E4 Laughs at Edinburgh:

Jim Bowen hosts Des Clarke, Tom Wrigglesworth and Matt Blaize.

Our final show is here, and we are all about the mix and the blend (as usual) with a fine array of acts.

Jim Bowen has been knocking around the more expensive parts of Lothian county all month, mainly because he made an absolute mint out of presenting Bullseye for 15 years.

Anyway, we scrubbed up a bit, went to the games room of his hotel and pleaded with him to put his darts down for five bloody minutes and come and introduce our acts. After muttering something about Bully, speedboats and a general lack of understanding of the internet he agreed, as long there was some tea and cakes laid out for him on arrival. *Pensioners*.

Des Clarke has been rocking the Scottish circuit for the past few years, and is a headline act up here. That was enough to convince us to let him on the show, and he delivers a hilarious set to our Saturday morning owls.

Tom Wrigglesworth is a fantastic comic, and as it turns out, an accomplished guitar player. This  man actually looks like sideshow Bob, but is much much funnier than Krusty’s sidekick (with apologies to Matt Groening).

Finally Matt Blaize, king of cool, tells all about his sex life, the differences between the Scots and the English and why he split up with his Ex-Girlfriend. All with much mastery, all with much mirth.

Rhod Gilbert has been a busy boy this year. Not content with selling out every show he’s put on, his agents made him put on several more, which, of course, have sold out as well. I haven’t even had a chance of getting a ticket.

So, when Rhod agreed to come on to the E4 show, word got around pretty fast and before you know it, we were sold out too. At 10:30 in the morning. Even I got in.

This blog  was written before Saturday’s If. Comedy awards ceremonies, but I am going to confidently say that our boyo Rhod is going to steamroller everybody, including the delightful Russell Kane. Why? You’ll hear why when you listen to the podcast.

We’ve had some great shows and audiences this year, but this show just clicked. Here’s the reason: Rhod and his little Welsh Mafia. 

Rhod’s demanded was that he could bring some of his Boyo’s to town and own this show. We just nodded, didn’t really get that scared (I thought I could make leek stew out of them to be honest) , and booked Rhod’s housemate Lloyd Langford on the bill. Now I don’t know about you, but both Rhod and Lloyd seem a bit surreal and I finally found out why during the show – but I couldn't possibly say why.

Another proviso for Rhod was that we claimed a little bit of Wales in the show so we sent the unhealthiest comedian at the fringe, Carl Donnelly, to climb Arthur's seat, a really big mountain to claim it for the Welsh. I went with him to make sure he actually did it, and was subjected to hours of whinging and abuse.

Also on the show, the kids from the School of Comedy come along to be cottoned mouthed and funny, Luke Wright charms us with his performance poetry on MySpace and the impressive Bernard O’Shea comes all the way from Ireland there to play his music. Listen and enjoy.

Louis

Show four is here and we have a proper radio presenter as your host this time, and boy we’re glad that we got him. IVAN BRACKENBURY kindly agreed to simulcast his hospital radio show at Chesterfield and North Derbyshire hospital with the E4 airwaves for a one off programme.

Ivan is ever the selector, playing his choice of classic cuts for the ill people of the hospital, and, of course for you. And as a special one off favour, he agreed  to showcase three of his  (our) favourite comedians from the past few days on his show.

TOM DEACON, winner of the student newcomer of the year 2008, delivers a brilliant six minutes of hip hop, pig sex and why bird flu is a concern in Southampton.

TIERNAN DOUIEB is next up  - he’s an insulin dependent diabetic who loves dancing to funk music. He also wrote his first ever proper joke, just for the podcast.

Finally, STEPHEN GRANT comes on and charms the lot of us with his gag heavy set, I won’t give any more away right now, but take it from me, his gag about credit cards will make you cry with laughter.

Next up we have the all round 5-star rated RHOD GILBERT, the kids from the SCHOOL OF COMEDY,  the lovely LLOYD LANGFORD and the superb BERNARD O’SHEA.
 
Keep it E4

We'e the third podcast in, and this time we're pulling all the
punches with our infamous host Jim Jeffries.

Jim has been selling out comedy venues for several years with his brand
of offensive comedy.  He's also been punched in the face at the comedy
store (see youtube) and managed to offend the entire Osbourne family in the last month, leading to several newspaper headlines. He's also one of the most decorated comics at this years fringe, with several 4 and 5
star reviews for his show.

