Following their success last year, the three BAD boys are back. Big And Daft return with the continuing story of three brothers, forced to live together in the house they have bought with their father's inheritance money. On the moon.

Once that is established, the narrative is quickly discarded for a more sketch based approach. The story as such concentrates on the relationship between the three and that in itself is enough to fill an enjoyable hour of carefree escapism. The quick pace of the show combining slapstick, rough and tumble and fabulously childish stunts, works to pull you quite willingly into their world. Rob Rouse in particular turns out a wonderfully innocent performance, which is complimented by the superbly understated Jon Williams and Ian Boldsworth. They work together to produce an hours' worth of comedy guaranteed to warm the heart, tickle the fancy and lighten even the darkest of moods

Big And Daft In Space is a tightly structured show, moving along at a rapid pace and always one step ahead of your expectations. As the new Goodies for 2000, a television contract will soon be inevitable. Missing this show means missing something wonderful.

Big and Daft in Space

Gilded Balloon

David O'Doherty

Gilded Balloon

Working on a sparse stage, "Mastermind meets Beckett", David O'Doherty has had to make some sacrifices to his original plan for 'The Story Of The Boy Who Saved Comedy'. Explaining that all the dance numbers have had to be dropped, and the gladiator style ending would no longer be appropriate, what O'Doherty introduces instead is a rambling fairytale, as told through the eyes of the story's hero, twelve year old Seamus White.

The story is a gentle tale of a boy searching for new jokes to put into his father's Christmas Crackers. O'Doherty plays all the characters, from a high pitched child to a gruff barman to an old lady. Roping in some audience members to be extras in the bar scenes, and enlisting the entire audience's help to provide sound effects and atmosphere, you quickly become involved in the unfolding story.

Every character is seen through the eyes of a child, so all the adults in the story are shown as slightly intimidating and slightly absurd. The characterization is wonderful and the audience were quiet and attentive, spellbound and hanging on O'Doherty's every word. A magical tale told by a gifted and very funny storyteller.

Andrew Maxwell

Gilded Balloon

In what he proudly claims to be "the least sweaty venue in Edinburgh", Andrew Maxwell presents his first solo Fringe show. In an hour that seems to pass in the blink of an eye, Maxwell presents rambling, enjoyable accounts of, among other things, his recent trip to Brazil.

The animated gesture of his publicity poster - hands raised triumphantly above his head - is repeated continuously throughout the show. With a delivery that sounds more like an animated conversation among friends in a pub, Maxwell covers many diverse topics, keeping everything sounding fresh and unrehearsed.

At the end of the show, Maxwell apologises for the crude nature of his material, pointing out that the subjects covered aren't exactly ones that crop up in everyday conversation. Indeed, throughout the show you find yourself laughing in spite of yourself, carried along by his cheeky charm. If you've ever wondered what the one thought going through your head is as you wrestle a crocodile, or the best way to get a free drink from a bar, Maxwell is your man. With such a superb debut Maxwell is definitely destined to be a huge star of the future.

Hollow Men - Live at the Lounge

Gilded Balloon

Live At The Lounge is a theatrical comedy performance from beginning to end. Welcomed at the door and guided to your seats by Nigel Parks, House Manager, the Lounge Club is a seedy venue, with a cheerless compere, wretched acts and a club owner bordering on insanity.

A huge variety of characters are performed with great conviction and assurance by the four cast members, with the switches from each character being well executed, and timed to perfection. Of particular note is the wonderfully awkward compere 'Oily' Mike Wrong, a man with a line in embarrassingly unfunny jokes and increasing surreal observational comedy. Highlight of the show is the Viennese Interpretative Dance Performer, whose five-star performance of Natalie Imbruglia's 'Torn' is worth the entrance fee alone.

The characterisation throughout is horribly convincing, and the show plays like a soap opera, watching the lives of the people involved in the Lounge unravel before your eyes. If you enjoy the underlying melancholy of The League Of Gentlemen, the characterisation of Steve Coogan, and the depravity of the Doug Anthony All Stars, this show the show for you.

Adam Hills

Gilded Balloon

A striking feature of Adam Hills' show is the relaxed, happy ambience. From the outset, Hills creates a party atmosphere that leaves the audience feeling more like a gathering of friends. Coming out before the audience are fully seated, he guides people to empty seats and chats amiably to the front row before launching into the show proper. Adam Hills is nice.

