Edinburgh Festival Shows 2008:

12.30pm - Jim Bowen (Udderbelly)
4.25pm - Pros From Dover (Underbelly)
6.00pm - Roy Walker - (Assembly)
6.00pm - Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams (Underbelly)
7.40pm - Jerry Sadowitz (Udderbelly)
8.00pm - Jason John Whitehead (Underbelly)
8.00pm - Wendy Wason (Gilded Balloon)
9.00pm - Jim Jeffries (Udderbelly)
9.15pm - John Pinette (Cow Barn)
10.00pm - Matt Kirshen (Assembly)
10.15pm - Glenn Wool (Underbelly)
11.45pm - Jim Rose Circus (Udderbelly)
11.55pm - The People Vs Jerry Sadowitz (Cow Barn)


12.30pm - Jim Bowen (E4 Udderbelly)
July 31 - Aug 25
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

Following the phenomenal success of his 2005 debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Conference Centre in 2007, legendary comedian and game-show host, Jim Bowen, makes his welcome return this year with his very own all-star chat show and a whole lot of bully.
“HILARIOUS…HAIL THE ELDER STATESMAN OF TV QUIZ SHOWS.” The List

Each day Jim will be inviting two celebrities from the world of entertainment to join him for a chat in his snug at the Udderbelly along with a music act from the Festival. At the end of the show two members of the audience will join them on stage for a round of everyone’s favourite darts quiz. With great prizes to be won and a fantastic star prize you’d better start sharpening your aim or you’ll be hearing your host utter those immortal words “Look at what you could have won” as you walk away empty handed.

“SUPER! SMASHING! GREAT!” Sunday Telegraph

“A SHOW WITH PLENTY OF LAUGHS…IT’S A PLEASURE TO SPEND AN HOUR IN HIS COMPANY.” Scotsman


4.25pm - Pros From Dover (Underbelly)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 12)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com
The Morecambe, Costello and slightly funnier Chuckle Brother of Sketch Comedy; Richard Glover, Paul Litchfield and Phil Whelans are The Pros from Dover. Sketch Comedy has never been more like this than this is. Kill your friends… wait… tell… Tell your friends. Tell them. Oh God.

Do you like ghosts, cake, some light strangling and afternoon shows? Do you hate… er… Hitler? Then you are our target audience. You are an A or a B1*. Spend sixty crepuscular** minutes in the company of Britain’s most effulgent** sketch group. Ferroconcrete*** for all the family

"The Pros From Dover produce sketches with the twin advantages of brevity and, most rare this, proper punchlines. Glover’s imitation of the late John Mills is especially memorable, a perfect parody of stilted British upper-class film acting" Chortle

* Or a C.
** Adjectives generated electronically.
*** and the nouns.

6.00pm - Roy Walker - (Assembly)
July 31 - Aug 25 (not 16)
Box Office: 0131 623 3030 www.assemblyfestival.com            
Legendary comedian Roy Walker, and star of the phenomenally successful ITV game show ‘Catchphrase’ (which ran from 1987 for 14 ½ years), makes his debut at the Edinburgh Festival at the Assembly Rooms with his show ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’. The show will feature stand-up and of course some game playing with prizes given to the winners!

Over the last two years Roy has won a whole new fan base through his regular ‘Carpark Catchphrase’ feature on Chris Moyles’ BBC Radio 1 breakfast show. Roy was a special guest in ’50 Musical Years of Stage and Screen’, a charity gala concert at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End, and was subsequently invited to perform in New York at the benefit concert ‘Salute to the New York City Firefighters’. He regularly headlines concerts, theatre and cabaret engagements both in the UK and overseas, including a hugely successful UK national tour of ‘The Comedians’. Roy also hosted Shirley Bassey’s 65th birthday celebrations!

'He is THE legend' Chris Moyles

6.00pm - Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams (Underbelly)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 12)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

Take the music of Disney, the drama of “The Lord of The Rings” and the emotion of “Les Miserables”. Then blindfold them, beat them, regain their trust, beat them again and you might end up with something resembling “Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams”.

