Review: The Thursday Show, The Stand

If only there were some superlative to describe the increasing difficulty involved in actually getting to The Stand these days. Let’s think: it’s incredible, in the heart of Edinburgh.

* * *

Never mind; the hale and hearty Thursday night crowd that did manage to negotiate the York Place barricades are richly rewarded with two hours of, give or take, top whack stand-up fun.

An unexpectedly rich seam of front row daftness allows the excellent compere Joe Heenan to wander into cyborg country quicker than anyone might reasonably have expected.

First act David Whitely treads a fine line in laconic filth, staying the right side of nasty for the most part and deploying more than a few great punchlines.

Newcomer Becky Price has a nice line in wordplay and linguistic gags. Delivery was a little rushed, but there were a lot of good lines in her routine, and there’s a nice show potentially in the offing.

Keir McAllister is a funny stand up, also with some great lines and routines – well worth catching and eminently quotable. Felt like he was in a hurry tonight, getting to some punchlines before they were quite ready, trying to squeeze too many bits into a 20 minute slot, but some cracking routines are developing nicely.

Headliner Rob Deering does the sort of musical comedy which, if done badly, plummets right to the bottom of the old star-o-meter. There are puns and parodies aplenty, with music and words coming together to cue up an assortment of daft punchlines. Marvin Gaye, Eric Clapton and, on several occasions, George Michael are among those whose songs and lyrics get a fun makeover, with beatboxes and footpedals put to good use.

It’s freezing and dark outside, the clocks go back any minute. So, before all that, there are funny acts on at The Stand this weekend, and it’s dry and cosy, so get on down with Derring and company for a fine night’s comedy.