Review: Comedy Variety Show - Edinburgh City Cafe

You know you’re doing something wrong when people dump you by sending a copy of Stewart Lee’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate in the post.

Troubled relationships and a difficult Catholic upbringing formed a chunk of host Keara Murphy’s inbetween-act musings, which helped soothe a fractious gathering, bolstered by a pair of badly behaved squaddies and a front-row diner who fled once his last chip had been swallowed.

Murphy is the highly experienced comic providing a platform for new stand-ups in this regular Monday showcase in the City Café basement. Nervous enthusiasm is the order of the day among the nine acts, who braved a crowd intent on either staring at the floor or slurring out lines that presumably sounded funny in their heads.

Of those who fared best in often trying circumstances, were James McIntosh, who soldiered on with three new fillings and a brace of material about strange phobias, while Frazer Edwards stirred up some pleasingly daft one-liners with cheap shots at Adele and Jordan.

Sandy Beutelle deadpanned his way to success, with a decidedly off-kilter and extremely shaggy story about his father’s connection to Gerry Adams, which ultimately was a foil for some sensational punning.

Providing topical musical entertainment was the brilliantly named Sensational Alex Salmond Gastric Band, thrashing out tunes about Fred Goodwin, Tommy Sheridan and a Dad’s Army spoof about independence.

Rating: ***