EDINBURGH 2026: Review: GRAHAM AND STEEN, Monkey Barrel Comedy
The cool guys of improv are back at the Fringe.
Where else but the Fringe can you see two grown men waggle dance to communicate with bees at 11pm on a Tuesday?
The cool guys of improv are back for their second year at the Edinburgh Fringe for three nights only.
Steen Raskopoulos and Graham Dickson, along with musician Laila Woozeer, create an hour long story from just a suggestion of an object and where it is on the stage. On Tuesday night it was a beehive that had been cutdown stage right, and boy did Graham have some bee facts up his sleeve. No wonder he was so excited by the proposal.
I’d say there’s a laugh a minute but that’s a gross understatement; you regularly don’t have time to catch your breath between gags. Plus you’re going away with some excellent bee knowledge, did you know that African honeybee queens are Arsenal fans?
Arguably the most enjoyable improv happens when the players are completely in-tune but can still surprise each other with their brilliant ideas. Although the pair haven’t been improvising together for as long as Steen and his Bear Pack counterpart Carlo Richie, Graham and Steen work together like a well-oiled machine and are clearly having the best time on stage. Both of them taking the odd second so they don’t crack up at the other’s joke.
The story got a little rushed towards the end; I think things were running a bit late at the venue, which was a shame. It had been so engaging it was disappointing not to give the characters a proper wrap-up. But the great thing about improv is that you can go back the next night and see a totally different show, that I guarantee will have you belly laughing throughout.
Graham and Steen runs at Monkey Barrel 4 at Monkey Barrel until 19 August
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