Fringe Reviews: Jo Caulfield, Bad Mood Rising & Dan Rath, Tropical Depression

Jo Caulfield’s Bad Mood Rising is one of the best comics at the Fringe. A must-watch, says Frankie Reason.

★★★★★

Jo Caulfield is scathing of shows with themes, and people in new relationships, and men’s fashion and just about everything else. 

The title of her show, Bad Mood Rising, is apt. She wears a bright red ring, rumoured to change with her mood, but she’s never known another colour. She’s also fantastically funny.

Her irritable crowd work has the audience cackling, and her loved ones – hapless casualties of her acerbic wit – presumably stagger between pride and mild PTSD. 

I had made the mistake of sitting in full view and was swiftly accused of slut-shaming Caulfield’s niece – without so much as opening my mouth.

Strange though it may seem, one of the best comics at the Fringe. A must-watch.

Bad Mood Rising runs until 24 August at Stand 3 at The Stand Comedy Club 3 & 4.

Dan Rath’s stage persona is a little unsettling, but somehow it works, says Frankie Reason.

★★★★

Dan Rath is waging a war against logical transitions. We’re warned at the top that there will be no segways in this show, but it’s disconcerting all the same. 

These are the impulsive, bewildering observations of a man in the grip of ‘tropical depression,’ as Rath himself termed it. Frankly, hilarious.

This is apparently new material (it can be difficult to tell what’s a bit and what isn’t), but it’s almost all good stuff, despite the regular self-deprecation.

His musings on gaslighting, North Korea, and the farm-to-table life of a milk crate in a dairy-free coffee house have the audience roaring with laughter.

His stage persona is a little unsettling, with his eyes fixed on the floor and hand clutching his hair, but somehow it works. 

His folly is perhaps insisting too often that he’s losing his audience. Again, it’s likely a gag, but it begins to undercut the ready laughter of the crowd. 

Dan Rath, Tropical Depression runs until 24 August at CabVol 1 at Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire).

Read more Fringe Reviews here.

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