fringe round-up; Bill Bailey

Weird Beard Bailey, the hairiest comedian on the fringe, exudes good humour. Last year the Cockney rebel of classical music, this year ready to wreak his tuneful brand of hippie subversion on TV themes, adverts and urgent news credits. On guitar and keyboard Bailey has a fine ear for hackneyed chords and idiot transposition: Tom Waits plays "Three Blind Mice", Dr Who meets Jack Brown. Between songs he meanders around Wittgenstein, Chaucer and the sad lot of the session xylophone player. Bailey's conversational style is so laid back that you're lulled into thinking he's some dirty- socked prog-rock philosopher you've just met down the pub. It's a disarming, professional performance. This down-to-earth blokeishness also makes Bailey one of the few comedians who can tell a joke about a pixie pub where you buy beer with fluff without making the audience gag on whimsy.

n The Assembly Rooms. To Aug 31, (not 29)

LIESE SPENCER