DISHPIG Some of the best Fringe shows spring from shitty jobs, like this exuberant solo turn from Greg Landucci about life as a restaurant dishwasher. Cowriter TJ Dawe's influence is evident in the play's tight rhythms and understated humour, but Landucci makes the text his own with vivid, grimy, hilarious details. His performance is equal parts athleticism (standup meets military drill in his showstopping enactment of his first night on the job) and charm: his character is a wide-eyed innocent in a world of deliciously painted eccentrics. The dish pit has never been this much fun. At Venue D, Havana, on September 13 (7:15 p.m.), 14 (7:15 p.m.), and 15 (9 p.m.)
Kathleen Oliver

DIE ROTEN PUNKTE Punk rock provides perfect fodder for one of the funniest shows at this year's Fringe. Siblings Otto and Astrid Rot are Die Roten Punkte (the Red Dots) a minimally talented but exuberantly defiant and self-delighted rock duo from Germany whose songs are all identical. Party girl Astrid and childlike Otto are well-defined, and their hipster posing is hilariously familiar. It's the combination of unbridled id and underlying innocence that makes this clown show really work, though. One caveat: the climactic lovers' quarrel yes, the siblings are incestuous doesn't sustain itself, perhaps because the artists have gone for extremes rather than honest exposure. At Venue B, Carousel Theatre, on September 13 (11 p.m.), 14 (9 p.m.), 15 (5 p.m.), and 16 (5 p.m.).
Colin Thomas

DEEP FRIED CURRIED PEROGIES Because Michelle Todd's dad is Jamaican and her mom is Filipino, her school chums in Edmonton nicknamed her Jalipino. Stories about multiculturalism can be as dully wholesome as bran, but this coming-of-age tale which Todd wrote and performs is so profoundly reassuring in its inclusiveness that I actually slept better for having seen it. Her characterizations are crisp: I loved seeing Todd as a little girl falling asleep watching hockey with her monumentally quiet dad. Her dancing is pure pleasure; just wait for all of the countries she conjures when describing Edmonton's Heritage Days. And her theatricality is sharp: a tight light illuminates a hand pointing at an atrocity. It's the spiritual peace that makes this show so calming, though. While acknowledging real pain and injustice, Todd is bearing witness to a happy Canadian life. At Venue 5, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on September 15 (11:30 a.m.) and 16 (4:45 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

AMERICAN SQUATTER Subtle, gentle, and revealing, American Squatter chronicles narrator Barry Smith's young-adult adventures at home and abroad. Moving from the punky skateboard culture of Southern California in the early 1980s to the mean streets of Margaret Thatcher's London, he takes a circuitous path to his eventual realization that he has a lot more in common with his Tom Selleck look-alike dad than he cares to admit. Except that he does admit it here, in this low-key but unfailingly engaging show. Smith gets bonus points for his elegant integration of various audio-visual elements, including home movies, vintage cassette recordings, and PowerPoint technology. At Venue 4, Waterfront Theatre, on September 14 (7:15 p.m.) and 16 (2:45 p.m.)
Alexander Varty

GET OFF THE CROSS, MARY In Vancouver writer Berend McKenzie's script, a washed-up gay sock puppet named Bruthe plans a comeback film in which he will star as a queer Jesus. There's little narrative arc in McKenzie's play, and what's there doesn't always make literal or ideological sense, but it's so full of rude surprises and sheer weirdness that it's almost always funny. Bruthe gives his first human handler the boot because he failed to cut his fingernails before "fisting" him: "You're fired, Freddy Kruger!" Cast members Martin Sims, France Perras, and especially David MacInnis who plays a corn-fed Christian actor are all strong. At Venue 6, Performance Works, on September 13 (9:45 p.m.), 14 (9:45 p.m.), and 15 (4:15 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

SO KISS ME ALREADY, HERSCHEL GERTZ! Fifteen-year-old Amy's summer plans (learning drill-squad routines and pining over a male friend) are disrupted when her parents announce that they're sending her to Camp L'Chaim, where "every activity has to do with Judaism, Israel, or both." Worse, every girl there seems to need a boyfriend ("so that you can crochet him a yarmulke"), and Amy doesn't have one. Writer-performer Amy Salloway delivers great comic characterizations, vivid images, and hilarious one-liners ("I thought only Catholics had accidents," she says, on learning that a friend's mother is expecting an unplanned child). Behind the comedy, Salloway poignantly captures the innocence and confusion of first love. At Venue 5, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on September 13 (8:30 p.m.), 14 (11:15 p.m.), and 16 (6:45 p.m.)
Kathleen Oliver

