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, encouraged, treasured and, sometimes, held up as a standard. Again, don't be shy. This is neither the time nor the place.
The Revue's reputation precedes it to the extent that even now, on their opening gig, the place is at near-capacity. Here, student comics range from slightly mismatched and rambling to fast-paced, potty-mouthed and polished to near-perfection. Our headliner Hari Sriskantha is relaxed enough to wander into the larger stages of the Pleasance Grand any day now, and has in fact won a Chortle Student Comedy award, but still stays faithful to his Revue upbringing, his free shows, and his PhD in physics.
These are comedic careers in their early stages, but each holds promise, particularly the slick-talking Becky Price, who bounces jokes off her own degree subject and launches her set into the real world with expert timing.
It's worth remembering that every comedian from your Walshes to your McIntyres, Boyles to Carrs started out here, in the back room of some pub, treasuring every laugh, praying the audience will not be shy.
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