Edinburgh Fringe Comedy reviews: Hasan Al-Habib | Josie Long | Krystal Evans | Lily Philips | Batshit

Hasan Al-Habib: Death to the West (Midlands)

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)

★★★★☆

Growing up during the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Hasan Al-Habib is accustomed to prejudice about where he's from. The Birmingham-born stand-up knows the city is looked down upon by many in the UK and has cultivated an agile, reactive wit, mastery of accents and shifting persona to deflect the condescension and micro-aggressions he's endured. Being an Iraqi in the wake of 9/11 was likely a factor too.

In this compelling debut, the comic negotiates the difficulties of his cultural identity. With cheeky chappie verve – reminiscent of the incorrigible Iranian stand-up Omid Djalili ironically, given historical hatred between their nations – Al-Habib sashays on, mugs and plays to the gallery in his introduction. Alternating between straightforward, gag-loaded exposition of his tale, pleading oppression if there's a lucrative refugee scholarship to be claimed and affecting the swagger of Muslim triumphalism at the integration of Islam into British life, he capably plays with tone. There's material here for Live at the Apollo and other bits that wouldn't be out of place in a Sunday supplement longread.

The background stakes have unquestionably been high. His Baghdadi father's iron-discipline was forged witnessing Saddam's secret police enact brutal reprisals on those deemed insufficiently loyal to the regime. And the family's travel arrangements are always subject to border security scrutiny. Yet if Al-Habib's father shares a noble reason for visiting the 9/11 memorial in New York, he's also got mockable self-interest too. The comic invariably finds the ridiculous aspects of his adolescence and education, his idiot best friend portrayed as every bit as formative an influence as the teacher who abused him for his ancestry.

Where's he particularly endearing and funny is charting his personal journey from internalised shame and inhibition to flourishing as a performer and being alive to a belated pilgrimage to his homeland. Entertaining stuff.

JAY RICHARDSON

until 24 August

Josie Long: Now Is The Time of Monsters

Pleasance Dome (Venue 23)

★★★★☆

This is a beautifully written, beautifully told story full of trickery and excellent jokes. It’s about the passing of time, about getting older, about climate change and about the time when strange gigantic megafauna roamed the earth.

It’s political – after all it is Josie Long – but it’s also deeply personal, domestic and delightfully playful.

Long is so associated with radical politics that you can forget how enthralling silly she can be. She becomes the family hamster, a neanderthal, several sweetly voiced middle-class children and a handful of old ladies. There’s even a few sexy moments, although neurodiverse awkwardness dictates these are mostly voiced from underneath her T shirt.

She illustrates her story with children’s drawings, she introduces extraordinary facts about prehistoric life. She conjures herself back to the time of cave painting, imagining how those humans spoke to their children. Her elegantly crafted jokes weave backwards and forwards in time. And there are even what computer games fans call ‘Easter Eggs’ – hidden cultural references for film buffs and politicos.

Long is brilliant on the relentlessness and forced optimism of motherhood, and I love the interlude where she tries to educate her daughters to be as left wing as possible. Like all attempts at inter-generational indoctrination it is destined to fail.

There is a depth and brilliance to this show which stays with you. There’s a new fire behind the sparkle in her eyes. This is a woman at the peak of her power, in command of all her gifts. A comic since her teenage years, she knows how to elicit laughter – and she does.

It’s a superbly well-structured show, which builds up to a heartfelt and surprising emotional reveal. This is not some high falutin' intellectual game; it is life, and there is raw, difficult human experience hiding below the games, the silliness and the jokes. Despite the state of the state of the world it leaves you with a real feeling of optimism and hope.

CLAIRE SMITH

until 24 August

READ MORE: The Best Edinburgh Fringe Comedy 2025: Every show with a four or five-star review from The Scotsman so far

Krystal Evans: A Star is Burnt

Monkey Barrel 2 (Venue 515)

★★★☆☆

Krystal Evans knows how to find the funny side of tough situations. My God, she’s had to, as she proved in her spectacularly good 2023 debut, The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp, which told the story of a horrific house fire that might have been deliberately set by her troubled mother.

Her entertaining follow-up details her experiences of working in hospitality, starting at a fast-food shack in her native Washington State, moving up to fancier places and ultimately helping set up Aizle, the first of four highly rated Edinburgh restaurants headed by her (now ex) husband, chef Stuart Ralston.

Honest, confident and instinctively funny, she shares a few jaw-dropping anecdotes that shine a light on the hard work and disparity of recognition within the restaurant business (chefs are lauded, but everyone else’s toil is often taken for granted by customers). It’s a world in which the show must go on, no matter how heartbreaking things are behind the scenes.

Evans also shares some brilliantly candid teenage horny diary entries, ushering us towards a justifiably sincere message about the value of following your true passion. A comedy fan from a young age, she didn’t start doing stand-up until she was 30, but recently got to open for one of her early heroes, David Cross, and (though she doesn’t mention it in this show) will be on the new Mitchell and Webb sketch show. You’ll be seeing a lot more of this talented woman.

ASHLEY DAVIES

until 24 August

Lily Philips: Crying

Monkey Barrel Comedy (Venue 515)

★★★☆☆

Lily Philips and her partner had fertility treatment in order to conceive a much-wanted baby, but then things stopped going to plan.

Despite the inspirational messages coming from her mothers-to-be WhatsApp group, Philips discovers childbirth to be messy, painful and distressing. She finds herself surrounded by misogyny at every turn, and realises – as a lot of new mothers do – the condescension and insensitivity shown to women during pregnancy, birth and early motherhood.

She delivers her show almost as a public service announcement for women everywhere – although she works in a lot of laughs about the contrast between expectation and reality.

There’s a wider issue too, about the pressure social media puts on all of us to lead perfect Insta-ready lives and to broadcast an image of positivity and joy, whatever is really going on.

One heart-rending moment when she looks at her newborn daughter for the first time will make you cry, but she quickly mines the moment for laughs. She gets a lot of mileage from sharing a name with porn star Lily Philips. Comic Lily leans into the confusion to drop in a lot of dirty jokes which keep the pace of her tale zipping along.

CLAIRE SMITH

until 12 August

Batshit

City Cafe (Venue 85)

★★★☆☆

Apart from being a real thrill for bat aficionados, cat lovers and those fascinated by the psychology of identical twins, you can save yourself £350 on an Oasis ticket and have much more fun joining Cheekykita and her charming sound operator Sian in the Batcave. The hour hurtles along, packed with squirty cream, a woman who wants to be a dog and is looking for love, some very niche porn and (allegedly) two jokes. The cockroach catching might be cut because Cheekykita is so rubbish at it, so, sorry if you don't get to see it and there is an entire section which is only hilarious if you know Happy Valley, but there is fun here for anyone who appreciates crazy, plus some important advice on Rich Tea use.

This is comedy with no pretence (other than the pretence that she is a bat, of course). When we demand she produce the promised golden pigeons she is shocked. And golden pigeonless. “No one's ever said yes before."

As we wait for a song intro to cue up she assures us: “Don't worry, something really good's coming.” And it did.

KATE COPSTICK

until 24 August

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