Edinburgh Laughter Bulletin 10/02/25 - 02/03/2025
Paul McDaniel / Pete Carson / Shannon Brookes
Gig Report: Open Comedy at Artisan Roast
Deirdre Robertson is about to do her first gig in front of members of the public. A middle aged lady with a smiley countenance and a singular outlook, she betrays zero apprehension. Sure, she is squirrely, all over the shop, but in a bewitching way. Within seconds of introducing herself she is leaning backwards over the front row onto me. Telling me to pull something out, offering a fist of her hair. I have never pulled a stranger’s hair from behind before… at least never fully clothed and in public. I am confused, everyone is confused. Turns out Deirdre had a costume hidden behind her cardigan. A cowl as visual punchline. I am slow. Everyone is slow. We need to get on Deirdre Robertson’s unique wavelength before her five minutes is up and she is flashed off by phone torch.
Robertson betrays minimal signs of new act nerves and small fealty to stock new act formulas. She has put together a fast moving, erratic five that is all her. Imagine if the pub on Summerisle from The Wicker Man was hosting a comedy night. Robertson might be the headliner. A one night stand involving ‘toothy jaws’ and ‘white jobbies’ baffles the young crowd. Her trying to cheerily explain things only confuses them further. The chaos is hypnotic. She is on to something truly compelling this early on. Will she end up being a female Mark Silcox? Or a mature Marjolein Robertson? Either way, she needs to keep exploring the form and travelling the humorous path less travelled. Intriguing.
That is the tombola joy of a well-run open mic night. A genuine newbie / outsider feels at home here. Can flourish. Open Comedy is an award winning scratch night taking place every Tuesday in a two shop front cafe in Leith. A closed cafe packed to the gills with acts, mates, locals and broad minded comedy fans. Closed, but don’t worry, as you can pop to the neighbouring craft bottle shop if you want a tinnie. Though the owner of the nearby posh offy had just been shoplifted from when I got there, and was distractedly frustrated that the police car stuck in traffic outside wasn’t for him. So we can all agree the atmosphere is honestly makeshift. 15 hopefuls, three sections, a lot of notebooks, a variety of voice note apps, a bucket at the end.
Somebody match fit and ready for longer sets is Shannon Brookes. A Brisbane refugee with a discombobulating enthusiasm and faux naivety. Her angular arm movements and expressive face match her body popping verbal rhythms. The material is really honed to chime with her fast paced, exuberant style. Only someone who has put the miles and hours in can play at this volume and these speeds. There is a working dichotomy between sunniness and edge here. Her tales of tarot card incest and awful geography need to find weekend crowds.
Also from further afield is Italian Lenny Walker. Sure, he showed his bona fides by comparing his look to a celebrity. A surefire blast-off line to get them laughing. After that overused trick, though, we were all on a high wire act. I suspect his retelling of the plot of the new Bob Dylan biopic was being improvised as he went along. He hit plenty of noise just noodling around with the rough idea. His personality and ability to read the punters’ reactions created the laughter. Joke wise he only had a few punchlines to reach that I would guess were pre-planned. In poker, you can play the cards or play the player. In stand-up, Lenny Walker chose to play the audience rather than his material. And it worked a treat. Maybe the A Complete Unknown synopsis was lightning in a bottle, a one night only bit. Walker has definite shades of the brilliant Daniel Simonsen, so witnessing him feel his way through a half written idea, a mayfly, was seat of the pants in the best way.
After 14 hopefuls, Pete Carson wraps things up on a reliable and competent note. Jizz! Shit! Mayonnaise! I have enjoyed Carson a few times now and I genuinely don’t think I have ever seen him repeat a gag. Yet his dank anecdotes have polish. He commands a room softly, with very few gimmicks. Every routine has at least one outstanding line of lyrical beauty to it that made me sit bolt upright. He reminds me a little too much of me when I was gigging at new act nights and middle spots decades ago. Our shared sub-genre felt a little out of fashion back then. Now… who knows? Everything is cyclical. My head tells me there isn’t a lot of money or glory in bodily function and punching down at yourself. My heart hopes he sticks to his lonely furrow and finds success. Prove my head wrong! His biographical stories were far more organic and wholesome than shaky shock takes on Bonnie Blue and disabilities that some of the other soft lads before him attempted.
As with all open mics this is a cavalcade. The most competent can often be the least memorable. The duff survivors will always get spots even though they’ve been taking up 5s and 10s for decades now. I personally would like to see Clare Hutchinson, Damien Caldwell and especially John Aggasild in bigger rooms as I’m not sure the hit and miss nature of a marathon new act / new material night suits their circuit ready potential. Guest MC and ELB favourite Cobin Milliage was a wonderful host. Filling the gig with his quirky persona, slaloming between welcoming and puckish mayhem. He kept the room on its toes. 15 acts later he proved exactly what such a night requires.
