Edinburgh is hosting heaps of US comics including Bill Burr, Ari Shaffir and Mary Lynn Rajskub, star of TV’s 24. Do they have much in common?
“This is an American-style hour,” says Ari Shaffir at the top of his Edinburgh festival show. “So there’s no theme and no crying.” So is that the American style of comedy? (No one seems to have told Chris Gethard.) I’ve seen a handful of US acts this first week on the fringe, and it’s interesting to note the features that, to some degree, make them distinctive.
The biggest name was Bill Burr – who is not performing on the fringe, but visiting the Pleasance for two nights as part of a UK tour. His set was rapturously received in some quarters, but mainly left me nonplussed – that there remains such a large, receptive audience for this brand of alpha-male comedy, and that they give him a free pass for some tawdry and barely substantiated material.
Related: Edinburgh festival planner: three shows to see today
Sometimes, Mary Lynn Rajskub's show is so slow it almost starts moving backwards
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