This is So Not About the Simpsons
Assembly Rooms
**
Call it the curse of The Simpsons. Two years ago Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, presented an irritatingly smug set at the Edinburgh Fringe.
This eagerly anticipated show is even more disappointing, because its star attraction, Harry Shearer, is not just the voice of the reptilian Mr Burns, but also played iconic bassist Derek Smalls in This is Spinal Tap.
Apart from a quick burst of Burns at the outset, this is essentially an hour of heavyweight satire in which Shearer and his Welsh wife, Judith Owen, sing songs and tell us things about America that we already know.
Bush is dumb, telly evangelists are possibly worse and Michael Jackson spends an inordinate amount of time with young children.
Owen certainly has a way with an infectious melody - imagine Lynsey De Paul with attitude - while Shearer has an avuncular affability. And they need all their charm to pull off their predictable ditties.
Owen's description of a post-Botox Hollywood starlet resembling "Bambi in a wind tunnel who has been kicked in the lips by Thumper", is deft but states the obvious.
Shearer's anecdotes provide the best moments and he offers a tart insight into the fame obsession when he recalls a hospital visit after injuring an eye. The doctor who put the stitches in handed him a script, while the doctor who took them out handed him a demo tape.
This is a high point in a low show that left me in need of medication.
Until 28 August. Information: 0131 226 2428.