Joining him is the childish Carl Donnelly, the extremely talented Pippa
Evans and the shabby Joe Wilkinson who had the audience in tears with
his subtle punchlines.  Tune in and download, comedy fans, for possibly
the most outrageous material to be broadcast from this year's Edinburgh
fringe. Prepare to be amazed and enthralled by how down right dirty it's all becoming. It's the Edinburgh Fringe, what did you expect?

Show two is online and this time we’re playing it cool. Real cool. I’ve met some cool cats in my time, but none as cool as the line up we’ve on our show.

And, in case you were wondering, yes, REGINALD D HUNTER is the man.

This is a man who said almost nothing pre show apart from “we’re gonna have us some fun”.  This is a man whose punchlines are so good that it had the audience bent in half, crying with laughter. This is a man who wears his hair in pre-teenage girl pigtails and makes it look like the s**t.

And if a man like Reginald D Hunter decrees that that you are “sweet”, you’d better believe it. Step forward ADAM PAGE, or should that be Sweet Adam Page. All the way from Adelaide (that’s in Australia don’t you know) – Sweet Adam Page is a so talented, he doesn’t just play one instrument, but 15. 

This dude, and believe me, he is a dude, came on stage, beat boxed, played guitar, sampled Reggie, scratched, played the melodica and the sax all live and made one of the hottest joints from scratch, off the top of his head. Totally live, totally cool, totally E4.  Check out the photos and listen to the show, you won’t believe it. You also won’t believe what he can do with a carrot and a balloon but you’ll have to check his full show for that.

Not to be outdone, JASON JOHN WHITEHEAD rocked up and delivered a slick set all about the rain and the Olympics. This guy has been rocking the circuit for a few years now, and, as Reggie said “the mo’fu*ka is true to his game”. And true he is, he wrote the Olympics stuff overnight for us at E4 and delivered it so well it seemed like he’d been doing it for years. Top man.

Finally GARY THE TANK COMMANDER came to tell us all about the war in Iraq, in case you didn’t know, and about his amazing t-shirt that looks like two t-shirts, but is essentially one. His set was hot too, but not as hot as Iraq. Which is why he is so tanned. It’s a cracking tan too.

Next up we have got Australian JIM JEFFRIES hosting. When Jim is not getting punched in the face or offending the entire Osbourne family, he’s selling out his Edinburgh show (every night – 450 people). With him we have the amazing PIPPA EVANS, who’s new on the scene but has four and five star reviews and is genuinely brilliant JOE WILKINSON is on too – the man is a gag machine and one of the funniest sets I have seen in recent times. Last up is CARL DONNELLY, who’s sarcastic humour has seen him win several awards over the past two years.

Keep downloading. Keep it E4.

We recorded our very first E4 Laughs podcast the other day. It’s good. Really good. Not that I’m biased or anything. Like most things that go on in Edinburgh, there’s a ruddy good story behind it.

Andrew Maxwell, fresh from 2 hours sleep in two days (thanks to partying with Roy Walker and several other famous comedians) wasn’t too pleased to be woken up by an alarm call 20 minutes before show time (a 10:30 start time didn’t help)  - but a taxi ride and several coffees later and the little Irish fella hosted  a show of pure gold. To be sure.

He brought his mates with him too – Holly Walsh – who won Chortle’s best newcomer of the year - shows why she has already made comedians, producers and fans stand up and take notice of her.

Ginger And Black were there too, playing three songs from their Edinburgh show. Be enticed, charmed and ultimately shocked from their brand of dark guitar rap. (It’s still funny – don’t worry).

But that’s not all – James Dowdeswell a.k.a Count Fu**ula from Extras helps Maxwell through his hangover as he tells us why he’s no longer Mr Nice Guy, and why administration is more scary than knife crime.

In Edinburgh, 10:30 AM is no time to be getting up, but our comedians and audience did just that to bring you the first of many laughs that E4 will have at the Festival this year.

If that's not enough, check out the pictures. Next time Reginald D Hunter brings you JJ Whitehead, Gary The Tank Commander and Adam Page Solo. And I’ll be blogging about it yet again.

Louis