There are a hell of a lot of good shows to see at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. This year, the Straight assigned a total of 62 reviews, including the ones we published last week, and we never ran out of promising choices. We consider the first seven shows below must-sees. The next seven are highly recommended.

If you want to give yourself a special treat, show up at midnight tonight (September 15) at Carousel Theatre for a little something called Dirty Thursday. This potentially scandalous performance will feature Mark Chavez and Shenoah Allen (of the Pajama Men), TJ Dawe, Jem Rolls, Emelia Symington Fedy (Patti Fedy), Jonno Katz, and others.

LAZY SUSAN Shows don't get much more out there-or much funnier-than Lazy Susan. Let's just say that it's about four people who find a dead body and are surprised when they realize what they want to do with it. The laughs come from the release and recognition of forbidden impulses, and from the juxtaposition of an extreme situation with a deadpan acting style. Mike Rinaldi and Juno Ruddell are fantastically subtle. Ruddell can make you pee your pants just by saying, "This is a bad place." At BYOV B, Carousel Theatre, on September 15 (8 p.m.), 16 (8 p.m.), 17 (8 p.m. and midnight), and 18 (8 and 11:45 p.m.) > COLIN THOMAS

PAJAMA MEN IN "STOP NOT GOING" Okay, they're geniuses. The Pajama Men, who used to call themselves Sabotage, tickle laughs out of you that are so full-bodied they feel like a kind of sonic cleansing. This wildly associative program includes an intergalactic love affair and a 14-year-old girl named Jennifer who gets her father's attention by acting like she's come back from the dead. Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez morph from one character to another with a freedom that's downright erotic. At Stage 2, Waterfront Theatre, on September 15 (6:15 p.m.) and 17 (12:30 p.m.) > CT

THE WET SPOTS' BIG ASS SHOW Meet your kinky neighbours. The Wet Spots, Cass King and John Woods, have crafted a tight, terrific cabaret show that's all about sex. Accompanied by a topnotch live band, they sing outrageously clever songs about bi-curiosity, anal sex, and annoying fetishes. The music ranges from jazz and country to punk to vaudeville, the lyrics will leave you breathless, and King and Woods are consummate entertainers. Bring your friends of all sexual persuasions; the show's got something for everyone. At Stage 9, Performance Works, on September 15 (11:45 p.m.), 16 (4:15 p.m.), and 18 (8:30 p.m.) > Kathleen Oliver

A WOMAN OF INDEPENDANT MEANS When California's Lissa Layng finished her stunning 90-minute solo performance of this piece, everyone spontaneously leapt from their seats. Based on the novel by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, the play tells the entire life story of a woman, born in the late 1800s, through the letters she writes to her parents, her friends, her husbands, her children, and her business associates. The writing is smart and lyrical, but Layng's complex, nuanced performance, rich with remarkable texture and subtlety, is what really brings it to life. At Stage 3, Canvas Cathedral, on September 15 (4 p.m.), 17 (1:45 p.m.), and 18 (8:45 p.m.) > JENNIFER VAN EVRA

CONFESSIONS OF A CLASS CLOWN "One more blow against boredom in the name of laughter" is how Ryan Gladstone describes a disruptive prank. It's also an apt tag for this well-crafted and very funny solo show, in which Gladstone describes the addiction to laughter that made him endlessly willing to cause trouble as a schoolkid. His writing is fresh and irreverent ("In junior high there are so many raging hormones that even the building itself grows hairs in unexpected places") and his performance unabashedly mischievous. Long live the clown! At Stage 4, PTC Studio at Festival House, on September 17 (7:45 p.m.) and 18 (6:45 p.m.) > KO

THE FIRST TIME Writer and actor Paul Hutcheson should change his name to Mr. Charmingpants. The First Time is a gay coming-of-age story with a nasty Catholic twist: Jesus Christ regains consciousness on the cross to tut-tut every time the young Paul is about to have sex. But don't worry, there's lots of porn and disco, too-and some moving moments of tenderness. In the end, it's Hutcheson's energetic openheartedness that wins the day for his fictionalized self and wins the audience's hearts for the performer. At Stage 3, Canvas Cathedral, on September 15 (6:15 p.m.), 17 (9:15 p.m.), and 18 (3:30 p.m.) > CT