FLUFFY 10TH STREET: CONFESSIONS OF A DIRTY PUPPET You haven't lived until you've seen a debauched puppet pole-dance. Tara Goerzen and Jim Travis's script is witty. Remembering her affair with Pinocchio, Fluffy says, "I loved it when he lied to me." Goerzen and Jaimie Robson's skill in manipulating Fluffy yields true delight. Flipping back her hair and sadly stroking her thigh, Fluffy is a recognizable diva and a touching artiste manquée. At Venue 5, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on September 13 (6:45 p.m.) and 15 (4:30 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

THE CODY RIVERS SHOW: FLAMMABLE PEOPLE Cody Rivers, the duo from Bellingham, is among the most adventuresome comic performance groups on the Fringe circuit. The opening sequences of this sketch-comedy performance are too fast and cold, though. The performers speak so quickly I couldn't understand them, and I didn't really care what happened to their creations because the sketches are so devoid of emotional and sensual content; they seem to be all about rhythm and ineffective communication. Then the performance hits a beautiful passage in which the actors create sea creatures with their hands to evoke an aquarium. From that point, the narratives expand and unlikely threads come together with the unstoppable logic of dreams. More heart earlier please, gentlemen. At Venue 6, Performance Works, on September 14 (11:30 p.m.) and 16 (5:30 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

HOT PINK BITS This solo performance about the business of sex has lots to recommend it. Writer-performer Penny Ashton is energetically charming. She gives out free lube and dildos if you know the answer to questions such as "What is uriphilia?" And she spews startling information; I had not realized that Roman showers refers to a vomit fetish. This is a tourist's view of kink, though. Near the end, Ashton admits that a naked guy with a decent-sized penis is all she really needs to get off. I suspect this explains why she maintains an ample and slightly off-putting distance from her material for most of the show. At Venue 6, Performance Works, on September 15 (10:15 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

I THEE WED In successive scenes set in different years 1901, 1952, and 2004 three pairs of women named Nona and Grace encounter crises on their wedding days. Nuanced portraits from playwright Karen Lee Pickett (Grace) and especially Lisa Hutch (Nona) keep the presentation of this intelligent script engagingly alive. The political arguments and sincere discussions of emotion do go on a bit, though. Those lesbians. At Venue D, Havana, on September 13 (9 p.m.), 14 (9 p.m.), and 15 (7:15 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

SINGING AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD Storyteller Randy Rutherford mines his youthful experiences in Alaska in another warm-hearted show. It's the early '70s, and Randy, on the cusp of his 30s, is living with the lovely Molly and making money as a folksinger when he discovers that he's suffered a severe inoperable hearing loss. His doctor advises him to find another career, which plunges him into depression. But Rutherford doesn't tell a poor-me story; instead, he lifts us up with rich characterizations, amusing anecdotes (in which he's not afraid to look foolish), and some lovely fingerpicking folk tunes. At Venue 5, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on September 14 (7:15 p.m.) and 15 (5:30 p.m.)
Kathleen Oliver

DICKENS OF THE MOUNTED Kristian Bruun is charming as Charles Dickens's ne'er-do-well son Frank, and that's part of the problem. Frank is a self-confessed wastrel and alcoholic who lives with the shame of having only a vestige of his novelist father's talent. This is fertile terrain, but Bruun and director Brad Lepp show little psychological insight into this feckless remittance man. Instead, their adaptation of Eric Nicol's 1989 biography is a flat and factual account of the younger Dickens's dozen years with the North West Mounted Police, attached to chronology as linear as a prairie highway. Bruun delivers the story at a gallop in order to bring the show in on time, and this does not help. At Venue 1, Firehall Arts Centre, on September 13 (9:30 p.m.) and 16 (2:45 p.m.)
Alex Varty