Walt Disney gets his comeuppance in this skewed tribute to the tales of our childhood. Join Sammy J as he ventures into a magical forest where creatures live in harmony, picking berries for their king. But is everything as cosy as it seems? Featuring toe-tapping songs, stunning visual effects and a cast of 14 puppets, this hit from Down Under comes to Edinburgh. Just leave the kids at home!

“Filthy, frenetic and gloriously funny… This joyful romp has got cult stage hit written all over it. West End here it comes!” Chortle, April 2008

7.40pm - Jerry Sadowitz (Udderbelly)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 11 or 18)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

He’s back!! Britain’s most outrageous comic, Jerry Sadowitz returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with two brand new shows. In “Comedian, Magician, Psychopath II”, Jerry continues from where he left off after his Polygram Punters’ Award and Scotland on Sunday Fringe Award-winning sell-out show at last year’s Festival. Jerry shares the distinction of being one of the best close-up magicians in the world along with being one of the most, if not the most, offensive comedians ever born. Here he brings those two talents together combining his world class sleight of hand magic with his trademark no-holes-barred politically incorrect stand-up.

“One of the funniest comedians, most talented magicians, and biggest potential psychopaths you're ever going to have the honour of watching” **** Metro
“Sadowitz is very f**king good indeed" **** The Times
"He makes me laugh more than just about any other comedian... Electrifying" **** The Scotsman

8.00pm - Jason John Whitehead (Underbelly)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 12)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

“Find a job you love and you will never have to work another day for the rest of your life. That was my plan when I found stand-up comedy.”

With a decade being the longest JJ ever committed to one thing he’s most certainly found his calling and in his new show The Joker, he traces the pitfalls and proud moments of chasing ‘the dream’. The dream itself might be different for all of us, but taking the step towards it gives everyone the same kind of feeling in our gut: fear of the unknown, the exhilaration of victory and the despair of failure at our own hands.
“People say comics want to be rock stars. The thing is that music speaks to people. Whereas comedy is talking at people. It’s very difficult and rare in comedy to reach the catharsis that you get through music. What am I gonna do, crowd surf to a gag?”

“Whitehead’s outrageously immature antics combined with his self-deprecating wit make him well worth a look” – **** Edinburgh Evening News
“Observational comedy is a dying art. In Jason John Whitehead, however, unpretentious stand-up may have met its unlikely saviour.” – Fest

8.00pm - Wendy Wason (Gilded Balloon)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 12)
Box office: 0131 668 1633 www.gildedballoon.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

It’s these unknown knowns that particularly interest Scottish comedian Wendy Wason and it’s these that she will be mainly talking about in her first full Edinburgh Fringe show - “Things I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know”. Like... Wendy didn’t know how Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was quite well off but didn’t seem to have a job.
She didn’t - and probably still doesn’t, to be frank - know where that fuzzy little line is that you cross from being pleasantly tipsy to being downright drunk.
Ah yes, and she didn’t know that you can still be friends after a relationship has ended...

In “Things I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know”, Wendy explores some of the basic questions in life and also comes across some of those less serious (some may say dumb) things too.

“Exquisite timing” Time Out
“A natural on stage with bags of charm” Chortle
“She’s absolutely hysterical!” Jimmy Carr


9.00pm - Jim Jeffries (Udderbelly)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 12)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

Jim Jeffries, the controversial Aussie stand-up, returns triumphant to the Edinburgh Festival for the fourth year with a brand new show, ‘Hammered’, at a larger venue – moving across the square into the prime Underbelly space the 400 capacity the E4 Udderbelly. Around 6000 people saw Jim perform last year and only a handful complained so he thought "f*ck it, If it aint broke don't fix it". Back in his favourite 24 hour drinking city he’s ready to disturb, blaspheme and drink.