Adam Hills does nice better than anyone on the Fringe.

The basic premise of the show - the idea of image versus reality - links together some wonderful observational comedy with seamless audience participation. With a deceptively laid back feel to the always tightly structured performance, Hills carries the audience along a wave of positive uplifting laughter.

Audience interaction is the key to the show. Hills obviously takes a delight in involving members of the audience, inviting them to participate throughout the show. The relaxed atmosphere of the show, and the unthreatening nature of the ringleader means that willing participants can be talked into a range of impromptu performances on and off stage.

At last night's performance, the two twelve year old boys sitting in the front row must have thought all their Christmases had come at once, as Hills drew a teacher out from the audience, got him to stand up on stage and teach history - while encouraging the boys to hurl abuse and throw spit balls and paper airplanes. Throughout the show, Hills involved them in the humour without once making them the punchline. It is a clear illustration of his immense talent and diversity as performer that the two boys appeared to enjoy the show as much as their parents, and the quality of the humour didn't suffer because of it.

The audience participation culminates with the creation of a new boy band live on stage - an event that has taken on almost legendary status on this year's Fringe already - and the rapturous applause that follows this shows that the wild enthusiasm flowing from the stage is obviously contagious.

Hills is not afraid to explore any avenue in the search for humour, but never once does he cross over to the darker side of subjects, keeping the tone and content light-hearted. This is not to say that the show feels contrived, or restricted - as such, Hills ability to find delight from the most mundane features of life is a welcome change from the usually cynical outlook of today's stand up performers.

Goody Two Shoes provides a guaranteed laugh to even the most hardened of Fringe goers. You will never be able to look at a map of the British Isles in the same way again.

Big Value Comedy

Cafe Royale

The Big Value Comedy Club, appearing twice nightly in The Café Royal, does exactly what it says on the tin: three stand up acts for the price of one in a two hour show is certainly good value.

Darrel Martin is compere, whose initial hard work got the relatively unenthusiastic audience warmed up nicely. He introduces a joke competition every night, and the winner of last night's competition is unprintable in a family newspaper.

Johnny Candon, with deceptively innocent delivery and well-constructed material, is certainly the highlight of the show. His animated film criticism of The Blair Witch Project puts Jonathon Ross to shame, and his confidence and stage presence mark him out as one who is destined to be a huge star of the future.

Second up is Susan Murray. She a very confident performer with some very crude material, but works the audience well. Finally, for comedy bingo aficionados, Marty Wilson is your man. From The Empire Strikes Back, the difference between men and women to road rage and boy bands, Wilson covers the full house of comedy cliches within the first ten minutes of his act.

Overall, the show is good quality, coming in at just over two hours of stand up. Perhaps not the most original or innovative show you could see on the Fringe, but certainly not a bad way to spend an evening.

Jason Byrne

Pleasance

Leaping on to the stage in an unkempt frenzy of barely concealed hyperactivity, Jason Byrne is a performer in a league of his own. That is to say, Jason Byrne is in a world of his own. With his shows of manic improvisation, involving audience members, props, and sometimes audience members as props, the Irishman is already a Fringe legend. Every show is a guaranteed one-off, one-man event.

Immediately connecting with the audience, Byrne chats amicably with anyone and everyone who wants to join in the show. "Welcome to the sauna!" he yells with delight. "You're all going to get very sweaty. Especially the front row. you've all got a lot to do!" Encouraging audience participation naturally leads to some problems, and tonight was no exception. From Jim, the bloke from Edinburgh who seemed to have taken some beer on board earlier in the night, to the woman who spilled her drink over the balcony on to the people sitting below, Byrne certainly had his work cut out to keep the unruly at bay and keep the audience temperament light and breezy. Anarchy threatens, but Byrne keeps the mood bubbling over nicely.

Barely focusing on his set, Byrne played the audience members off one another, encouraging heckling and dealing with unintended interruptions with flourish and ease. Throwing out advice on how to cheat when a contestant on Channel 4's 15 to 1, or how to get rid of a one night stand you no longer want, Byrne whips the audience into a continued hysteria that defies the cramped conditions of the room. On a stage littered with inexplicable props, such as Venetian blinds, a toilet seat and a scooter, Byrne continually diverted himself from the stories he is in the middle of telling. He began one routine - the reason why spiders would like to have hands - continually through the show, only to be distracted by another story or a prop or movement that catches his eye.

