Edinburgh Fringe comedy reviews: Nic Sampson: Yellow Power Ranger | Grace Mulvey: Tall Baby + more

Nic Sampson: Yellow Power Ranger | Avalon

Nic Sampson: Yellow Power Ranger ★★★★

Assembly Roxy (Outside) (Venue 139) until 25 August

Kiwi comic Nic Sampson crafted a cult hit with his 2022 Fringe debut based on the weird and wonderful details of the 1904 Olympic marathon.

And he more than matches that show's storytelling prowess with this frequently hilarious follow-up, blurring fact and fiction, and spun from his own teen experience of starring in the international television phenomenon, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Regrettably, by the time Sampson got involved, the once hugely successful show was on its 14th season and desperately recycling and contriving ideas, throwing whatever gimmicks and absurd storylines it could at the screen in a failing attempt to remain relevant. But that's something his character can absolutely relate to.

We're catching up with him at a Comic Con meet and greet appearance many years later, clinging to the last vestiges of his fame, milking the fans for whatever dollar he can extract, with the thinnest veneer of confidence in his artistic capabilities, having conceived another direction for the franchise to take.

Yellow Power Ranger derives plenty of laughs simply from playing the old clips, with Sampson appreciating that he often only requires minimal, straight-faced commentary, the series' creaky effects, leaden narrative and his own youthfully exuberant acting effectively mocking themselves.

But around this sold gold kernel of comedy, he's forged a slick, multimedia portrayal of a fading performer on their uppers, yearning to get the old gang of Rangers back together, with some unfinished romantic and professional business to attend to.

His persona is simultaneously one of pretentious artist, with his Mark Wahlberg-style intense daily itinerary and literary ambitions, struggling entrepreneur persecuted by birds of prey and shameless showbusiness sell-out, cynically whoring himself in Cameo videos.

Though often dementedly, high-energy funny, with some inspired audience interaction, the show features a memorable representation of deluded, pathetic manhood at its core.

Jay Richardson

Grace Mulvey: Tall Baby ★★★

Assembly Roxy (Outside) (Venue 139) until 25 August

Although it appears she was only beset by a slightly nasty foot injury, Irish comic Grace Mulvey felt the trauma and completely uprooted her life two years ago, moving to London, with decidedly mixed results.

At 35, her belated attempts to adult have met with only partial success, the world of online dating replete with pitfalls. And she quickly became the victim of half-hearted crime.

Nevertheless, the garrulously charming and open stand-up has found a job in which she gets to deploy her gift of the gab and embrace her inner leprechaun, goading resistant Brits to prove their British citizenship with an immigrant's relish.

Consistently, extrovertedly funny on a superficial level, Mulvey picks you up and takes you on the journey of her reinvention, her relatability exemplified by the cohort of bottomless brunch friends that she vividly depicts, with each having an archetypal but strongly sketched role within the group.

After a time though, deeper issues emerge. And although Mulvey is leery of producing a certain kind of bleak narrative for her Fringe debut, preferring to keep it chattily conversational, she does right by her psychological wounds while keeping the show light, unwilling to check her projected resurgence.

Perhaps reflecting where she is in her life right now, Tall Baby feels like she's in a holding pattern, with all the attributes to be a top comic, just waiting for her arrested development to free her up to truly flourish.

Jay Richardson

Will Owen: Like, Nobody's Watching ★★★

Assembly George Square (The Crate) (Venue 8) until 25 August

Obsessed with, and possessed by the spirit of reality television, Will Owen leaves and breathes the likes of The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, delivering a camply energetic celebration of the genre.

Yet for all he tyrannically foists this showbusiness interest onto his family, with his sister operating his tech no less, and the four spirited young boys that he babysits, it's the judgemental aspect that truly appeals to his withering personality. Tending to express this with narrowed eyes and scornful, wickedly cutting lines, he has a very funny refrain of metaphorically voting out and banishing anyone who annoys him.

Although the audience interactive elements are relatively few, they never quite catch fire in the way he obviously hopes, though he probably requires a roomful of similar talent show addicts for it to have the desired effect.

Regardless, and in lieu of him ever having a proper, adult relationship, from his job on reception for a blokeish plumbing firm, to the wisdom he imparts to his young charges, there's a strong sense of Owen learning to express and take pride in himself, even if it's heavily tongue-in-cheek when it comes to him being a gay role model.

And despite the flashes of vulnerability, he has snarling charisma to burn and will likely go much further than this decent, 7/10 Fringe debut.

Jay Richardson

Louise Atkinson: She’s Got the Look ★★

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Venue 24) until 25 August

I’m reluctant to write a review of this show, given that Louise Atkinson has spent the last seven years fulminating about a comment made about her in a comedy competition: “Sounds good, looks a mess.”

If she wants to fix this phrase in the minds of her audience forever she does a good job.  She must repeat it 200 times in the course of the show. She also has a tendency to yell punchlines at the audience which is counterproductive.

Atkinson is trying to make a point about body image and how negative comments can stay with you forever, but I really wished she had managed to move on from this single criticism. Show business is full of people who will notice and comment on the way you look and this kind of obsessing over other people’s opinions doesn’t bode well.

I was quite interested when she started talking about witches - apparently she hosts a comedy/fairytale podcast which sounds intriguing. And I have to say I admired the way she dealt with a sympathetic audience member who kept audibly reassuring her and telling her she looked OK. She was right.  She looks fine.

Claire Smith

Kiran Saggu: Slacks ★★★

Underbelly, Bristo Square (Clover) (Venue 302) until 26 August

Cynically sardonic and with an appealing world-weariness beyond her years, Kiran Saggu is an American of British-Indian parentage, currently living in London.

The relative elusiveness of her identity, never truly fitting in anywhere, borne of privilege but no arts industry nepo baby, inform a shiftless, indolent character when it comes to dating and her career. Certainly, a stray remark on her social media allowed the Daily Mail to concoct just such a clickbait snapshot of her.

And she's still smarting from the experience, a rare straightforwardly sincere expression of emotion from a stand-up that otherwise keeps herself buttoned up behind cool, aloof attitude.

Generally dismissive of the English men she's deigned to date, she's only insecure about one aspect of her features in a single specific circumstance. But she has experienced racism and misconceptions about her faith background. And when she alights upon Britain's colonial legacy and the US and this country's treatment of immigrants, it's with sharp intelligence and well-targeted swipes.

Saggu always keeps the audience at a distance, offering only flashes of vulnerability and heartfelt admission. But she's definitely got an unforced charisma and knack for a cutting putdown, making Slacks a compelling Fringe debut.

Jay Richardson

Timmy Booth's Manhole ★★

Just the Tonic at the Caves (Venue 88) until 25 August

Timmy has a loop pedal and sort of knows how to use it. So he does, rather a lot. His show hangs - or, rather, dangles - on the important men in his life and the influence they had on him.

Timmy has the ingenuous friendliness of the mildly inebriated as he wanders through a gentle - bordering on the vague - hour of therapy and golf, North Carolina and terrible business ideas.

It is an oddly balanced show, in which most of the 'comic meat' seems to be at the end, and suggests there is a better performer here.

Kate Copstick