STAND-UP JEWISH COMEDY

REVIEWS

STAND-UP JEWISH COMEDY

Pleasance (venue 33), 60 The Pleasance (0131-556 6550) 9.30 pm; to 2 Sept (not 22, 31)

It's hard not to warm to Ivor Dembina, the man who holds the Edinburgh franchise for traditional Jewish humour. Dembina's a pro; God help him if he wasn't after all these years. Working the room with ease, he builds a personal rapport with the audience ("You've come from Israel just to see me? [aside] in Yiddish we call this schmoozing"). Jewish humour's strength is that it's as old as the Ark. But then so are most of Dembina's non-Semitically-specific jokes. Take this one about performing in West Africa (go on, take it): "I've done a show to a group of Jewish pygmies there. I am so big there." Perhaps tradition is not always such a good thing.

Adrian Turpin