Another month, and another show down – miraculously avoiding the nightmarish heatwaves that fell on our shows last summer thankfully, and full to the brim of fun, creative and hilarious acts from some of the greatest up and coming stars of today.
Guest MCing our show this month was Bobbie Jones, who was completely in her element tonight, balancing sharp joke writing skills, with fun teacher energy where she kept one of the most drunk men I’ve ever seen well behaved, without letting it even slightly impact the flow of the night. What an incredible skill.
Whether it’s straightforward (or GAYforward amirite) jokes, interactive puzzle-based setups in the form of a wordsearch, or absurdist poetry about being a human soul trapped in a toaster, Bobbie is an act who oozes charisma and likability and will have you falling about with laughter by the end. A true veteran.
Opening the show, we had Saeth Wheeler, who may just be one of the best narrative comedy writers I’ve ever seen doing shorter sets. Every time I’ve seen them, they’ve had such a polished set around a very specific theme or story, with perfect comedic beats coloured in with clear and concise storytelling, extracting humour from difficult topics and presenting their short time on stage with such finesse that you feel like you’ve seen a whole ass Edinburgh hour, and still want more.
A confident and polished performer who is nailing the art, and just keeps getting better.
After the interval we had an old favourite of the club Thom Bee – who seems to have made it his mission to get more and more niche every time I see him. Whilst he’s never shied away from very specific niches in his material, Thom has now seemingly got to a point where he’s fully leaning on surrealist gay 90s/00s chic, and it really works for him.
Thom is very confident in his weird photoshop based gags covering everything from mental health to 90s pop culture and the daddy that is Patrick Stewart. And he sells it so hard in a way that even if you are a neurotypical, Boomer or Gen Z completely heterosexual man, you are likely to find yourself laughing just at how well the rhythm and cadence elevates the comedic ideas, regardless of if you actually get them or not.
Thom isn’t a comedian that everyone will get, but if you’re a mentally ill gay millennial chances are you will absolutely adore him. Given that you are our target audience, if you like us, you’ll probably have a great time.
Next, we had someone who managed to out weird even that, Stephen Catling. Stephen is a personification of chaos, flitting between ideas at the speed of sound and getting pure abstract brilliance out of them. At the same time, Stephen is a master of committing to the bit and had three showstopping moments in the runtime of his set that are living rent free in my head even as I’m writing this a week later.
There isn’t really anyway you can explain Stephen’s brilliance, you just have to experience it for yourselves.
And closing the show we have the brutally brilliant Radu Isac. Radu is a comic who has his opinions and grievances and absolutely sells them with masterful comedic construction. Whether he’s deconstructing the very concept of money and finance, examining the nuances of wartime Europe, or just telling you why he doesn’t trust dog people, Radu does not shy away from difficult and controversial topics, but handles them with such sharpness and confidence that I’d be amazed if you didn’t enjoy and respect it even if you have disagreements with the content itself.
It’s a cliché, but Radu really does have echoes of the brilliance of Bill Hicks in his prime (which for Bill Hicks were the years that he was alive) but in the 21st century way and brining a much-needed outsider perspective on all the bullshit the west has been spouting and perpetuating for centuries at least.
Few comics can match Radu in comedic brilliance, and even fewer can do so whilst remaining as sharp and relevant as he manages.
That was our July Show – what a treat that was! We have the last of our Edinburgh Previews coming up with Sam See and our very own Jonny Collins (me) – tickets available via Outsavvy.
And you can watch the VOD for this show up until July 31st over on twitch.tv/blizzardcomedy.
Thanks again, and see you next time ❤
