Rob Deering’s Beat This, the cult comedy music quiz featuring a quartet of star guests, comes to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for an exclusive six-night run. Fresh from London’s Leicester Square Theatre - where previous guests included DAN ANTOPOLSKI, PIPPA ‘Loretta Maine’ EVANS, To Buy Or Not To Buy’s ED HALL, LUCY PORTER and WE ARE KLANG’s GREG DAVIES and STEVE HALL - get ready for a show that looks like a late-night jam session but sounds more like a banter-fuelled drinking session, featuring your funniest friends, in the pub with the world’s best juke box.
Where some pop-based panel games primarily consist of minor celebrities and random old blokes being subjected to half an hour of light bullying, Beat This is all about the music. ROB DEERING and his guitar are the finest double act working in Britain today - he’s not so much a one-man band as a one-man comedy Woodstock.
Making use of DEERING’s razor-sharp wit, genial manner and musical virtuosity Beat This would just be showing off, if he wasn’t so darned good.
ends
“As sharp and versatile as a Swiss Army knife, Rob Deering is one of the best
performers currently on the circuit.”
James Rampton, The Independent
“In a parallel world Rob Deering is the king of Saturday night television.”
Stewart Lee
“Massively engaging intelligent comic offering a cracking mix of songs and silliness.”
James Kettle, The Guardian
Beat This will return to Leicester Square this Autumn. ROB will also be on tour with his new show The Rob Deering Experience.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Pleasance Joker Dome
Date: 19th-21st and 26th-28th August
Time: 23:30
Box Office: 0131 556 6550
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Ben Nolan, Fran Cherry, Bea Gwynn, Jo Cross or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: benn@avalonuk.com, franc@avalonuk.com, beag@avalonuk.com, joc@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com
WHAT THE PRESS SAID ABOUT:
…BOOBS 2008
“A very charming and likable comedian - endearing, witty and with a huge talent for performing... an hour of silliness and fun with a fantastic backing track.”
Corry Shaw, Chortle
“Deering is still a wonder… He can be very funny without music too, both physically and verbally.”
Guardian Online
“The show is a witty evening with hilarious musical numbers involving deft footwork mixing, re-written classics and a gregarious atmosphere that would make a grumpy tortoise smile.”
★★★★
Richard Dennis, Three Weeks
“Some musical comics mask a lack of gags with skill in their chosen instrument. Not Rob Deering. An all rounder, his is a sharp, slick wit and he's deft with the hecklers too ...Effortless stuff.”
★★★★
Marissa Burgess, The List
“Cheeky chappy with a wicked sense of humour and no mean guitar talent.”
one4review
…CHARMAGEDDON
“Rob Deering is a musical comedian of rare ability. He’s just waiting for that breakthrough moment to reach the audience he deserves.”
Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph
“Deering giggles a lot during his own set, and it's no wonder: he's a funny man. His off beat mix of late-night-presenter and cheeky teenager pushed all the right buttons. The best parts were the musical interludes with manic, sonic panic delivered with a smile.”
Carmody Wilson, The List
“This guitar-playing butterball of energy and good-humour had the audience eating out of the palm of his chubby hand.”
Mark Monahan, The Daily Telegraph
“A born entertainer... He will give you an hour of pure, uncut, good fun and a spring in your step when you leave.”
Nione Meakin, Chortle
“From the unlikely source of this slightly plump, mild-mannered bloke who is determined to charm the ladies and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the gents, it is the basis of a well structured and, ultimately, nicely dangerous hour of laughter. In stand-up terms, Deering has a slight routine but a slick and accomplished delivery. It’s observational in basis and seen from a 30-something perspective...
It’s when he gets into the music side of his routine that it picks up. It’s not just his accomplished use of a looping device to create such songs as Sex Machine or Good Vibrations that is special, although the way he reveals and builds the songs is fascinating in itself. It is the use to which he puts the result, building songs and riffs into the comedy.”
Thom Dibdin, The Stage
… ROB DEERING - 12 INCH
"Ingenious and hilarious."
Leo Benedictus, Guardian
"Inspired."
Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
"Rather wonderful... you'll love this show."
James Smart, The List
"Rob Deering is a fantastic comedian, who has created a truly extraordinary show that will leave you smiling from ear to ear and humming tunes all the way home."
Three Weeks
… ROB DEERING - THE MOVIE
“It’s during his partnership with his guitar, when he pulls off the inimitable, that he becomes great.”
Three Weeks
“Deering cleverly combined music and mirth in a mix that kept everyone laughing until the credits rolled. A sequel is definitely called for.”
Andrew Picken, Edinburgh Evening News
… ROB DEERING - SUPERKINGS
“Truly wonderful stand-up.”
Stephen Armstrong, Sunday Times
“Fresh and Funny.”
Helen Pidd, Fest
"He has such confidence, control and ease with an audience."
Ben Dowell, The Stage
… ROB DEERING - THE FACTS
“An utter delight from start to finish.”
Three Weeks
“Wonderfully light-hearted, wholesome entertainment and the perfectly timed antidote to the leaden verbosity of much comedy on the fringe.”
The List
“Future of comedy stuff… will rule the school.”
The Sunday Times
ROB DEERING
Perhaps best known for his TV and radio work, ROB DEERING’s credits include: Rob Brydon’s Annually Retentive (BBC THREE), Nevermind The Full Stops (BBC FOUR), Big Brother’s Big Mouth/Little Brother as a regular guest (Channel 4/E4), co-presenting Strictly Dance Fever (BBC THREE) with JUNE SARPONG and Carol Vorderman’s Big Brain Game (Sky One). ROB has provided daily coverage for ITV’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and was the winner of The Weakest Link Comedians Special on BBC ONE. He has also appeared on The World Stands Up and Edinburgh and Beyond (Comedy Central).
On the radio ROB has written and starred in three series of the Saturday afternoon comedy show Out To Lunch (BBC Radio 2) and featured on Banter, Four From The Store, Four From The Fringe, 28 Acts in 28 Minutes (all BBC Radio 4) and Jammin (BBC Radio 2).
ROB has brought seven solo shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, having made his comedy debut at the Fringe in the prestigious The Comedy Zone showcase in 2001. An established stand-up, he has headlined The Comedy Network for five consecutive years. In 2008 ROB began hosting the monthly stand up and music night Comedy Congregation and became a regular on Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret. He has also: won the Amused Moose New Talent Award in 2000; been a semi-finalist in the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Awards; and been runner up in both the Hackney Empire New Talent Award and BBC New Comedy Award.
AVALON PROMOTIONS
Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).
The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics CHRIS ADDISON, SIMON BIRD, JENNY ECLAIR, DAVE GORMAN, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD, LEE MACK and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Stadium; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed highly successful runs in Australia and London’s West End; and present 20 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 18 Perrier Award/Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees in just 21 years.
