke form, and the subject matter is right across the board from sex through politics to Willie Wonka.

In the hands of many comics, there are about three shows here. Dickie is not the most charismatic of performers but he seems like a nice guy, he keeps the jokes coming and we cannot complain that the show is not, as promised at the start, very silly. If what you want is straightforward, old fashioned laughs, and plenty of 'em, this would be the show for you.

Daniel Petrie and Jack Traynor split the bill down at the Caves, and this is good news for audiences as we get the best of both young comics. They are impressively relaxed and likeable.

Daniel is a freshly qualified doctor, left handed and confidently low-key in style. His material is wide ranging, but confident whether talking Eurovision, why hospitals are like prisons, or playing with Schrodinger's Cat and the infinite number of monkeys (which gets surprisingly dark for such a nice boy).

Jack Traynor has a wide ranging set that gets laughs from Kelpies and ketamine, his travels in Thailand and his surprising obsession with Susan Boyle. He is likeably down to earth, with a generous appreciation of Glasgow audiences (even the ones serving at his Majesty's Pleasure - one of Traynor's regular gigs as part of the Wholesome Prison Blues Collective).

His time onstage turns comedy corners adeptly and you will be impressed how well advice on dealing with comedowns sits alongside his unlikely fondness for Jo Malone candles.

Angles of the North (sic) is another two hander and the room at Southsider is packed. Natalie Durkin opens with some low key crowd work, but really grows on us and by the time she is having her coil put in and discussing Insta dick pix she owns the room.

Then, unexpectably, she unleashes a voice that drops jaws. We get original songs, love songs 'translated' into Northern and fans of gravy are in for a real treat. Having said which, do not think that this woman doesn't understand a nice posh 'jus'. This is a lovely, relaxed, low-key set. For a moment I thought I was on Tyneside. Greggs a really missing a trick if they don't sponsor this woman.

We are well warmed up by the time Phil Henderson gets going. And he is impressive across a slew different comedy styles : we get great punnage, anecdotage, masterbating monkey based philosophy and Matthew McConaughey. Henderson pretty much nails them all.

So far Phil has extracted my loudest laugh of the Fringe (a breathtakingly dark gag which just comes out of nowhere and hits) and has one of those little gems of a moment about the censorious nature of comedy nowadays that comes close to a perfect laugh. The two are a great combination. Get there early, the room is tiny but the laughs are big.

I have been one of the judges on the heats of So You Think You're Funny since Karen Koren had her natural hair colour. I do not think I have seen as impressive a line up as I do this time. If the future of comedy can be like this then we are going to be ok.

There is no flag planting and there is no virtue signalling, there is just comedy and smarts from six new voices who happen to be from across the gender and sexuality spectrum. Frances Clarke-Murray is at a new level for trans comedy. She is relaxed and friendly, funny and fun. Just what we need. And she took on opening the show with amazing aplomb.

Aindreas Fallowen Verbruugen is young and smart, gay and glad to be. This is fresh stuff in a shop window that is getting tired and predictable. Gabby Macpherson has already learned to command silence, and that is quite extraordinary at this stage. She is impressively deadpan and dead funny.

Liz Norman, the heat winner, is a joy to watch. 53 and rocking the 'I'm wearing an old cardigan 'cos I am me' look, she establishes a best friends relationship with her audience within the first minute. Which is incredible. She is a worthy winner. If you can possibly see any of these women, please do.

Karen says all the heats are like this. Can't wait to see next week's. Watch this space.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe comedy reviews: Trevor Lock: You Are an Elephant and All Your Friends Are Blind | Dickie Richards: Sexual Tyrannosaur | Jack Traynor and Daniel Petrie | Angles of the North | So You Think You're Funny?