Jo Caulfield: Voodoo Doll,
Stand 3
★★★★★

A beautifully crafted, punchline-strewn 60 minutes of perfect stand-up. Caulfield is angry about things: from the vacuousness of Holly Willoughby to the banality of men’s pub chat, and most things in between.  

Skilfully taking the audience with her right from the very start, it is quality writing with quality delivery throughout.  

The finale, her Mr Rude’s children’s story, seals a faultless show.
 

Nick Revell: Eurasia’s Most Eligible Psychopaths And Their Lovely Homes
★★★★

Revell’s multi-layered and increasingly absurd story-telling is hugely impressive in itself, but the growing realisation that this unlikely tale is merely flimsy cover for a biting political satire provides a wonderfully satisfying conclusion.  

There’s a John-Lennon-impersonating talking camel, Genghis Khan III, and more information than we would ever need on the global development of the silk trade.  

And his “friend” Sophie, the London-based “Influencer” whom Revell met in his local pub, The Fox & Gynaecologist, setting up her PR company for oligarchs and tyrants called Strawberry Fields, with the strapline “where nothing is real.”

Vladimir McTavish: 60 Minutes to Save the World,
New Town Theatre
★★★★

A deftly constructed hour where no deserving targets are left unhit.  

May, Johnson, Gove —“a man who looks like he’s been fracked,” Farage, Brexit, Scottish football — “If there was a World Cup for Disappointment, we probably wouldn’t even qualify,” recycling, Extinction Rebellion, ScotRail — the “slow train from Glasgow to Edinburgh” — is a highlight, Scottish weather and more all get the treatment as McTavish uses his Wheel of Big Issues to help save the planet before it’s too late.

Simon Munnery: Alan Parker Urban Warrior Farewell Tour,
Stand 1
★★★★

From the pre-show music by the Clash and Billy Bragg to the chaotic conclusion leading half the audience morris-dancing out onto the street, this is a fitting tribute to Munnery’s alter-ego.  

Enlisting the front row as a makeshift live house band is genius as Parker seeks “radical solutions to radical problems.”

How to solve gender inequality? Give women two votes each and men only one!