{"id":1170680,"date":"2026-08-26T16:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1170680\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T16:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:35:21","slug":"edinburgh-fringe-2026-reviews-roger-osullivan-jonno-kate-dolan-finlay-christie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1170680\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Fringe 2026 reviews: Roger O’Sullivan, Jonno, Kate Dolan, Finlay Christie"},"content":{"rendered":"

A smart stand-up comedian who identifies as an Irish peasant, a performance that leaves you feeling slapped in the face by a fish, and a more tolerable Jack Whitehall figure: reviews of shows performed 25 August, 2026.<\/p>\n

Roger O’Sullivan: Divil May Cry<\/p>\n

Monkey Barrel 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy<\/p>\n

Roger O\u2019Sullivan is a smart and likeable stand-up<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

Roger O’Sullivan – Divil May Cry<\/p>\n

Andy Beill<\/p>\n

The smart and likeable Roger O\u2019Sullivan shares his lineage from the peasants and the ancestral Rogers who came before him in rural Ireland, where ambition is a sin and \u2018being atheist is the most Protestant thing you can do\u2019.<\/p>\n

Yes there are stories of growing up in the Catholic church, of differences with the English, and why the Irish don\u2019t much care for Bono. Predictable topics perhaps but none of this feels thrown in for an easy laugh.<\/p>\n

There are a few inventive frills and props on top of his regular spoken material that all work well without taking this show into gimmick territory at all.<\/p>\n

Roger O\u2019Sullivan is a thoughtful and intelligent show writer and a warm and engaging presence on stage. \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n

Jonno: Here Comes Mr Funny<\/p>\n

Monkey Barrel 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy<\/p>\n

Jonno\u2019s comedic brain is subversive and highly imaginative<\/p>\n

\"Jonno<\/p>\n

Jonno – Here Comes Mr Funny<\/p>\n

Andy Beill<\/p>\n

Once a Fringe regular in the legendary sketch group Sheeps and now head writer for SNL UK, Jonno\u2019s debut solo hour includes several elements of musical comedy. These range from the daft but sticky office-based doo wop opener and banjo-plucked encounter with a cowboy, to the sublime bigger set pieces parodying James Bond theme tunes and a West End show (in creative ways I won\u2019t spoil here.) But actually over the course of the hour, there\u2019s a lot more stand-up and occasional bits of crowd work than would be fair to reduce this to being described as a musical act.<\/p>\n

His deadpan Yorkshire delivery lures you into believing every setup before the killer punchline. So much so, he even utilises \u2018the chair of sincerity\u2019 to assure the audience when he\u2019s not leading them up the garden path.<\/p>\n

Jonno\u2019s comedic brain is subversive and highly imaginative, and some of his musical numbers will get in your head. You could argue, nobody does it better. \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

Monkey Barrel 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy<\/p>\n

I left feeling like I\u2019d just been Tango\u2019d<\/p>\n

\"Kate<\/p>\n

Kate Dolan – Trout<\/p>\n

Andy Beill<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still not quite sure how to sum up what I saw here. Kate Dolan says her act has been described as \u2018an ADHD fever dream\u2026 I don\u2019t have it\u2019. Big performance doesn\u2019t do it justice. I left feeling like I\u2019d just been Tango\u2019d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t a moment\u2019s breath. At any point she could break into a random accent, song or dance. You won\u2019t see it coming, and she\u2019ll be onto her next bit of patter before you know it.<\/p>\n

She starts by telling the crowd \u2018let\u2019s take the roof off\u2019 and certainly on this night she does that. Some of the audience are in fits of laughter throughout at the unrestrained silliness. If you prefer more subtlety this might not be for you, but you can\u2019t deny it\u2019ll keep you engaged and on your toes. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be uncomfortable with loud and weird women,\u201d she says. While not exactly a relaxing experience, so capable she is at all the twists and turns of her stage presence I wouldn\u2019t call it an uncomfortable one either.<\/p>\n

Some people will absolutely love this madcap experience. Others probably need to get out of their lane just for an hour to see what it\u2019s like in this alternative universe. \u2605\u2605\u2605\u00bd\u2606 <\/p>\n

Finlay Christie: Champagne Casanova<\/p>\n

Monkey Barrel 4 at Monkey Barrel Comedy<\/p>\n

Finlay Christie sits somewhere comedically between Jack Whitehall and Rob Beckett if he\u2019d come from money, but don\u2019t let that put you off<\/p>\n

\"Finlay<\/p>\n

Finlay Christie – Champagne Casanova<\/p>\n

Andy Beill<\/p>\n

To say that Finlay Christie sits somewhere comedically between Jack Whitehall and Rob Beckett if he\u2019d come from money, might turn some people off straight away. He doesn\u2019t shy away from the fact he\u2019s from a rich boy world, but he\u2019s more relatable than that and doesn\u2019t fully position himself as a pompous ego encouraging you to bring on the hate; leave that to Jimmy Carr. He\u2019s more likely to pick on an even richer member of the audience as a figure of fun. And the writing is undeniably strong.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly the type of late-night act you\u2019d expect to see in the underground, youthful Monkey Barrel 4 venue (Champagne not served). \u2605\u2605\u2605\u00bd\u2606 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A smart stand-up comedian who identifies as an Irish peasant, a performance that leaves you feeling slapped in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1170681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,312728,1102,56777,4884,712,16661,16,15],"class_list":["post-1170680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-britain","tag-comedy-reviews","tag-edinburgh","tag-edinburgh-fringe","tag-great-britain","tag-scotland","tag-stand-up","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117162787789071995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1170681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}