“Go and see Harry and Chris. You’ll love it. Yes, we know it’s in the spoken word section. Spoken word is good! Spoken word is great! Particularly Harry Baker! But there are guitars too. Just trust us. It’s hilarious. It’s impossible not to like Harry and Chris. You’ll love it.”
That was us, to most people, during the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe. The Harry and Chris show pairs the poetry of World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker with the music of international jazz talent Chris Read, the pair of whom also happen to be best friends and flatmates. This year they're back at the Fringe with their joint show, this time called... The Harry and Chris Show 2. Obviously.
Harry is a hilarious wordsmith who talks/raps/rhymes a mile-a-minute, piling in as many jokes - often ingenious, often beautifully simple, always creative and always hilarious - and Chris is ace on the guitar and has a wonderful singing voice as well. The end result is laugh-out-loud, original songs that’ll be floating around in your head for the rest of the festival and enough on-stage chemistry to get Marie Curie excited (we Google'd famous chemists and Marie Curie came up first).
Fans of the original The Harry and Chris Show will be very happy with the new offering. It’s more of the same. Some of it (though very little) is exactly the same, some of it is ingeniously modified from the original, and the vast bulk of it is made up from new material every bit - possibly even more - bizarre, bewildering and downright charming as the last.
Without spoiling too much, highlights include a time-travelling number which bins the formulaic writing process, a heart-wrenching ballad from the point of view of one of the eponymous robots in Robot Wars (fuck, we love the word eponymous) and a touching number from Chris about the only argument he’s ever had with Harry. It gets emotional. Get ready for tears as you watch Chris kale-ing you softly from the stage (that'll make more sense later... though it still won't be a better joke).
That was us, to most people, during the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe. The Harry and Chris show pairs the poetry of World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker with the music of international jazz talent Chris Read, the pair of whom also happen to be best friends and flatmates. This year they're back at the Fringe with their joint show, this time called... The Harry and Chris Show 2. Obviously.
Harry is a hilarious wordsmith who talks/raps/rhymes a mile-a-minute, piling in as many jokes - often ingenious, often beautifully simple, always creative and always hilarious - and Chris is ace on the guitar and has a wonderful singing voice as well. The end result is laugh-out-loud, original songs that’ll be floating around in your head for the rest of the festival and enough on-stage chemistry to get Marie Curie excited (we Google'd famous chemists and Marie Curie came up first).
Fans of the original The Harry and Chris Show will be very happy with the new offering. It’s more of the same. Some of it (though very little) is exactly the same, some of it is ingeniously modified from the original, and the vast bulk of it is made up from new material every bit - possibly even more - bizarre, bewildering and downright charming as the last.
Without spoiling too much, highlights include a time-travelling number which bins the formulaic writing process, a heart-wrenching ballad from the point of view of one of the eponymous robots in Robot Wars (fuck, we love the word eponymous) and a touching number from Chris about the only argument he’s ever had with Harry. It gets emotional. Get ready for tears as you watch Chris kale-ing you softly from the stage (that'll make more sense later... though it still won't be a better joke).
The Harry and Chris Show was one of the standout performances of last year, and best of all, it was in the Free Fringe. The Harry and Chris Show 2 is part of the Just the Tonic programme. This is also good. It means you can reserve a ticket for a fiver, or you can still turn up and pay what you want on your way out. And The Harry and Chris Show is worth at the very, very least a fiver.
Anyone who turned up to The Harry and Chris Show late at their space in Pilgrim last year will know how quickly they can pack out a venue. They’ve moved to a much bigger space this year (The Mash House), but it’s still great to have the assurance of a seat if you do book!
That’s not all that they’ve moved either. The duo have also moved from the spoken word section of the Fringe to the comedy section. I guess it’ll be even easier to convince people to go along now (though it still wasn’t hard last year), though maybe it’ll also now be harder to convince people that spoken word is a good thing? Who knows. We’ll tell you later if we find out. We like it, anyway.
The important thing is that while a lot has changed, everything you want from a Harry and Chris show is still there. It’s feel good fun you can take literally anyone along to see. Literally anyone. And we mean the actual definition of 'literally' there. Make sure you don’t miss it this Fringe!
Just the Tonic @ The Mash House (Venue 288), 14:20, Aug 3-16 (not 14)
5/5
Stuart Kenny
Anyone who turned up to The Harry and Chris Show late at their space in Pilgrim last year will know how quickly they can pack out a venue. They’ve moved to a much bigger space this year (The Mash House), but it’s still great to have the assurance of a seat if you do book!
That’s not all that they’ve moved either. The duo have also moved from the spoken word section of the Fringe to the comedy section. I guess it’ll be even easier to convince people to go along now (though it still wasn’t hard last year), though maybe it’ll also now be harder to convince people that spoken word is a good thing? Who knows. We’ll tell you later if we find out. We like it, anyway.
The important thing is that while a lot has changed, everything you want from a Harry and Chris show is still there. It’s feel good fun you can take literally anyone along to see. Literally anyone. And we mean the actual definition of 'literally' there. Make sure you don’t miss it this Fringe!
Just the Tonic @ The Mash House (Venue 288), 14:20, Aug 3-16 (not 14)
5/5
Stuart Kenny
RSS Feed
