Projects
Richard Hanrahan Is Doing This (2018)
richard hanrahan is Doing This (2018)
Stand-Up. Edinburgh Festival. August,. Just The Tonic.Finally a fringe debut. I don't really know how to describe this even after writing so many, many blurbs. Basically it was as 'multi-media-performance-arty' as stand-up can get, and as 'stand-upy' as performance art could never hope to be, possibly. I went onstage, inexplicably dressed in goat's legs and my real-life Under-11 Hertfordshire Chess Jumper, and with a three camera set-up I recorded my interactions with audiences trying to work out what comedy was.
Half the show was a madcap re-cap of previous shows, bits of material shoe-horned into a powerpoint presentation based on previous audience's attempts to pin down what comedy was, and the second half was a more open affair where I got to ask the audiences themselves. Soon it became a documentary-in-process of a fringe show, the highs and the lows and everything in between (mostly lows and refreshing various review websites).
Why though?
Well it was a good idea at the time. It was trying to do something a bit meta using the skills I gleaned from various projects, and which fitted my style. Plus, in an over saturated market it's good to try something different, right?
Press
"I’ve been reviewing Fringe comedy shows for five years now and this is the bravest one I’ve ever seen. Also, it’s the only one that’s made me cry with laughter... takes stand-up comedy to a whole new level." "Hanrahan is that rare thing: a comedian who makes it look effortless... this was my favourite comedy show in the fringe this year" "genre-bending stuff" "the show is a joy: he is a very funny man" "Properly hilarious multi-media mayhem. Don’t miss it." ***** The Fountain
"Possibly the most hard working comedian at this years Fringe... the show has already snowballed into something special and must be seen to be appreciated... ultimately [this] is definitely one to see this year – and again and again if possible" **** The Skinny
"Richard Hanrahan is assembling a vast, ever-shifting edifice of comedy – a Tower of Babel which may yet collapse into a terrifying incomprehensibility. A funny one, though... [there's] Something Lee & Herring-esque in his surreal energy, quick-wit, love of diagrams and general comedy-as-deconstruction-of-comedy style... the constant metamorphosis of the act is a masterstroke" The Prickle
"He is, fortunately, an already pretty funny guy; a little scatty, maybe, but with a gift for audience interaction... unique and inspired" "Puzzlingly hilarious, a seemingly endless fractal fever dream..." "See this show – then see it again" *** Fest
"looked hilarious, if painful... Enthusiastically eccentric" "Peak Fringe." *** Chortle
Of course, all my favourite reviews come from the people that saw the show. I wouldn't usually post this sort of thing, but I was beaming when I read this:
"If Vic & Bob collaborated with Samuel Becket on a multimedia seminar analysing the nature of comedy it might be something like the brilliant and insanely weird Richard Hanrahan @edfringe show at Just The Tonic. Amazing and truly bizarre. Loved it.", "...my worst @edfringe nightmare come to life. Massive kudos to RH for somehow turning this into a brilliant and unforgettable gig - like being trapped in a lift with a garrulous man in a goat costume filming you on three camcorders, but in a good way. " "totally unique and surprising and genuinely funny - everything the fringe should be (and usually isn't)." William Sutcliffe, Author (Link)
Gallery
All photos taken by Richard Hanrahan - licensed under Creative Commons Attribution. Hi Res Images here.