THOMAS BAXTER'S THOUGHT CONTROL Vaudeville for smart people. Baxter used to be a sleight-of-hand magician but now he specializes in mental suggestion. It's downright eerie how adept he is at discerning what people are thinking and at manipulating their choices. He's far too nice and too transparent about most of his techniques for his act to get creepy, but I'd hate to think of this guy getting a job in advertising. At Stage 1, Studio 16, on September 15 (5 p.m.), 16 (8:45 p.m.), 17 (12:30 p.m.), and 18 (6 p.m.) > CT

PATTI FEDY IN”¦LOVERS ROCK! You've got to like a clown who can describe her anus as a "hairy balloon knot" one minute and move her audience to tears the next. In Lovers Rock!, Patti Fedy examines the wisdom of the statement "If you love someone, never let them out of your bloody clutches." To do so, she tells the story of her passion for her best friend, Margaret. Most arresting image: Patti responding to the cellphone vibrating in her crotch. Most memorable line: "I have a lot of compassion for people who have cancer, because I have pretended a lot that I have had it." Margaret could be a stronger, more detailed character, and Patti's flips between darkness and light could be sharper; she's a little soft this year. And you know what? If a clown says that she wants the whole audience to get naked, she'd better follow through on it. At Stage 2, Waterfront Theatre, on September 16 (11:45 p.m.), 17 (8:15 p.m.), and 18 (3:45 p.m.) > CT

TORCHED Torched centres on the family of a teenage girl who suffers horrible burns when a high-school science experiment goes wrong. Kate Twa's script uses the accident as a focal point for what is mostly a coming- of-age story about the girl's older sister, and her script is full of vivid images. "He started fishing around like he'd lost a quarter between two cushions," says the sister, of a boy's foray into her underpants. Terri-Lyn Storey performs the play's multiple characters with nuanced grace. At Stage 2, Waterfront Theatre, on September 15 (8 p.m.) and 18 (1:30 p.m.) > KO

GIRLS LIKE ME In this smart solo show, 30 Helens alumna Morgan Brayton plays a diverse array of female characters, including a precocious and fidgety young girl, a beatnik poet, a butchy cop, and a novice stripper. Brayton's characterizations are detailed, her timing is impeccable, and her range is astonishing: she literally disappears into the character of an avowedly nonfeminist matron attending her first women's-studies class. Often hilarious, sometimes moving, and always daring. At BYOV I, WISE Hall, on September 15 (9 p.m.), 16 (9 p.m.), and 17 (9 p.m.) > KO

ASSAULTED FISH FOR YOU Sketch comedy, Asian style. This fast and funny troupe pokes fun at everything from Jackie Chan to Hello Kitty. And it's not just stereotypes about Asians that are up for grabs: a live instructional video on how to talk to Asian-Canadians good-naturedly takes the piss out of both ignorant and well-meaning white folks. No dud sketches here, and plenty of laughs. At BYOV I, WISE Hall, on September 15 (7:30 p.m.), 16 (7:30 p.m.), and 17 (7:30 p.m.) > KO

CANADIAN CONTENT Urban Improv boasts some of Vancouver's best improvisational theatre artists; the company has crafted a mix of scripted and ad-libbed material that puts most of the other sketch comedy at the Fringe to shame. Skits are wildly inventive (you'll be amazed at the obvious connection between gun battles, taxes, and pet euthanasia) and skillfully linked. But even though the show acknowledges that it's playing with stereotypes, some of the material is pointlessly offensive. At Stage 2, Waterfront Theatre, on September 16 (6:15 p.m.) and 17 (4:30 p.m.) > KO

GIRLS' GUIDE "Welcome, slaves," says Eleanor O'Brien at the start of her show about her very brief stint as a New York dominatrix. Moments later, she gets everyone to stand up, speak, and sit back down on command. But it isn't by brute force that O'Brien keeps the crowd rapt from start to finish; her hilarious stories are full of vivid details and characters, and her performance, ironically, is wonderfully warm and engaging. By the end, she has everyone up and dancing-voluntarily. At Stage 8, Granville Island Stage, on September 16 (6:45 p.m.) and 17 (2:30 p.m.) > JVE

SPLASH2O This series of sketches -most of them physical comedy -by the Paris-based Compagnie Houppz! is a fantastically smart, funny set of musings about people's relationship with water. With an ocean scene from the perspective of a bird, a fisherman, and a fish; a skit in which two goldfish critique their owner's choice of wine; and an academic lecture about how to drink from a glass, SplasH2O is comedy at its simplest and most engaging. At Stage 2, Waterfront Theatre, on September 16 (8 p.m.) and 18 (9:45 p.m.) > JVE