- Bobby Carroll
Hot Seven Shows Coming Soon
Bobby’s curated selection of the imminent comedy shows you’ll want a ticket to these next few weeks…
Wednesday 12th of February Chris Cantrill Easily Swayed at Monkey Barrel
Thursday 13th of February All Mouth: Queer Comedy (Gay-lentine’s Special) at Monkey Barrel
Thursday 13th of February Celya AB: Of All People at Monkey Barrel
Saturday 15th of February Nina Conti: Whose Face Is It Anyway? at Queen’s Hall
Sunday 23rd of February Hot Comedy at Bar 50
Tuesday 25th of February Lee Kyle: Bottle It at The Stand
Plus…
The One Booking Now You Shan’t Want To Miss
Thursday 6th of March Ahir Shah: Ends at Monkey Barrel
Minterview: Paul McDaniel
One of the few shows of 2024 from a Scotland based act that I felt had deep intellectual intent, Paul McDaniel’s Butterbeans was a hidden gem. Let’s catch up with the deadpan funny man six month down the line…
How was your Fringe?
I had a good time! I didn’t realise how emotionally and mentally exhausted I was until the very end of it all. The show needed a lot of work but I was really happy and proud of it by the end. I also got to meet Jeremy Corbyn who told me about the butter beans he grows on his allotment. That was definitely the highlight. Of my life.
The 2024 show Butterbeans was very tech heavy but also quite revealing about your issues with social media and its effects on your mental health. What felt like the biggest risk in hindsight?
That it might feel too preachy. I know we basically can’t avoid phones now but I wanted to share my experience with social media addiction and to see if anyone could relate. I think I’ve started seeing more shows about the dangers of social media and that’s definitely because of my show. For the show I had butter beans in a pot that would keep sizzling at point and interrupt my show. Like phones constantly interrupt our lives. I was worried it would mean it would be hard to build momentum for the show but I think it worked really well.
Did you have a director? If so, what do they add to the process?
Yes, my director was fellow comedian David Callaghan who was amazing and kept telling me to focus on what point I was trying to make with each bit. And to be ruthless and take out anything that strayed too far from the show’s theme. I’m a bit all over the place with structure so he helped me give the show a good structure and he told me to try to spell things out a bit more for the audience.
Do you consider yourself a character act?
Kinda, yeah. There’s definitely a lot of me in there but a lot of the stuff I talk about is my life but changed. Steve Coogan is a huge influence and he’s always said that there’s loads of Steve Coogan in all his characters. Not saying I’m as good as Steve Coogan but I think my persona onstage is more like the more pathetic, unself-aware side of me!
Can you give us a percentage of how much of Paul McDaniel IRL is in the stage persona?
Ooh, maybe 60% real me and 40% stage persona? The way I talk onstage is a bit different and a lot of the stories have been changed slightly to give the audience punchlines etc. I’d say as the years have went on the persona has become a bit blurred and I end up being a bit more vulnerable onstage and talking about mental health and actual life events.
I have watched you open some big rooms recently to grand response. I really respect an opener who can get an audience to knuckle down and enjoy material without resorting to too much secondary compering. How do you find that?
I feel really at home doing club sets and to be honest crowd work is out of my comfort zone. I realise my written material is my strong suit so I tend to stick to that but I do need to build up confidence for more compering. My compering is so awkward but not in a funny way!
You are already working on this year’s show and I’m excited for it! What’s that about? Is it going to be another big formal leap?
This show is called ‘Harder Better Faster Paul-er!’ It’ll still have some tech in it though maybe not as much. It will be a big whinge on the loneliness and self-confidence. I hope it will be a progression of what I did last year. I’m starting to feel more at home doing actual narrative shows (which I avoided doing for a long time). Over the last while I’ve been also considering if I still need to do stand-up. It's a tough grind and I’m quite happy outside of it. That stuff will be in the show too!
What is your favourite tinned food?
Well, I’ve done my butter beans show and I’m sick to death of them! (Paul types that he is laughing) I quite like chickpeas so I might move on to doing comedy about them. I hear they’re huge on TikTok.
Book tix to see Paul in Glasgow https://www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com/performances/paul-mcdaniel-harder-better-faster-paul-er-wip/
What Is The Edinburgh Laughter Bulletin?
A tri-weekly (the other definition) newsletter celebrating comedy in the capital city. Each post will give recommends to the 7 most exciting tours shows or mixed bills on in the city over the next three weeks. Plus special mention to new events starting up and advance warning of big names going on sale soon.
I’ll also try and include a comedian profile, mini interviews and Edinburgh gig reports (similar to what I already do at British Comedy Guide but as a bonus).