Over the last year Jim had recorded his first live DVD, signed a development deal for his own TV show and hosted the American NME Awards in Los Angeles. From the aforementioned event he procured much tabloid coverage including his mutterings about Sienna Miller in The Sun Jeffries said “Sienna you should be given the inspiration award. The man you are having sex with is so ugly it’s an inspiration to all ugly men.” In the Mirror, it was reported that he had something of a falling-out with Kelly Osbourne, too after he said sarcastically: ‘I think she'd be famous even if her dad weren't famous - she's just that good.’ And when she spat at him, he came back with: ‘Wow, Kelly Osbourne spitting – that's not what I read on the internet’.

Last year’s critically acclaimed show ‘30’ sold out his entire run and subsequently toured the UK. Jim succeeds with jokes that most comedians wouldn't touch. With an ability to both charm and offend the
crowd in equal measure, he is regarded as one of comedy’s fastest rising young stars. His brash confrontational style has made him one of the most sought after comics on the world stage.

In 2007 not only did he perform at all major summer festivals, including Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds and Bestival, he was also only one of five comedians picked to perform a solo show at the 2007 Montreal
Festival to stunning reviews from the critics. Following Montreal, Jim was then booked for an extensive US tour which included an opening spot for Dennis Leary at the 2800 capacity venue Beacon Theatre in New York, and also in the City had Sarah Silverman supporting him! So is his luck changing and does he care? Not really, he’d prefer to just hang out with you and get hammered.

“…unmissable… one of the most gratifyingly riotous comedians working today…” THE LIST *****
"…Dried-blood-black Comic. Very, very entertaining" NME
"…Britain's most offensive stand-up comic" Q
”…Jim Jeffries is a great comic, who could one day be a Great Comic“ THE TIMES ****
“…exceptional… seriously enjoyable” THE SCOTSMAN ****
“…compelling viewing” STANDARD ****
“…In Jeffries’ hangdog world, fate is so absurd and cruel that the only rational response is to laugh” SCOT ON SUNDAY ****
“…Smart, scary, and offensively essential” THE HERALD ****
“…Jeffries is a bad-taste comic, and positively revels in the image” CHORTLE ****
“…Reducing a room full of people to the verge of tears is a feat not many comedians are capable of” FEST MAGAZINE *****


9.15pm - John Pinette (Cow Barn)
July 31 - Aug 25 (Not 11)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

Award-winning American comedian John Pinette is to make his UK and Edinburgh Fringe debut with his smash-hit show, “I Say Nay Nay”.

John Pinette is instantly recognisable as the obese Jerry in the top US sitcom “Seinfeld”. He is also one of the most accomplished stand ups in the US as well as a highly polished stage actor, who arrives in Edinburgh direct from starring on Broadway as Edna Turblad in the musical, “Hairspray”.

In “I Say Nay Nay”, he explores the small but annoying things in life that cause him to lose his cherub-like smiley demeanor... and reveals his one true enduring
love – the eat-all-you-can American buffet.

“His routine is one of the few of our time that can be enjoyed by diaper wearers from both ends of the age spectrum, and everyone in between” Toronto Star

“He leaves his audiences convulsing every time" Montreal Gazette

10.00pm - Matt Kirshen (Assembly)
July 31 - Aug 25 (Not 12)
Box Office: 0131 623 3030 www.assemblyfestival.com    
Star of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, Matt Kirshen is back in Edinburgh after a year breaking America.

Last year Matt missed the Edinburgh Festival because he went to America and got a little bit famous.  This is his triumphant return to the Fringe, with a brand new hour of razor-sharp comedy.  He will be sharing his hilarious tales about America and what happened to him whilst he was there and how he managed to deal with his newly found mild level of fame.

Matt won’t have lost any of his nerdy charm though and there will definitely be some jokes about science and religion and the difference between cynicism and pessimism. (They’re not the same thing at all.)

