Show Rating:

This seems to be the year we should be taking notice of Kristen Schaal. From the relative obscurity of New York’s alternative scene, she’s starting to turn up in all sorts of places. She has a supporting role in Flight Of The Conchords’ HBO series, appeared in the David Cross-fronted showcase of offbeat US acts in London earlier this summer, was invited to Montreal’s industry-infested Just For Laughs festival and now makes her Edinburgh debut.

Plus she makes truly fabulous and wonderfully funny short films – and in this YouTube world, that may be the real way to get noticed.

Her hour-long show is less assured than her videotaped whimsy, however. It relies on the kooky charm she has by the barrowful, but often puts too much emphasis on being quirky and not enough on being funny.

She certainly has a beguling wide-eyed persona. In her dream-like voice, which she appears to have stolen from a cartoon schoolgirl, she can sing-song phrases like ‘super duper’ without a hint of self-consciousness. She’s utterly vulnerable, with a slight air of despondency, carrying a child-like naivety that could be a manifestation of a fragile mental state.

It means we stick with her, rooting for her even when some of the gags seem a long time coming. When her show works, it’s a delight: the caterpillar diaries, proposing to her boyfriend or acting a kitchen sink drama using real kitchen implements are all both touching and funny. But sometimes the hour groans under the weight of its own whimsy, as she embarks upon dream-like flights of imagination, but leaving us behind.

Her film, Penelope Princess Of Pets, remains the highlight of the show, every scene filled-to-bursting with great gags, both visual and verbal, and demonstrates the imaginative heights of which she is capable, even if she doesn’t reach them every time.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett