Comedy review: Red Raw

Published on Tuesday 17 November 2009 08:56

Red Raw The Stand Edinburgh * * * *

COMEDY gold, pure, glistening comedy gold, was burnished last night at the Stand's regular Monday night Red Raw session in a show which hit all the right highs and missed out on the lows on its way to a brilliant finale from Simon Munnery.

The Red Raw formula is to pitch up-and-coming talent with more established acts trying out new material.

It's a combination which usually guarantees that the 2 entry charge doesn't feel too expensive. And when the new acts don't quite measure up then the compere is there to help smooth over the gaps, while the old-hands provide a few great moments.

Last night's new acts did measure up, however. Compere Chris Henry didn't need to paper over any cracks but had time to get on with making his own – and three of the acts were good enough to headline themselves. Not to mention the actual headliner, who overran by half an hour but still left the crowd wanting more.

Which is not to say that everything was absolutely perfect. Comedy is all about timing, contrast and knowing when to leave the stage.

Deek Jackson did not open auspiciously. In black suit and shades, his paranoid patter could have come straight from an Anarchist text book.

But if you can have concrete poetry and post-deconstruction in art, then his militant Syndicalism was valid. And he was brief.

So too was Leona Irvine, a blonde Irish lesbian who succeeded in delivering some of the bluest lines imaginable. Extreme material, again, but funny and shocking without apologising or doing so to make herself look big.

They were a perfect contrast to Alex Maple who started limply but succeeded in working up to a full-throttle frenzy of laughter with a rap about the contradictions of religion which was so strong and fast you didn't dare laugh for missing a line.

Confident in delivery but in need of material, second section opener Katy-Louise Pritchett also provided the necessary contrast for what was to come. Regular, Alan Sharp, proved that the England's West Country pessimism is alive and well with a couple of tryouts that he could have let run on. Adam Mitchell, dropped a quartet of gags and left before anyone could get tired, while Mickey Adams hit out with a ten-minute round of strong, sustained Glaswegian humour.

Which just left Mr Simon Munnery to round off the night. Packing in more wordplay than is technically seemly, his one-line gags are what you might call thinkers, while his shaggy dog stories are built to tolerate all manner of audience asides, interruptions and his own, delightful, flights of thoughtful fancy.

Munnery, who is famous for his Alternative AGM shows during the Fringe, returns to the Stand tonight for an "Extraordinary AGM". If he can keep his form from last night's show, then the audience are in for a truly great time.

Run ended

Your reviews

'This was the best Red Raw I can recall'

Bill Shaw, 44, account executive, Craigmount: "I have been a regular Monday night attendee for five years and this was the best Red Raw I can recall – ever. There was an excellent variety of acts. A couple of acts were a bit raw - as the name suggests. The chap Alex Maple was proper headline act standard and Alan Sharp was again a headline standard. Simon Munnery was excellent."

Gordon Brown, 22, student, Portobello: "The Glaswegian guy, Mickey Adams, was pretty awesome. He wasn't off the mark and he was clean but funny. The first guy bombed. It was a rant without any punchiness, there was no story-line to the jokes. It was cringe-worthy, more his opinions than jokes. But overall it was really good value to come."