Following the sell-out success of 2008’s critically acclaimed hit Gaping Flaws, and hot on the heels of his acclaimed appearance on BBC1 ONE’s Live at the Apollo, double if.comedy Award nominee RUSSELL KANE is back to ask: prancing, posing, preening - is it always the ego at work?

Are we really just vacuous globs of jelly destined to show off? Can kindness and altruism really be stealthy ways of seeking approval?

Join RUSSELL as he explains why every human act, if you dig deep enough, is a longing for love. Why we strut and fret our daily dance and seek to have it stamped. And why it’s all a Human Dressage, a meaningless jig, a purposeless beauty drifting terminally into silliness. All, of course, linked in with jokes about his Nan, swearing and a number of low-brow moments which eat into the very core of his idea…

RUSSELL returns to the Festival Fringe after a prolific twelve months following his 2008 if.comedy Award nomination. This year has seen him: embark on his first UK tour, performing the acclaimed Gaping Flaws in theatres nationwide; play Fakespeare, by special invitation from the RSC, at the main stage at Stratford-upon-Avon; perform on BBC1’s Live at the Apollo alongside host AL MURRAY; and complete a nine-week tour of Australia, which included a full run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In addition to his solo stand-up show, RUSSELL will also be presenting his brand new Fakespeare two-hander The Tragickal Saveings of King Nigel, co-staring SADIE HASLER (Al Murray’s Multiple Personality Disorder, ITV1) throughout the Festival. He will be on tour for the second time this year, only six months since completing his last run, visiting theatres nationwide between 1st October and 25th November, with Human Dressage.

ends

"One of the finest young performers around. His energy is boundless and luckily this is matched by this bendy man's exquisite comedic abilities."
Tim Arthur, Time Out

"He wears his erudition lightly, but unashamedly. He's also a wonderfully animated comic, whose delivery chops between observation and goofy role-play."
Brian Logan, The Guardian

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Venue: Pleasance Cabaret Bar
Date: 5th - 31st August [excluding 17th Aug]
Time: 21:20
Box Office: 0131 556 6550

For more information and press tickets, please contact: Jo Cross, Ben Nolan, Jenny Stewart or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: joc@avalonuk.com, benn@avalonuk.com, jenny.stewart@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com

WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT RUSSELL KANE’S:

…Gaping Flaws

"Russell Kane is an exceptional comedian, his pace is relentless and his material beautifully observed and exquisitely crafted...This is inspiring and brilliant stand-up…perfect."
Corry Shaw, Chortle

"A fierce intelligence with an irreverent streetwise line of patter… Kane's background provides the richest seam of anthropological material and a compassionate context for his more cutting observations. Delivered at a break-neck speed, his set flits easily between the crude and the cerebral and makes telling points with both approaches. Gaping Flaws is one of those rare shows that makes an hour seem a very short time."
Jonathan Trew, The Scotland on Sunday

"‘Gaping Flaws’ marks Russell Kane’s stand-up ascendancy."
Ian Phillips, The National Student

"Much of his rantings and comedy make sense as does the fact that you should try and get a ticket for his show if you can."
one4review

"A streetsmart intellectual, taking the everyday and adding his literate, sideways spin."
Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard

"The kind of gags that make you snort beer out of your nose… An impressive punchline rate."
Mickey Noonan, Metro

"Passionate and relentlessly punchy in his delivery."
Jay Richardson, The Scotsman

"Hip-thrusting his way across the stage, Kane fires out anecdotes and witty asides with machine-gun frequency, his pitch-perfect observations hitting the mark every time… Anecdotes are not simply told, but illustrated with hilariously drawn impressions of the characters that inhabit them, and Kane's gloriously charismatic performance exudes energy and spark."
Hannah Thomas, Fest

"His 60-minute meditation on the flaws of humans has a thumping heart and a burning soul."
Brian Donaldson, The List

"Well on his way to rock-star status… Kane springs and struts around the stage like a boxer, and sounds like a Ben Elton who actually is working class… he's getting better and better."
Nicholas Barber, Independent on Sunday

"There's enough bawdiness in his relentless, energetic material to please the less discerning punter, but it's underpinned by subtly serious points."
Stephanie Merritt, The Guardian

…Easy Cliché and Tired Stereotype

"Jaw-achingly faultless… cements Kane’s status as masterful observational comic."
Alison Lutton, Fest

"The best show we’ve seen."
LBC

"The Perrier nominee is about as smart a young comic as you’re likely to find."
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times

"It's his quick-fire, spur-of-the-moment jokes and comments which prove that the man is genuinely hilarious."
Three Weeks

"Great skill and huge laughs… it’s refreshing to find an hour where the conceit never feels strained."
Mickey Noonan, Metro

"At one point, Kane refers to a loud noise outside as the stars falling off his reviews. Only the one Russell."
Marissa Burgess, The List

…The Theory of Pretension

"Kane is an intelligent, confident comedian who can make us look at ourselves and laugh, regardless of the sometimes unpalatable view. His ferocious, rapid fire delivery and needle sharp observations are accurate and genuinely funny. A proper stand-up comedian; a lot rarer these days than you think."
Drew Tosh, The List

"It’s also hilarious from start-to-finish, as he thrusts about revealing Shakespeare as the rubbish comedian we all knew he was at school, exposing the fallacy of the jobsworth, and explaining how the ultimate antidote to pretentiousness is silliness. Kane has a rambling, hyperactive style, though it’s clearly a very carefully constructed narrative, flexible enough for ad-libbing with the audience and quick-witted brainwaves that leave the audience floored with laughter."
Ally Brown, Skinny Fest

"Few Edinburgh newcomers make performing look this fluid… It looks like his rise to meteoric heights is about to begin."
Sharon Lougher, Metro

"Stand-up Russell Kane is one to watch."
Jonathan Trew, Scotland on Sunday

AVALON PROMOTIONS

Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).

The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics JENNY ECLAIR, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Arena; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as RUSSELL KANE, KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed a highly successful run in Australia; and present 23 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 17 Perrier Award/if.comedy Award nominees in just 20 years.