LETTERS IN WARTIME This script by Edmonton writers Kenneth Brown and Stephen Scriver charts the complex relationship between a Canadian World War II pilot and his prairie girlfriend. What they leave out-including their infidelities-is as important as what they say. Actress Emily Fiddy mumbles quickly, so she's hard to hear. Jon Paterson gives more-in technique and in emotion-but neither fully plumbs the depths of their characters' feelings. At Stage 9, Performance Works, on September 15 (8 p.m.), 17 (11:45 p.m.), and 18 (2:30 p.m.) > CT

QUANTUM PHYSICS: THE MUSICAL Vanessa LeBourdais and Ian Gschwind take a lighthearted approach to a dizzying amount of science in this bare-bones musical, a microscopic journey on which we accompany four intrepid space-travel types to the inside of an atom. The script has some good laughs and the songs are varied, though the choreography's a bit repetitive. The best reason for watching is Amy Wallis, a young performer with a gorgeous voice and genuine star quality: her nerdy mathematician character and the songs she sings are a joy. At Stage 2, Waterfront Theatre, on September 15 (10:15 p.m.), 16 (9:45 p.m.), and 17 (6:15 p.m.) > KO

THIS IS NOT A SHOW WITH ROMAN DANYLO "There's a fine line between a one-man show and a guy at a party who just won't shut up," observes Roman Danylo, explaining why what he's doing is not a show. But sound and lighting cues start to creep into his random musings on the meaning of life, and so does comedy. The best bits come when Danylo riffs like the skilled standup comic that he is. Not revolutionary, but openhearted and entertaining. At Stage 1, Studio 16, on September 17 (7:45 p.m.) and 18 (4:30 p.m.) > KO

BLACKLISTED 5 STARS This sketch-comedy troupe from Edmonton packs a lot of material into 80 minutes; some of the skits are less than a minute long. The high- energy irreverence works best when it's making a point-two soldiers in Iraq interrupt their shooting to place complicated coffee orders at a Starbucks; a drunk driver makes it home safely only to find his whole family dead-and tanks when its sole purpose is shock value. Polished performances and great production values. At Stage 9, Performance Works, on September 17 (12:15 p.m.) and 18 (10:45 p.m.) > KO

IS THIS THE WAY TO THE 1ST WORLD? Sure, with its sometimes wooden script, weirdly placed set, and lots of banging around, this marionette show is rough. Still, what I left thinking about was the stunning, Tim Burton-esque puppets. Both grotesque and beautiful, they enact a fablelike story about a Third World bug who tries to visit the First World (and never gets anywhere near it). Add a funky, haunting live musical score, and I say this show achieves a kind of awkward-and sincere- poetic grace. At Stage 5, BBQ Pit, on September 15 (8:30 p.m.), 17 (3:45 p.m.), and 18 (4:15 p.m.) > Marcus Youssef

THE ANGER IN ERNEST AND ERNESTINE Only half of the comic team is funny. In this clown show about a fresh marriage quickly going sour, actor John Murphy is honestly committed to Ernest's extreme and irrational viewpoint, so his characterization is both deeply familiar and absurd. Michelle Deines, on the other hand, delivers an unfocused Ernestine. Her speech is flat; her physical silliness, random. At BYOV B, Carousel Theatre, on September 15 (6 p.m.), 17 (4:15 p.m.), and 18 (4:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.) > CT

THREE CHICKS IN A TUB In a cramped West End apartment, three biz-obsessed actor chicks get ready for a big-deal movie premiere. What I loved was the voyeuristic thrill of entering a stranger's tiny apartment to see a show performed about six inches from my face. And the characters' idiosyncratic riffs and shared verbal tangents are the kind that characterize our closest relationships. My caveat: about halfway through, the mostly one-dimensional litany of petty jealousies and makeup disses started to wear kind of thin. At BYOV D, 1314 Broughton Street, on September 15, 16, 17, and 18 (7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.) > MY

