4/5 
This year’s Shows!
Following the uncharacteristically positive reviews we got for Topical Scurvy in 2008 (see below), there were two – yes, two – Scurvy shows in Edinburgh as part of the 2009 Laughing Horse Free Festival this year…
We had lots of nice comments about the shows, and even survived having all three of us living in a two-bedroom flat/podcasting studio/pro-evo football den for most of the festival…
Previous Shows
Topical Scurvy: For Lunch – Free! (2008)
Yes, this show may have got walkouts. But it also got some very lovely reviews, so it seems unnecessarily coy not to shamelessly copy and paste them here with the best bits highlighted:
Hairline.org said:
Topical Scurvy: For Lunch In their fast-paced show, the three team members throw up stand-up comedy, comedy sketches and comedy songs, all held together with sound effects, costumes and a dizzying range of characters including John McCain, Mary Magdalene, a vaguely Scottish Obama and an unapologetically Scottish Jesus. The show embraces the comedy behind such politically correct topics as racism and religion, and while the themes may run close to the bone at times, they never overstep into ’shock tactics’. This is a show which takes delicate, topical issues and turns them into quality comedy material, making the audience laugh hard on subjects they would expect to feel guilty about doing so. This is clever, adult humour with a number of scenes, songs and segments that contain moments of near-genius festival comedy. Each of these devices would struggle to carry a show on its own and the blend between the three offers the variety and depth to make this a very successful comedy show. Topical Scurvy, however, is not a polished performance, with some timing and technical glitches needing ironed out, although these do not detract too much to cause serious problems to the show’s success. The material and its delivery are strong enough and certainly funny enough to carry them through such problems. Topical Scurvy also has the additional attraction of being FREE comedy – a rare festival gem. Although definitely “best not to bring the kids” as the flier says, this is a show certainly worth trying to catch during their short Festival run.
And Three Weeks said:
15/8/08 - Three Weeks - Topical Scurvy for Lunch It may be in the dingy back room of a football club, but what emanates from this room is nothing but quality. ‘Topical Scurvy’ embodies what the Fringe is about: talent showcased in obscure venues, discovered by unwitting punters. This show combines timeless stand-up material with topical issues of the day, including a rap between John McCain and Barack Obama, and whatever happens to be in the newspapers that day. A special mention must go to Tony Dunn, who manages to pull off dressing up as a crucified, blacked-up Jesus, without inciting a riot. The costumes are hilariously bad and the show is unpolished, but the raw talent is enough to give the audience an excellent lunchtime show.
Particularly thanks go to the writers of these reviews, neither of whom have yet been bought sufficient drinks for us to deserve such near-gushing praise. Perhaps the show really was that good…