"Neurotically energetic...Highly recommended" Daily Telegraph

“A roller coaster of comedy genius" The Scotsman
“Matt Kirshen is a definite one to watch, his innocent looks belying a sharp, surreal and often gloriously sick mind.  Killer Gags” Metro


10.15pm - Glenn Wool (Underbelly)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 11)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

Glenn Wool just keeps going from strength to strength and is returning to Edinburgh with his brand new show Goodbye Scars.

goodbye angel, goodbye star, goodbye feathers, goodbye scars, good buy feeling, good buy wars, good buy sweaters, good buy stores.

2008 has been an interesting year for Glenn and he chronicles in this brilliant, funny and touching new show what’s happened to him over the last twelve months in an honest, frank, but always funny account of his most difficult yet at times most exhilarating year.
Glenn is a regular TV face having made appearances on The World Stands Up for Paramount '8 out of 10 Cats', The BBC Stand Up Show, The Live Floor Show, 28 Acts in 28 Minutes and The Comic side of Seven Days for the BBC.  He continues to be a regular in Comedy Cuts, the comedy show from ITV2.   Last year Glenn wrote and starred in What's The Story?' broadcast on Channel 4 as part of the Comedy Lab.

“Effortlessly funny with an affability that other comics can only dream of – You have to go and see Glenn Wool.” The Guardian

“One of the sharpest minds, craftiest turns of phase and most extravagant imaginations on the fringe” The Daily Telegraph

“If Like me, you believe that nobody could be much funnier than a cross between Jack Black and Meat Loaf, then you’ll be pleased to learn that such a man exists”
The Independent on Sunday

“The funniest and most sharply observed comedy at this years festival” Skinny Fest *****

“Why aren't you in a queue somewhere buying a ticket?" The Scotsman

11.45pm - Jim Rose Circus (Udderbelly)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 11)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

Once upon a time, Jim Rose was a grunge-ridden, hell-raising circus huckster and guru of the grotesque.  But that was a decade ago, when he last brought his full show to the Edinburgh Fringe.

This year he returns, transformed: suave, sophisticated and Tuxedo-suited, and backed by the impeccably credible Randy Weiner.  Weiner is the doyenne of exuberant, no-holds-barred American club theatre, creator of the “Donkey Show”, and partner in New York’s The Box (the hot-ticket haunt of Hollywood A-listers).

Time has mellowed Jim, the erstwhile freak-show proprietor.  His work is now profound, contemplative and political.  Always a passionate advocate of gender equality, he has recruited the renowned feminist thinker Lilly Labia to create an intellectually challenging performance-based riposte to the phallocentricity of “The Puppetry of the Penis”.  Lilly’s “marionette of womanhood” is a brave and deeply moving act of genital egalitarianism.
Notable also is a new interest in the visual arts.  The show features Justine Joli, whose intimate approach to portraiture offers a refreshing comment on the origins of creativity.  As she sprays paint onto the canvas from her rectum, the audience is forced to question how the conventional critical response is affected by an understanding of the true source of the artist’s inspiration.

"We all went home satisfied, entertained and suitably appalled to the depth of our being" NME

"The absolute MUST SEE act" Rolling Stone Magazine

"Incredible, Stupendous" New York Post

11.55pm - The People Vs Jerry Sadowitz (Cow Barn)
July 31 - Aug 24 (Not 11)
Box office: 0844 545 8252 www.underbelly.co.uk or www.edfringe.com

At last! “The People Versus Jerry Sadowitz”, sees Jerry bring his popular C5 anti-chat show to the live stage with just six performances at this yearʼs Fringe. The TV show, which ran from 1998-2001 attracting viewers and complaints in equal measures, developed a cult status with its format of asking audience members to pit their wits and be gratuitously insulted by their host. Now this public forum hits the live stage and offers the opportunity for members of the public to rant, rave, moan, laugh, recommend, discuss and argue about any subject they like. Prizes are on offer for the punter with the best entertainment value and you get belled off if you're boring. The show will be different every night and there will be special guest bouncers to make sure things donʼt get totally out of hand. To be a part of the show please e-mail - thepeople@underbelly.co.uk

"His audience just want to be outraged... Amazing" ***** The Herald