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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Alfie Joey's Mini-Cabaret
Verdict: Delightful in-car entertainment
Edinburgh - Car in Roxburgh Place Venue 248 - August 03
It sounded like a good idea - and so it turned out. Four comics are driving back from a gig: James Dowdeswell, Daniel Kitson, Andy Zaltzman - and Alfie Joey. The lads reckon Alfie's good car-company - why not do it on stage? Or rather, in a car?
Alfie's an endearing chap, grey eyes smiling from behind rectangular tortoise-shell glasses. He's of middle height, with freckled arms and reddish hair - cropped a little longer than a monk's (he used to be one). He's in white t-shirt, grey chinos. All of which close detail can be inspected for the hour the four audience and Alfie together, parked in his Escort in Roxburgh Place (near the Pleasance Over The Road).
After getting the front seats to work - we all join in - Alfie hands out cards of questions - a cue for some delightful anecdotes. For the next 60 minutes, it's a chat show - with Alfie in the hot seat, the audience calling the shots. In the car today, apart from the reviewer, are Anna from Manchester, her boyfriend T, and his brother Andy 'Carpet'.
It's a fast track through the life of a lad who spent his holidays as a child in Lourdes, enrolled in a seminary boarding school to train as a priest, and left the brotherhood to become ... but that would be telling Alfie's story - which he does more entertainingly himself. He's a lively raconteur, impish and good company - the time passes quickly. It's an act full of surprises, all of them enjoyable - with soft drinks at half time, courtesy of the Escort's delightful host.
END
John Park
reviewed Saturday 8 August 03 / Edinburgh / in Alfie Joey's car
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
