The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 23

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2006 23 EDINBURGH BLOG Mark Monahan behind the scenes blogs.telegraph.co.uk Mr Burns, Spinal Tap and me 'Simpsons' voiceover wizard Harry Shearer talks to Mark Monahan about his satirical music show t's July 1992, and Harry Shearer and fellow members of the mesmerisingly silly Spandex rock band Spinal Tap are playing at the Albert Hall in London. "Towards the end of the first night," he says, "there's a costume change and I'm going stage to have my devil's tail attached for the song Christmas with the Devil. I'm galumphing through the wings, and I see this guy sitting on his haunches, watching the from the wings. As I pass him, he gives me the thumbs up. And it's George Harrison.

"So," he concludes, "if I hadn't thought how remarkable this was before that, it kind of caught up with me at that point." But then, Shearer's entire career has been remarkable. Having in 1979 become a regular on the prodigious US comedy series Saturday Night Live, he then, in 1984, co-wrote and co-starred in Rob Reiner's evergreen and forever quoted faux-rockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. (In an entirely unpredicted twist, this proved so staggeringly popular that the fake British band created entirely for the the voice of Montgomery Burns, Ned And, movie as if to became cap even "real" that, and went Shearer on is tour.) also GROENINGin Flanders The and Simpsons. roughly 15 other characters LIVWDespite being gloriously un-starry in person, Shearer, 62, is clearly nothing less than comedy royalty, which makes his appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe a rather special event. That said, anyone expecting some sort of Simpsons spin-off will be disappointed, as the show's title makes abundantly clear.

Instead, This Is Not About The Simpsons (American Voyeurs) is an easygoing, even old-fashioned hour of cabaret-style political satire, with Shearer a very capable bassist and his silkenvoiced singer-songwriter wife Judith Owen accompanying each other in a string of dialogues and ditties about Bush's US. One of the most THEATRE Improbable Frequency TRAVERSE (I Am) Nobody's Lunch ASSEMBLY Taylor Mac UNDERBELLY THREE exceptional fringe shows are up variations vaudeville. Irish company Rough Magic's Improbable Frequency is a crazed, delightful musical starring a machine called PAT "Probability Adjustment PAT is responsible for such surprising phenomena as the songs on the radio forecasting the weather and The importance HEATRE Terre Haute Levelland Gizmo Love SSEMBLY ROOMS in Indiana where the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was incarcerated before his execution. Edmund White's new play of the same name investigates the hypothetical scenario of a set of meetings between McVeigh and the writer Gore Vidal, who defended him in print but never actually met him. The piece is fascinating in principle: the hyper, nubile McVeigh (renamed Harrison here), violent but intelligent, exerts a powerful sexual pull over the ageing gay writer, to the point where he forgets how dangerous he is.

Both performances, from graduate Arthur Davill and old-timer Peter Eyre, are beautifully timed and subtle (Eyre's American accent, alas, over-subtle). But White, such a seductive writer on the page, leaves it more dream than drama. He's too seduced himself. A visit to Waco and time in the Gulf war do not absolve the madness of the murderer, the only justifications Harrison produces for his actions. Yet he ends up cast in a beneficent, almost god-like mould by the play's final image basically ERRE Haute is the federal prison EDINBURGH2006 COMEDYROUNDUP Although they Orleans, he is Polish immigrants; but raised in their lineages Edinburgh gives us thing.

We have the States and She tends to aspect of values translate street, American social the money to think they the New York and how the people with espite their and previously which makes interesting bass-player," into service can't make a song, she just can hear it with called for me shut and be In fact, Spinal played It 14 gig, with Guest, of a jaw-dropping Second World War (where the play is set). Six flawless performers act out their unlikely tale in (unlikely) verse and song. Some gags are pantomime: John Betjeman (yes, the portly poet) suggests they levitate because, "he doesn't understand the gravity of the Others are more subtle: an Irish lass in carnal embrace with an English spy bemoans the fact that she's been "Infiltrated by British Intelligence: Oxymoronic as well as a sin." Also with a wit of its own is (I Am) Nobody's Lunch, a "cabaret docudrama" from the precocious young American company, the Civilians. Drawn from real-life interviews that the cast made with of not being live in Los Angeles and New the son of Austrian and Owen is Welsh-born London. And, says Shearer, are significant for their offering.

