Edinburgh Comedy: Jennifer Coolidge and Caroline Rhea are on the comeback trail

One-liners and crowd-pleasing smut: Caroline Rhea charmed her Edinburgh audience
5 April 2012

Jennifer Coolidge
Assembly@George Street
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Caroline Rhea
Gilded Balloon
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The Fringe is famous for launching careers but sometimes stars come in search of a relaunch. Two female Hollywood performers of a certain age are currently plying their trade here and both are going down well with sets that are strikingly similar yet significantly different.

Caroline Rhea, alias Aunt Hilda in Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, has the edge on personality and rapport, while Jennifer Coolidge — Stifler’s mom in American Pie — has the one-liners and crowd-pleasing smut.

Rhea is a veteran stand-up as her relaxed, chatty manner swiftly demonstrated. In fact, she was so relaxed and chatty that she spent most of her slot bantering with the audience and barely reached the meat of her material. But she was always bubbly and engaging, even when jumping the gun by suddenly inviting bashful followers onstage for an unrequested picture. And when she finally got on track she had some winning anecdotes about filming Sabrina — if it looked as if she walked funny it was because she was stepping over puppeteers working the fake cat.

Jennifer Coolidge’s similarly CV-based routine is more tightly scripted, probably because her roots are in acting, not stand-up. Even her corny heckle put-downs were unashamedly pre-prepared.

Yet behind the pneumatic blonde looks, the contrived flirting with fans and silly Brokeback Mountain jokes there is a genuinely heartfelt story of Hollywood cruelty. Coolidge once cornered the market in weird best friends — now directors want younger, thinner weird best friends. Her tale only scratches the surface of celluloid prejudice but it is pertinent as well as pithy.

Jennifer Coolidge plays until August 29, Caroline Rhea until August 25. Information: 0131 226 0000, edfringe.com

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