Christian Schulte-Loh
Christian Schulte-Loh
Blackfriars Basement
So here we are in a bunker with a German doing all of the talking. Fingers crossed it works out better than the last time this happened ... I reckon I can get away with that opening gag because Christian Schulte-Loh more or less used it himself. And all the obvious ones about being "a funny German". Like many young stand-ups just getting started on the touring circuit, a hefty percentage of his material relies on travelling abroad and the national stereotypes he encounters along the way. He also, for the first half of his act, spends too much time asking the audience their names and where they're from, especially when he seems at a loss as to what to do if the replies don't provide instant comedy gold.
After the break, however, his confidence grows as he performs pre-prepared routines (Arnie reading the Genesis chapter of the Schwarzenegger Bible; observations on British health-and-safety obsessions) and gets better payback from audience interaction - so maybe all that early effort was indeed worthwhile. A really likeable, lanky presence (he's 6ft 7in - another seam of self-deprecating humour), he does make the gig feel specific to this crowd, this room, this festival. With a bit more experience and stronger material, he'll be one to watch.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article