A review of Comedians and (Similar to but Legally Distinct from) Dragons, Fringe 2023

I’ve seen many shows like Comedians and (Similar to but Legally Distinct from) Dragons this year and in a less comedic form as D&D/TTRPG streams since the pandemic.

Except the tabletop roleplaying games-inspired impro shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are nothing like the Dungeons & Dragons games I’d want to play. I’ll have my Comedians and (Similar to but Legally Distinct from) Dragons purely as comedy, thank you.

Led by host and Dungeon Master Stuart Kennedy, three comedians try to survive a convention-style one-shot adventure. On my evening, those three were Jon Hipkiss, Carly Blair and Andy Casper, who rushed in to replace a last-minute drop-out. +10 experience points to Andy Casper.

DISCLAIMER: Although Edinburgh Reviews are supporting PBH’s Free Fringe with an ad in the ‘wee blue book’, we are reviewing shows from both Laughing Horse and PBH’s Free Fringe, all of which will be reviewed fairly and without bias.

Check your humour gauge. If a D&D game where the players aren’t paying attention/can’t seem to follow what’s going on, don’t know what their characters can do and who may think ‘Tactics’ are little mints is an evening that will annoy you, then bad luck. That’s what you get in Comedians and (Similar to but Legally Distinct from) Dragons. What did you expect?

What to expect

This Laughing Horse Free Fringe is a Pay What You Can event in the basement of the Home Bar. It’s not accessible; do not bring wheels, and I would not like to have tackled those steps with my walking stick.

The basement bar is closed, as it often is, but upstairs is open, and you can bring pints down for the show. It’s not too hot, and the seats are not raised, but I suspect the line of sight to the action is pretty good unless someone with big hair sits in front of you.

The show is all theatre of the mind. Gandalf-like Stuart Kennedy stands while the three victim comedians sit, look scared, and face the crowd.

I predict every single round of Comedians and (Similar to but Legally Distinct from) Dragons will turn typical adventure encounters into funny-if-you’re-in-the-mood adult situations and cringe if not. I suspect, however, the aggregate of all the chaos is that you’ll enjoy yourself in either case.

In despair, Stuart Kennedy shakes his head and tells the crowd that all D&D games end up like this. No. No, they do not. Many do.

Vibe and performance

What Comedians and (Similar to but Legally Distinct from) Dragons gets right that similar shows have not thought of is a clever way to get the audience involved.

Audience involvement is safe. No one gets picked on, and this occurs in two ways.

Firstly, there are some names that the audience can shout out – the name of the nearby town, forest, etc. This is clever as an icebreaker and creates a sense of co-creation for the world.

Secondly, the audience can shout out “1” or “20” to petition for overriding any dice roll with a critical failure or critical hit.

Dungeon Master Stuart Kennedy is looking for funny ways to kill off the comedian’s characters, increasingly so as the end of the timeslot approaches, and that the audience has this (sometimes) life or death power means we sometimes get direct pleas from the guests to intervene. Power is fun.

Overall

D&D in a bar basement and in front of a crowd. The sense of audience agency and the theatre of the mind rather than fancy tech makes Comedians and (Similar to but Legally Distinct from) Dragons one of the best RPG-structured impro-comedy shows I’ve seen this year.

Let your inner geek or nerdy identity steer you towards the Home Bar, this Free Fringe gig, and the adventure of bouncing dice, comedians, and dragon-like creatures.