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Aardvarks and Carparks
Abando'man: A Hip Hop Comedy
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About Benson & Hill
About Comedy: 2 Day Comedy Courses [2008]
About Comedy: 2 Day Compering Course
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About Comedy: Teaching - An Improvisor's Art
About Robert The Bruce
Absolute Best Of Absolute Beginners
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Achtung Pal!
ACME Comedy Writing Course
Adam, Jason & Friends
Adams & Rea
Adolescence, Adulthood and the Ever Widening Chasm
Adolf Hitler And Mother Teresa Walk Into A Bar
Adventures Of Pink Peter
Aeneas Faversham Forever
After Dinner Society Presents...
After Hours [2008]
Afternoon Men
Aging is Amazing - Free
Ahir Shah And Alex Maple: One Boy, One Man, Two Comedians
Aidan Bishop's Bachelor Pad
AL Kennedy: Present Tense
Alcock Improv
Alex Horne: Word Watching
Alexis Dubus: A R*ddy Brief History Of Swearing
Ali Cook: A Touch Of Vegas
Aliens Ate My Schnitzel!
Alison Bice
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Alun Cochrane. Owner of a shed. And a son. Thinks the world is wonky.Think
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Andrew J. Lederer: Anthology (2008)
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Andrew Maxwell: Supernatural
Andrew O'Neill's Hour-Long Stand-Up Comedy Show
Andrew O'Neill's Totally Spot On History Of British Industry
Andrew Stanley: Some Things That Occured to Me in the Last While That I Thought You Should Know About
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Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive [2008]
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Show Details
AL Kennedy: Present Tense
Show type: Edinburgh Fringe 2008
Starring Comic:
A.L. Kennedy

AL Kennedy: Present Tense


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Description

A.L. Kennedy, who is both bloody funny and the current possessor of the Costa (formerly Whitbread) prize for fiction for her novel Day, is probably the only successful comedian / novelist in the world...

Present Tense will be the usual mix of dark, fast-moving, intelligently crafted observational humour.

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Reviews

Original Review:

Show Rating:AL Kennedy: Present Tense rated 3/5

Not wanting to judge by appearances, but a swift glance at the afternoon crowd in A L Kennedy’s show suggests they’re a literary bunch, inevitably intrigued by the prize winning novelist trying her hand at stand-up.

Unsurprisingly, one talent that certainly reveals itself is her skill with words; a lovely image is created from the allure of alcohol ads, the heady stages of smoking a joint (albeit tainted by the Scottish killjoy in her) are recreated humorously and there are frank tales of sexual awakenings in Dundee.

The title of the show Present Tense, she explains, refers not to a preferred use of tense in her narrative but her daily default setting of nervous tension. Her hour trips through the most stressful moments of her life from flying, visits to the dentist that result in numbness to the point of deformity and her ongoing pursuit of loose men and casual sex.

Her ideas and comedic notions are well thought-out, but there’s something about Kennedy’s delivery that doesn’t quite gel. She doesn’t make the most of her material, her timing is slightly off in places and she doesn’t always hit the punchline with the correct emphasis. That said, with a bit of work and more practice behind the mic she has the potential to become as fine a stand-up as she has become a writer.

Reviewed by: Marissa Burgess

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