BROAD COMEDY This feminist revue includes two good numbers: one features the U.S. extreme-right-wing cheerleading squad; the other is the song "I'm Saving My Hymen for Jesus". The rest of the hour rarely rises above the level of mildly amusing agitprop. The characterizations of men- all of them are grunting idiots-are too simple-minded to be funny. At Stage 9, Performance Works, on September 15 (2 p.m.), 16 (9:45 p.m.), and 17 (7:30 p.m.) > CT

THIS FRINGE VENUE IS BEING HELD HOSTAGE”¦AGAIN Writer-actor Michael Northey is a wickedly talented guy, and he's got a terrific cast of comic performers out there with him. But be aware: Hostage is profane, crass, and awash in its own testosterone. Most outrageous line: "A lap dance is way better when the girl is crying. C'mon, it's true!!" Make you want to reach for a pair of ball-choppers? No? Then you-like much of the audience I saw it with-will probably laugh until you bust a nut. At BYOV B, Carousel Theatre, on September 15 (9:30 p.m.), 16 (6 p.m.), 17 (6 p.m.), and 18 (6 p.m.) > MY

ANOTHER INSTANT CLASSIC John Murphy and Lee Tockar are like two hyperactive kids who are very, very talented. They're virtuosic performers with razor-sharp timing, chameleon voices, and the ability to switch characters on a dime. But if they have any idea what this show is about, they're not really letting on. It's sometimes very funny, sometimes just obscure, and definitely brave- but it doesn't quite add up. At Stage 2, Waterfront Theatre, on September 17 (2:15 p.m.) and 18 (8 p.m.) > KO

PAIN: SO FUNNY IT HURTS Suzanne Willett is such a trooper. On September 8, 80-kilometre-per-hour winds violently shook the performance tent and made the stage lights swing so hard they seemed sure to fall. Still, the Florida native got through nearly all of her monologue, which covers life's pains-from crawling on shag carpet to being downsized. The standuplike show is both funny and insightful, but the stories don't go deep enough to sustain an audience for 90 minutes. At Stage 3, Canvas Cathedral, on September 17 (7 p.m.) and 18 (11:45 a.m.) > JVE

PAUSE In this solo show, the scriptwriters draw links between the laws of science and a traumatic event that the central character, the Chemist, holds in his memory. Though clear, the connections feel abstract and illustrative rather than emotionally meaningful. Partly that's because the script is in love with its own superficial cleverness and partly because actor Aaron Talbot works too hard and shouts too much. At Stage 4, PTC Studio at Festival House, on September 15 (5:30 p.m.), 16 (8:15 p.m.), and 17 (12:45 p.m.) > CT

PORNSTAR The premise is original: when she is nominated for best performance in an amateur porn video, a small-town librarian figures out that an old boyfriend videotaped them having sex. The deception angers her, but she's glad to be up for an award. Thankfully, the show's sex-positive attitude extends to queer sex. The politics are simplistic, though-we already know Stockwell Day and his pals are jerks-and Shannon Larson, who plays almost all of the characters, steamrolls the text with her relentless overacting. At Stage 6, The Gym, on September 16 (8:45 p.m.) and 17 (12:30 a.m.) > CT

THE WATERMELON GIRLS Trevor Schmidt's collection of short monologues from five women in a home for "wayward" (i.e., pregnant and unwed) girls plays on all the expected emotions: anger, shame, joy, and the desire for escape. The production is handsome and some of the performances are strong, but too often, the writing is predictable and the artifice of the play's structure feels, like the subject matter, a bit old-fashioned. At Stage 8, Granville Island Stage, on September 15 (5 p.m.) and 18 (1:15 p.m.) > KO

SEA PEACH I zoned out for big chunks of Catherine Kidd's solo show, unable to stay attentive to her self-consciously trippy storytelling style. (She rhymes everything reasonably well, but her images are deliberate: typing, the character misspells mother and father as mouther and faither. The extra letters are "u" and "i". Who cares?) I warmed to the resolution, which is happier than those in most Fringe shows about mental crises, but I don't get how the central character resolves her issues of abandonment-except that a cute guy shows up. At Stage 1, Studio 16, on September 17 (9:15 p.m.) and 18 (12:30 p.m.) > CT

YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS "I'm an actress. But perhaps I shouldn't be one," Paris-based performer Charlotte Schioler says during her show. She might be right. Starting with an odd wall dance that looks more like horizontal rock climbing, Schioler moves through a range of characters, from a ditzy news anchor to a woman talking to her husband who has been reincarnated as a banana. At times the piece is playful and genuinely entertaining, but at others it seems self-indulgent and willfully bizarre. At Stage 7, Lind Hall, on September 17 (4:30 p.m.) and 18 (2:15 p.m.) > JVE