this sort of inside-outside insider's knowledge of an outsider's perspective. focus on the Hills behaviour and how American into what you see in the indulgent part of the scene, where people have indulge in everything they should be And I focus on and Washington power axis, culture translates into how guns behave." joint involvement in music showbusiness, the couple have not performed often together, the show a particularly departure. "Being a sometime he says, "I've been pressed when her normal bass-player gig. And when she's written a says, play on it, so that she a bass part. So that really to sit there with my mouth her side it's safe to say that without Tap in which Shearer hapless Brummy bassist Derek Smalls, notable for keeping a large bratwurst down his trousers he would never have been her man at all.

was when arriving in London years fellow ago for star the Albert Christopher Hall QUAILthat he walked into the lobby Chelsea hotel, and something caught his ear. "I'm turning around to my left," he says, "and hearing this really amazing music coming out of the 'brunch room', and that was Judith. And I just went, Bam! Chris says he actually saw my eyes bug four feet out of my As well as leading him to the love of his life, it's Shearer's keen things on the everyone from a former Miss New York to a soldier, the piece tackles the ambitious question how we know what to believe when everybody seems to be lying. Its subjects range from lovers' mutual distrust to whether Tom Cruise is gay, and it is far funnier than its existential theme suggests. Yet its fierce engagement with the current crisis of confidence in American politicians is also deeply moving.

Add to this, disarmingly pretty songs and eccentric robotic dancing and it makes for a heady mix of poignancy and mirth. Theatre or performance art is just a fancy way of saying Taylor Mac doesn't know what his shows are. But this tall New York crossdresser with a tiny ukulele is one of the most earnest Subtle: Peter Eyre as Vidal in Terre Haute ere's my cut-out-and-keep guide to the best "straight" stand-ups ie one person, one mic, no songs, and few, if any props that I've seen so far at this year's Fringe. Doug Stanhope is having a fantastic time of it at the American is like some grizzled geezer you might spot at 4am, huddled over a Jack Daniel's at the end of a bar and determined to share his world view with you. Be warned: this is as unforgiving as stand-up gets.

His voice rasping with bitterness, he bulldozes through taboos child porn, Thalidomide, religion. But the searing, scattergun intelligence underpinning it all makes this a uniquely hypnotic hour. Also at the Tron, Canadian-born Glenn Wool is delivering his best set to date. His persona is that of a redneck truck driver who just might be the smartest guy in the room, and the show is in fact a plea (however unPC) for everyone to be nice to each other. At the far larger Assembly Hall, hyperkinetic clown Jason Byrne is up to his familiar, largely extemporised tricks, evenly and brilliantly mining his family and audience for laughs, and bunging in a wonderful impersonation of a pet rabbit dying mutely of heat exhaustion.

A more aloof stage presence, fellow Irishman Ed Byrne is back with a bold and impeccably paced set (at the Pleasance Grand) after a year's absence from the Fringe. I'd like a little less swearing perhaps, but the observations are acute. Up at the miniature microwave oven that is the Pleasance Attic, Shappi Khorsandi is delivering her perspective on life as an Iranian-born, west London woman whose father's political satires almost cost him his life. It's lively, ambitious and interesting, though the more narrative-based second half was thinner on laughs than the first. I was more consistently impressed by newcomer Matt Kirshen.

Don't be fooled by his barely-out-of-nappies looks: the 26-yearold is a sharp little cookie, neurotically energetic and confessional. A name to watch. England ear that has made him such a successful vocal artist and, as Tap fans will know, a brilliantly convincing Brit. One of the most impressive aspects of the film is that its three, American stars (Shearer, Guest and Michael McKean) all believably English. How on earth did they do it, where Dick Van Dyke and so many others have failed so dismally? "Well, thank you!" says Shearer.

"Um, you know, I think that all of us have these musical ears, and I think there's some kind of connection between an ear for music and an ear for accents. You can get away with a lot of pronunciation year CELEBRITYCHOICE sloppiness if you get the melody right the key to getting any accent is learning the song that people are singing in their way of Nowadays, Shearer is most likely to be pressed for a Simpsons voice. "But people are very good about the way they a approach me," he says. "Every once in a while, somebody will say, Will you do Mr Burns for my answering and I just reply, 'If did that for you, that's all I'd ever be And they understand." This Is Not About The Simpsons (American Voyeurs)', Assembly Supper Room, until Aug 28. Tickets: 0131 226 2428.