By the end of the hour, the audience, flushed, sweaty and delirious did not want him to leave the stage. In the end, a beautiful moment was created when Byrne got the audience to croon a slow, seedy love song while he dances a slow set with the journalist from the front row. A natural born entertainer, as the audience soon discovered, Jason Byrne is the physical embodiment of funny.

Stewart Lee

Pleasance

Following his almost total absence from last year's Fringe, Stewart Lee returns "like a dog to its own vomit" with this, his 14th Edinburgh show and his experience is evident.

Stewart Lee's Badly Mapped World demonstrates the trademark cynicism that marks out his solo stand-up from his more buoyant work with television partner Richard Herring. Temporarily divorced from his partner's demented child persona, Lee is free to explore a considerably more intellectual approach to the topics at hand.

At the beginning of this year's show, Lee contends that every comedy show today is about "men, women, dogs, cats, sex, drugs, masturbation and toilets - though not necessarily in that order."

His show, he declares, moves beyond "the scatological filth and other pathetic issues" by talking about the same subjects "but with literary references and slides".

Playing to an attentive, engrossed audience, Lee addresses his material with a thoughtful meandering delivery. The voice is pitched low, in tones more suited to seduction than stand-up as he paces across the stage, moving from one topic to the next with refreshing subtlety and self-assurance.

Lee's material is always unique, challenging and deeply personal and this show is no exception. Covering topics as diverse as sex, the Concorde crash in France and the identity confusion of the platypus, the show is inventive, innovative and original from beginning to end.

Stand Up Scotland

The Stand

Six recent graduates from the comedy masterclass run by The Stand get together to produce an hour's worth of stand up in The Stand 2. With an almost totally Scottish crowd, an enthusiastic Friday evening feeling and a bar just next door, the atmosphere would seem just right for an hour's entertainment.

Unfortunately, the phrase running before you can walk does spring to mind. Each performer on stage has good confidence, but many were perhaps a little over anxious with delivery. Many acts depended on one overall joke, ranging from their accent to their profession. One act even bypassed telling jokes, and instead rambled on for ten minutes about the previous jobs he has held.

The audience were polite and patient throughout, but it was more like watching a new acts night than a proper evening of stand up, and laughs were very sparse on the ground. Certainly every act on has good potential for a future career in stand up, but they do need more material, and need to gain more confidence and experience.

The Useless Guide To Scotland

The Stand

Two men stand on stage, with furry hats on their heads. In childish voices, they shout on facts about Scotland, such as "Loch Ness is famous for it's… tourists." Brian Hennigan and Bill Dewar bring the Useless Guide To Scotland, a loose sketch show performed by two men who look like they really should know better.

Their laid back - almost horizontal - style brings a freedom to the performances, and they do seem to be enjoying the show just as much as the audience. Working well together, and not afraid to move away from the script if the opportunity arises, they play off each other to great effect. Sparse, homemade props and certainly the best use of a bag of chips in a Fringe show bring together a lively performance that keeps the audience laughing and enthusiastic throughout the show.

Perhaps funnier to a local audience than the average Fringe goer, but an enjoyable romp nonetheless through bare faced lies and some very clever set pieces.

Johnny Vegas GameShow

Big Top

Johnny Vegas is in a whole league of his own. Vegas is in a whole other dimension. No one on the circuit today can come close to the limits he can push. No one else would dare.

Appearing in his first straight role in the Erpingham Camp (Assembly Rooms), Vegas presents his quiz show for six glorious performances only. The hype surrounding tonight, the first night of the quiz, was already huge, and those here to see Vegas include Matt Lucas, Darrell Martin, Mark Lamarr and Steve Frost.

Without trying to subvert the format, Vegas presents a traditional game-show. The audience is split into two halves, with three members of each picked to represent the masses. This in itself proves a time consuming task with Vegas casting a more than watchful eye over the ensuing chaos. Those who have chosen to sit up front are soon to regret their decision.

Vegas is his usual boisterous, rowdy, shouting self which is a delight to the crowd. The show is ultimately pointless affair with no real points system - just an overhead projector, a few coloured pens and an operator who seems convinced the audience can read upside down. It is no real surprise that the winning team includes the woman with whom Johnny has been flirting for the better part of the night.