MELODY, MON AMOUR Playwright Kris Nelson and his team riff on the narrative in the concept album L'Histoire de Melody Nelson, by French pop crooner and bad boy Serge Gainsbourg. Pretty women dance. A cute guy plays some music. The show tries to be cool in that chic, superficial, quintessentially French way, but there's no payoff stylistically or thematically. If the area of interest is the intersection between romanticism and transgressive sexuality, there are more revelatory means of exploring it. At Stage 5, BBQ Pit, on September 15 (6:30 p.m.), 16 (7 p.m.), and 18 (3:15 p.m.) > CT

AS WOODBURN TURNS-TALES FROM KIDS ON THE BLOCK Kid-targeted, social-service realism. Lifesize, Cabbage Patch-ish puppets with a variety of physical "differences" correct misconceptions about themselves. My son Zak (10) said, "I liked it more than I thought I would.”¦The puppeteers were great." At the same time, though, he "usually knew what was going to happen next". After sitting rapt throughout, my other son, Oscar (6), told me he really liked it. Why? "Because it wasn't sock puppets," Oscar said. "I HATE sock puppets." At the KidsFringe Theatre, Public Market Courtyard, on September 17 (11:45 a.m.) and 18 (10 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.) > MY

BECOMING Okay, it's only 20 minutes long and we stood around afterward wondering if veteran performer Lisa Waines had skipped a scene, BUT”¦ I kind of dug becoming. Or what it could”¦uh”¦become. It's about a pupating caterpillar who discovers she's in a dowdy scientist's specimen box. In a brave performance, Waines stands on-stage with the beginnings of a play and doesn't back off an inch. With more work, my bet is that something quite affecting will emerge. At Stage 3, Canvas Cathedral, on September 15 (9:30 p.m.) and 17 (5:45 p.m.) > MY

DANIEL PACKARD'S LIVE GROUP-SEX THERAPY SHOW II Coming out of this hybrid of standup, interactive workshop, and old-style revival meeting, I couldn't help but feel that there is a bit of snake oil in the brew. The setup is sharp and funny: Packard is an attentive and gifted comedian. (And the monkey bit's hysterical.) But for a guy who said he wanted to open up dialogue between men and women, he sure spent a lot of time berating the sweet lady who went to the trouble of answering his questions. At Stage 10, Public Market Courtyard, on September 15 (8 p.m.), 17 (4:15 p.m.), and 18 (8:15 p.m.) > MY

A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF ROSE LODZ This piece includes a moving story about a girl who struggled to survive the Nazi occupation of Poland, but it's buried in a pile of banal writing and wet theatrics. The convention is that we're at the girl's funeral many years later. Her adult daughters-one conservative and one flighty-fight in predictable ways. The audience is forced to participate by singing and holding hands. It feels like it will never end. At Stage 7, Lind Hall, on September 16 (11:45 p.m.) and 17 (9:45 p.m.) > CT

KARAOKE KNIGHTS The rock opera is a genre for geniuses only, and alas, Tim Mooney is no genius. Mooney plays all five contestants in a karaoke contest, but instead of singing popular hits, they do original songs that reflect their inner thoughts. Mooney's a pleasant but unremarkable singer, and his characters aren't differentiated enough to be interesting. The songs are nothing special, either. And there's a pervasive, vaguely creepy sexism that becomes increasingly overt as the show progresses. No thanks. At Stage 8, Granville Island Stage, on September 17 (8:45 p.m.) and 18 (3 p.m.) > KO

NESTING What happens when you put a post-nervous-breakdown loser, his hotheaded best friend, and the friend's neurotic stripper girlfriend in a one-room apartment? Drama-and lots of it. Trouble is, the characters spend so much time screaming, swearing, stripping, fucking, drinking antifreeze, and, worst of all, spouting Dr. Phil-isms, that the audience doesn't get a chance to care what happens to any of them. Add to that lines like "Fuck you she tried to fuck you!" and you find yourself wanting to head next door. At Stage 8, Granville Island Stage, on September 16 (5 p.m.), 17 (12:45 p.m.), and 18 (7:15 p.m.) > JVE