MRS. SPIDERLADY: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK WIDOW Karen Rae's self-penned solo show about a '30s sideshow performer addicted to love and murder contains lovely turns of phrase. "Got a light?" the voluptuous, top-hatted vamp asks a man in the audience, who doesn't. "Well, too bad, baby, because the train don't leave the station till there's smoke in the stack." And there are evocative metaphors: Mrs. Spiderlady tells a story about a fat man who won't stop eating compulsively, even though losing weight would allow him to walk out his prison door. This piece is an evocative poem about desire, but its concrete theatricality could be more complete. Where is she? Who is she talking to? Why? At Venue 3, Studio 16, on September 15 (7:30 p.m.) and 16 (3:30 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

IF TAP SHOES COULD TALK This quirky little show is as charming as it is odd. Creators Annie Mayer and Michael Walsh play two sets of characters whose lives intersect. An agoraphobic editor spends all his time looking out his window and watching his neighbour rehearse her tap routines; the editor's assistant hooks up with a nebbishy writing professor. The thin plot is a frame for both a loving homage to New York City and a series of dance numbers (mostly solos by Mayer), whose production values keep getting better as the show goes on. Light, fun, and sweet. At Venue 4, Waterfront Theatre, on September 13 (10 p.m.), 15 (9 p.m.), and 16 (11:15 a.m.).
Kathleen Oliver

TO THE MOON Kathryn Kirkpatrick is so heroically and hilariously in character as the drunken director of an apparently doomed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, it's as if she's been possessed. Not everyone in the cast is as strong; some actors are flat, some over-the-top, others solid. Michelle Deines's script for this romantic comedy is similarly lumpy; the objects of spurned desire are both too selfish to be attractive, but the performance of a scene from Dream , in which the actors' interpersonal relationships explode, is tons of fun. At Venue B, Carousel Theatre, on September 14 (7 p.m.), 15 (3 p.m. and 9 p.m.), and 16 (9 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

ON SECOND THOUGHT Paul Hutcheson recounts humiliating true-life experiences, including the time that he slipped and slid through a pile of fresh dog shit rather than scoring a heroic soccer goal when he was 12. Hutcheson is giddily charming, but simple misfortune doesn't strike me as hilarious and no organizing principle takes this show deeper than standard standup until the last minute, when Hutcheson lets us know that his story has been about the survival of a feisty gay boy. Who knew? At Venue 3, Studio 16, on September 14 (4:30 p.m.) and 16 (8:15 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

RAINER HERSCH'S VICTOR BORGE Victor Borge was a genius. Rainer Hersch is okay. The biggest problem with Hersch's tribute to the Danish comedian is that it's disorganized. Hersch includes biographical information including some tantalizing bits about the Jewish Borge's experiences during WWII but a substantial portrait never emerges. Hersch does decent renditions of Borge's routines, but Borge was more precise both comically and musically. Hersch also performs some of his own standup material and gets a couple of good laughs out of it, but this is the element that pushes the show into structural incoherence. At Venue 6, Performance Works, on September 15 (2:15 p.m.) and 16 (1:15 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

THE FUGUE CODE When's the last time you saw a "musicological comedy-thriller"? Alex Eddington's solo show is a Da Vinci Code for classical-music buffs, set on the 257th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death. It's fascinating, silly, and full of cracklingly funny dialogue: "Professor, I think when you look at me, you see only microfiche," says a singer whose flirtatious advances are going nowhere. But the play cries out for a bigger cast, since it consists mostly of group scenes and Eddington lacks the chops to differentiate his characters without the broadest strokes. Still, it's fresh, original fun. At Venue 5, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on September 14 (9:30 p.m.) and 15 (1 p.m.).
Kathleen Oliver

MOTHERS OF INVENTION Laura Poe is a gifted comic actor, and there are moments in Mothers of Invention including her turn as a hyped-up marketing exec in a crocus-yellow power suit; the way she flounces off-stage in an unintentionally revealing hospital gown; and especially her scarily accurate embodiment of Larry King's female doppelgänger that will crack any audience up. But beyond such superficial pleasures her video-augmented one-hander could be more insightful, and more provocative. Yes, genetically modified foods are a worry, but tackling the issue by mocking PR hacks, fatty snacks, and white-trash Wal-Mart shoppers is just too lazy to sustain an hour. At Venue 4, Waterfront Theatre, on September 15 (3:30 p.m.)
Alex Varty

A Canuck chick gets mind-blown with extreme culture shock when she steps off the plane in India in Cara Yeates's solo show, Bye Bye Bombay .

