Jenni Ajderian

WOMEN     SPOKEN WORD     FREE     DISCUSSION     POETRY      Yes, we've added in some extra boxes just so we can tick them here, since this year's Fringe programme contains a whole section devoted to the still hazy title of Spoken Word acts. First things first- DO NOT BE SCARED. Yes, You, the one who remained a wallflower during our forays into improvised comedy, You who skirted round the Physical Theatre section of the programme, You who baulks at anything involving a 'fascinating real-life story' or puppets (they are creepy). Yes, You is, in this respect, Me, but we've gone past that now. My first Spoken Word event was attended on a whim and I'm very glad I went. Ranging from rap to epic poetry, this section is small for now, but promises to bloom in future years. A large amount of the performers here give their words away for free, and the smaller venues they occupy create a more intimate atmosphere for any performance. A lot of first-timers, but some o

UNEXPECTED     PLAY     WOMEN     NEWBIES     LOCAL     IMPROV      There is an award, I learned this year, for Comic Originality, which bares the infamous name of Malcolm Hardee, a comedian who in life drove tractors into neighbouring performances who he thought to be too loud, and in death continues to encourage 'alternative' comedy and 'cunning stunts' similar to his own. The award is not given to run-of-the-mill stand-ups. No Michael McIntyres here, no family-friendly stuff and no knock-knock jokes either. We've already discussed the darkness in comedians in Mark Olver's Dancing About Architecture , and in acts like these it gets onto the stage. The line between dark humour and just plain darkness is so fine as to be almost imperceptible, so these acts can be forgiven for teetering over to the other side every now and then... Casual Violence: A Kick In The Teeth      Winner of the Hardee Comic Originality award last year, Casual Violence are bac

FREE     WOMEN     NEWBIES     UNEXPECTED     LOCALS      I've told you before about the merits of seeing free shows, and to that I wish to add with three of my favourites from this year's selection. It's worth knowing that the Free Fringe is split between two promoters, the directors of which apparently have beef with one another from a mysterious event that happened a few years ago (Laughing Horse hit on PBH's mum, or possibly vice versa), and as such there may be twice as many free shows to go to as you may expect. Programmes are organised by time, which is a godsend if you just have a couple of hours to spare and fancy a free giggle. Hurt and Anderson      Since we're vastly under-represented as a gender in the realms of comedy, I've been trying to head to female comedians' shows in particular this Fringe, but have still avoided them if they sound awful, or make a big deal about the whole not-having-a-penis thing. The write-up for this show conta

CHAT          UNEXPECTED          HEADLINERS       Once you've seen X amount of stand-ups and sketch shows and improvised comedy troupes, patterns start to emerge. This is an art form, like sculpture or baroque music, and it has its precedents, classics, techniques and stories repeated time and time again. Comedians are a clever bunch, and they know all of this. Talk to one and you'll feel this experience beaming through, as well as a real love of their chosen profession.      Sit four of them down for an hour with a talented host, such as in Mark Olver's month-long chat show Dancing About Architecture, and all of this comes to light in a way it never can by simply watching Dave of an afternoon. Olver's guests vary by the day, and many of them are well-known faces on the comedy circuit- Seann Walsh and Gareth Richards today, Russel Howard on Saturday- and all seem genuinely enthusiastic about having an intimate discussion with their small audience in the dark of

CHAT          IMPROV          WOMEN          UNEXPECTED      It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Fringe show must be in want of an audience. Since the best form of advertising seems to be word of mouth, it makes sense to promoters to give out a small number of free tickets in the initial stages of a show's run, so that seats are filled, laughs shared, and memories made. In these early stages it is therefore worthwhile for an audience member to not have a plan, to go out of an evening and see what you may stumble upon, even if it ends up being just a cheeky pint in the shadow of a huge up-turned cow.      On just such a night, a friend and I stumbled into Monkey Toast: the Improvised Chat Show, imported from Canada by David Shore. The format of such a show seemed alien at first (which helped to make it all the more intriguing) and really lent itself to the whole getting-bums-on-seats idea, but seemed to contain some kind of mix between chat and improv, though the adher

FAVOURITES          PLAY                   'Crying with laughter' doesn't quite cover it. If I smoked, I would have needed a cigarette, but instead settled for a walk, a twix and bashing out a review. Like the second album, the second Fringe show is a difficult thing to pull off, but somehow from Holmes and Watson last year to the crack team of Con Artists they portray this year, Max and Ivan have kept the standard breathtakingly high with a show so impeccable it's difficult to know exactly where to start.      Having developed a talent for moulding their two faces into a crowd of characters, Max and Ivan fly full-throttle into their double-act, with not two but eight main characters, each distinguished by accent, pose, expression and relationship to one another, so that a six-way hotel phonecall is pulled off astonishingly well with a certain sweaty concentration. Even this early in the run the show is flawless, snapping forwards and backwards through time with the

FREE          STAND-UP          WOMEN          LOCAL          NEWBIES      If you're at the festival early in the month you may have to see someone's first gig. Don't be shy. Someone has to. The best place is the free Fringe circuit, where you can find some hidden gems and not have to pay a penny (and if it's really bad, walk out and don't worry about wasting the ticket price).      Ticking five of our boxes is the Edinburgh Revue's first show. Otherwise known as the Edinburgh University Comedy Society, the group provides an open discussion-based forum for comedic students to distract themselves from their studies, and has given us an hour of free afternoon entertainment on Grassmarket. The hour is comprised of four steadily improving comedians and a compere whose demeanor is an ever-expanding ball of energy, and the venue is small with forgiving acoustics. Some visual gags simply don't work, but in these corners of pubs each laugh is welcomed, encourage

     This time last year I spent my August running around Edinburgh reviewing Fringe Festival shows for the free publication Three Weeks- a kind of pop-up magazine custom built for the Fringe that endeavors to cover everything listed in the festival programme, from free one-man-shows to Ukelele orchestras, Shakespeare to Interpretive Dance and huge exhibitions at the National Gallery. In exchange for free tickets I turned in a total of 68 painstakingly hand-crafted reviews, got about seven hours' sleep a week and ruined a pair of converses staggering across cobbled streets through sun, wind, rain, slush, insistent flyerers and rumors of a Londonian riot.      This year, I'm in Edinburgh for a scant three days at the start of the festival, but last year's old habits die hard.  In lieu of the aforementioned free writing gig, I give you Three Days of the Fringe, where I will attempt to sample the comedic essentials as much as possible. To get a good taste of the Comedy side