Stephen Mangan, comedian I'd recommend Deirdre O'Kane in her stand-up show Startled: she's a tremendous, short Irish comedian. I'd also recommend Sue Perkins: a very talented average-height star of TV and radio. She's one of the best comedians around, and uses a lot of clever word-play. wearing great on her feet with an audience, and positively encourages heckling. Justin Edwards is a brilliant example of tall comedy.

I've seen him do his character show Jeremy Lions in the past, but this year it's just him singing songs on his own. ega-nice-guy Adam Hills (Assembly Music mastery Hall) and topical continues to storytelling make look audience- very easy indeed. His materialshas been stronger in past, but it's Over at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Lucy Porter also continues to get away with plenty of mischief, and even dresses briefly as a carrot. It's a typically candid gaze at her own moral compass, her often fruity material delivered with disarming charm. At the pink, 45ft cow that is the new Udderbelly, black, Atlanta-born down Reginald Hunter is in some ways a closet traditionalist, happiest when talking about female eccentricity and suchlike, though also concerned as always with racial issues.

His ability to make a room hang on his every word is pretty much unrivalled on the circuit. Finally, quick words for Andrew Maxwell (Pleasance Cabaret Bar), proving again what a masterful raconteur he is, and for first-timer Nick Doody at the Pleasance Jokerdome. Doody's is a largely topical set with some good stuff in it, but unevenly constructed. He scores high on likability and this show may well mature nicely as the Fringe rolls on. Tickets for all acts: 0131 226 0000 An ear for music and an ear for accents: Harry Shearer, aka Spinal Tap bassist Derek Smalls, and The Simpsons' Mr Burns, left, who he voices fringe this -dropping the fringe this least on account of mesmerising Bejewelled dreadlocks frame up like a between a Venetian and David Bowie Aladdin Sane gorgeous homemade dresses, he sings demanding "the revolution will masculinised" dissecting his love It's camp and naughty, yet devastating.

This his perfect mask Pierrot figure for modern age, all heart and outsider Improbable Frequency' Aug 27. Tickets: 1404. 'Nobody's Aug 28. Tickets: 2428. Taylor Mac 27.

Tickets: 0870 Serena Davies because he takes his top off. Most American plays on year and the place is them are anxious the state of the nation. horrors of Waco and the supremacist bestseller The Diaries are becoming name-checks in the retrospective soul-searching. White's play both and emerges with dignity; comedian Rich Hall's Levelland does so too and preserves none at all. It is incomprehensible tale about messiah figure who thinks oil, and when the threatens to send the whole flames, you can only him on.

Thank God for the fun and the likes of Gizmo Love, American, John Kolvenbach. Geeky Ralph fancies himself screenwriter, but his bug-squishing and heroine aren't going to cut market, so old hack Manny wheeled in to sort it out. Cue hilarious mismatched agendas Manny wonders where have maximum impact and Ralph opines on beauties of his fictional he's sure he will one good cast gives the play poignancy, and offers a welcome antidote to the dominating the American SD until Aug 28. Tickets: 0131 Mark Monahan compromising things on year, not of his beauty. golden a face cross mask in his phase.

In songs not be and life. very suddenly man in is a the broken insight. until 0131 228 Lunch' until 0131 226 until Aug 745 3083. the fringe flooded expositions The White Turner refers some an a he can protagonist place up silently fantasy by a third daft tale soppy it in the is as in a the heroine day charm earnestness theatre 226 2428 There's also the cabaret show La Clique: fantastic burlesque cabaret by people of all heights. They're putting on a play set in a tree this year, as well.

SD Deirdre O'Kane, 'Startled', Assembly Rooms (0131 226 2428), until Aug 28. Sue Perkins, Pleasance (0131 556 6550), until Aug 27. Justin Edwards Unaccompanied as I am, Pleasance (0131 556 6550), until Aug 28. La Clique, the Spiegel Garden (0131 667 8940), until Aug 28. Midsummer Night's Tree', Belgrave Crescent Gardens (0131 556 6553), Aug 24-27.

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