BYE BYE BOMBAY One moment in Cara Yeates's solo show about a white Canadian girl's adventures in Bollywood works splendidly. When Gauri, the protagonist, gets off the plane, her Canuck mind is immediately blown by India. Gauri stands, stunned, as overwhelmingly bright and quickly projected images of the subcontinent cover her body and leave her gaping. Mostly, though, Gauri's quest is ill-defined. She has no clear goal or well-developed relationships, and the sentimental ending feels tacked-on. At Venue 5, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on September 13 (10:15 p.m.), 15 (2:45 p.m.), and 16 (8:30 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

PRIVATE I It's brave of dancer and choreographer Jolene Bailie to attempt a scripted characterization in her newest solo show. But it doesn't work. The paradoxical figure is potentially interesting. Sentimental, romantic, shallow, and self-congratulatory "I'm a very dynamic person" she may also be on to something; the notion that all matter has a soul affords her deep physical joy. Bailie isn't enough of an actor yet to fully bring this woman to life. Even given Bailie's extraordinary technical control, most of Denise Clarke's choreography is dull. At Venue 3, Studio 16, on September 15 (4 p.m.) and 16 (6:30 p.m.)
Colin Thomas

FREE RANGE There are tons of ideas in this handsomely designed solo show a few of which went sailing clear over my head. Writer-performer Emily Pearlman's unnamed character wants to have a baby, but what's growing inside her is a haiku-spouting tapeworm named Warren. Pearlman's a confident performer with an original sensibility, and her script offers up offbeat humour and rich, poetic images. As she and her best friend, Andrew, bake together on the day before he's leaving town, he pours sugar, and she compares the empty space in the sugar bag to the empty space inside her. It's simple and powerful. At other times, though, the emotions are obscured by inscrutable analogies. It's a work in progress; let's hope it moves toward greater clarity. At Venue 3, Studio 16, on September 14 (8:30 p.m.), 15 (5:45 p.m.), and 16 (1:45 p.m.)
Kathleen Oliver

APA KABAR! Some of Vancouver's finest comic talents (Toby Berner, Tom Jones, Sarah May Redmond, and Tallulah Winkelman) are hiding behind the real stars of this show: 50 hand-carved masks from Indonesia. The result is barely controlled chaos that's intermittently engaging. The material has the feel of improv, and while there are inspired moments (a badminton match between good and evil characters decides the fate of a fairy-tale heroine), many of the bits seem underdeveloped. Solid performances and the exquisite visuals of the masks keep the evening from getting dull. The free beer doesn't hurt either. At Venue B, Carousel Theatre, on September 13 (7 p.m.), 14 (11 p.m.), 15 (7 p.m.), and 16 (3 p.m.).
Kathleen Oliver

SCRATCH It's a different show every time. Based on audience suggestions, improvisers Arlen Konopaki and Kevin Gillese create a play on the spot. They're energetic, very physical performers who effortlessly trade roles. The show I saw had moments of inspiration (an unemployed single dad injecting his son with Cheerios crumbs), but the connections between plot lines were vague, and there were too many puerile gags about dicks and porn. Still, these guys are brave and never boring. At Venue 2, Pacific Theatre, on September 13 (10:30 p.m.), 14 (10:45 p.m.), and 15 (9:15 p.m.).
Kathleen Oliver

LOUNGE-ZILLA! Fiely A. Matias's show screams, "I'm a fag!" Great, Matias. So what? Lounge-zilla! is both defiantly transgressive and desperately attention-seeking. Does Matias feel that he has to make cultural room for his sexuality? If so, I doubt that singing about an old woman urging her Great Dane to take a dump on her is the best way to go about it. And who cares if Matias can use straight male audience members as props, getting them to carry him to the stage and pretending to fellate them? The politics of blunt transgression feel old, as do the politics of playing the gay minstrel. Matias is so hyperactive in his desire to please that he never stops dancing and pulling faces. Somebody should tell him he can relax; it's okay to be gay. At Venue 6, Performance Works, on September 13 (6:15 p.m.) and 14 (8 p.m.)
Colin Thomas