Review: The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Goes To Hollywood *****

Kev F Sutherland's left and right hands are an Edinburgh Fringe institution. Using them, a couple of grey socks and some deliberately amateurish props and costumes, he breathes manic life into The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre as only he knows how.

Behind a tartan-draped Punch & Judy style booth, Sutherland crouches, thrusting his comic creations into the limelight with frenetic and hilarious results. The amount of ad-libbing, corpsing and lightning-quick in-jokes make this show a rapid hour of very funny entertainment, making you marvel at his delivery and the speed of his mind as he reacts to unintentional mistakes and audience reaction.

This year, TSFSPT bring us a show subtitled "Goes To Hollywood" and the socks re-enact the entire history of cinema before our eyes, going off on mad tangents at times, such as the hilarious guest appearance of Jeremy Paxman (or at least a laminated cardboard cutout representation thereof...)

It's inspired stuff and last night's show played to a packed house who definitely got where Sutherland's sense of humour was coming from (somewhere between The Beano, for which Sutherland writes & draws comic strips; and the mad falsetto ramblings of a deranged Scottish lunatic).

Very little fails to amuse and delight in this show, and a Festival without the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre just wouldn't feel the same: they are fast becoming a national treasure.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Goes To Hollywood runs until Aug 30th at the Gilded Balloon. £9 (£8 concession)

Review: Frisky & Mannish's School of Pop *****

As you may have gathered, I'm not really a big fan of comedy acts. I'm much more drawn to the world music, dark cabaret, neo-burlesque and experimental theatre stuff. Perhaps that means I'm a miserable ponce, but there you have it.

However, there are notable exceptions. Frisky & Mannish's School of Pop is most definitely one. Frisky (that is her name) and Mannish strut, preen and pose on stage like Lou Reed and Hazel O'Connnor's illegitimate offspring, performing one hilarious spoof pop song after another that has a delighted audience hollering and cheering from the start.

In a fabulous conceit, Headmistress Frisky leads the class / audience through a typical school day, whilst Mannish accompanies her on keyboard. We're first all encouraged to join in with the school song and then treated to such delights as Lily Allen singing Noel Coward, scarily-obsessed love songs dedicated to audience members and more clever throwaway lines than you could ever hope to pick up in one viewing.

Frisky & Mannish were born to perform, not only having obviously studied hard in music class, but having some wonderful facial expressions and perfectly-timed deadpan delivery. In fact, their School of Pop may actually have re-educated me a little...

(Actually, after last night's show, Frisky & Mannish were off, resplendent in their silver-basqued and shiny trousered finery, to perform at Ministry Of Burlesque's High Tease, so they still slot neatly into my genres of choice.)

Frisky & Mannish's School of Pop runs until August 30th (not 18th) at the Underbelly. £10.50 (£9.50 concession)

Highlight #14 - Picaresque

One of the beauties of the Fringe is that it allows companies who may not otherwise have had the chance to treat a captive and eager audience to their own particular vision.

Eyes Open theatre company, a young and ambitious group of recent graduates, have grabbed that chance with both hands and premiere their madcap globespanning comic adventure Picaresque in Edinburgh this season.

Written by Jack Sanderson-Thwaite, Picaresque sees Elijah and Nathaniel, two roguish rakes, attempting to cross continents from opposite sides of the globe to attend their annual reunion. Needless to say, obstacles both varied and bizarre fight against them every step of the way. Will they make it in time? Will the world's slowest train ever get to its destination? And how on earth are Eyes Open going to portray the moose-wrestling bit?

All these burning questions and more will be answered this year during the course of Picaresque, the kind of show the Fringe embraces to its heart.

Picaresque runs at the Sweet Heart (2 India Buildings) from 6th - 30th August (not 17th). Various from £5.

Highlight #10 - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Goes To Hollywood

Altogether now: "I'm a sock, I'm a sock, you wear me on your feet not on your co..."

Ahem. Now, where were we?

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are an Edinburgh Fringe (and UK comedy circuit) institution. At first glance, the amateurish-looking puppet booth and mangy-looking socks with google eyes and lolling tongues may lead you to believe this show would be best suited for the under-fives. Give it five seconds however, and you'll quickly realise that this one-man / two-sock outfit actually offers some of the funniest, fastest-paced and smartest comedy appearing at the Fringe.

TSFSPT is the brainchild of Kev Sutherland, who quickly realised the comedy potential of sock puppets. With Scottish accents. Speaking and singing in falsetto voices. What's not to like?

Especially when the comedy is equal parts ad-lib, improv, rude, corny and (in what may be the biggest surprise to the uninitiated) extremely clever. TSFSPT's shows always contain at least one longish parody of a famous movie or a Shakespeare play, and here the literary in-jokes and puns fly fast, proving that Sutherland is a smart writer as well as an energetic and accomplished performer. With this year's show title being The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Goes To Hollywood, expect some razor-sharp spoofing of some celluloid classic or other (although secretly, I'm hoping for another Shakespeare rip-off...)

Appearing again in the sweatbox that is the Gilded Balloon Teviot, expect to be fooled by the conceit that you are watching two daft socks quipping and snipping at each other; until the very end, when a drenched and scarlet Sutherland will likely emerge, deserving of the applause you'll surely give him.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Goes To Hollywood runs from 5th to 30th August at Gilded Balloon Teviot. Prices from £9.

Highlight #8 - Socially Retarded by Tomfoolery

We humans can be a cruel bunch. Often, we love nothing more than revelling in people's misfortunes, whilst at other times we seem fascinated by the ineptitudes and embarassing failures of others. As long as it's not happening to us, it's funny, right?

Thomas and Thomas of Tomfoolery understand this, and selflessly exploit it for our entertainment and enjoyment with Socially Retarded - The Fringe Cringe Comedy, in which they parade a series of increasingly desperate and toecurling characters in a fast-paced sketch show that's already becoming one to look out for.

Morris dancers, men in y-fronts, gangsta wannabes and builders struggling with their feminine sides - all these and more are here for your voyeuristic amusement, portrayed with some cutting observational comedy and (intentionally) cringeworthy moments which you may have to watch from behind your fingers.

With their infectious enthusiasm (at least one Thomas has been known to yelp like a girl) and affable personalities, Tomfoolery will be hard to miss this year: whether they're flyering on the Royal Mile, tweeting incessantly about their show (but hey, we're all guilty of that...) or just genuinely enjoying the fact they're here in Edinburgh with everything it has to offer at this time of year.

Hopefully they remember to actually turn up and perform their show...

Socially Retarded runs from 7th - 22nd August (not Sundays) at the Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, price £7

Festival highlight #2 - One Man Lord of the Rings

Although I'm not a huge fan of comedy routines at the Fringe (I'm of the view that you can switch on E4 most nights and see that kind of stuff for free), I caught Charlie Ross's One Man Star Wars show a couple of years back and loved it.

Appealing both to my inner geek and my outer critic, Ross achieved a remarkable feat: cramming all 3 Star Wars movies, characters and special effects into a frantic, frenetic and funny 60 minute show. On his own. With no props.

He was back last year with the same show but I gave it a miss, reasoning it wouldn't be as impressive as the first viewing. Whether that's true or not, I'll definitely be catching his 2009 return, with his One Man Lord of the Rings show. Obviously of a very similar ilk, if it's half as irreverent and accomlished as its predecessor, it'll be a winner.

My outer critic is cautiously optimistic.

My inner geek is very excited and looking forward to the one-man re-enactment of the battle of Helm's Deep...