Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden: Little Richard III: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2005
Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden: Gold ‘n’ Decayed – A Century of Song: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2006
Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden: At Their Pique! Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2009
Barry Cryer: Innit: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2011
Arthur Smith’s Pissed Up Chat Show: Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, 2011
Rich Hall’s Hoedown: Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, 2011
Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden: Going Ga Ga: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2012
Laugh Till It Hurts Comedy Gala: Bloomsbury Theatre, London, 2013
Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden: Old Masters: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2015
Barry Cryer and Friends: An 80th Birthday Celebration: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2015
Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2016
Arnold Brown’s 80th Birthday Bash: The Comedy Store, London, 2016
Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden: Historical Objects: Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh, 2018
Ronnie Golden’s collaborations with legendary comedian Barry Cryer began in 2002 and have been playing the Edinburgh Fringe pretty much yearly ever since. I first went along in 2005 and have been going nearly every year as well. Cryer, a legend of British comedy who has written for al the greats (in 2018, an amazing 83 years old) gets to sing alongside Golden (born Tony De Meur who also fronts R & B band Ronnie and The Rex). Their live show feature’s Cryer’s impressive collection of one-liners alongside Golden’s remarkably multi-talented musicianship and tremendous collection of musical impressions. Self-penned sardonic comic songs such as Bim Bam Boom, We Were There and the wonderfully ironic and annoyingly catchy Peace And Quiet are belted out at nearly every show. Cryer may not be pitch-perfect, but he more than makes up for it in energy, and Golden proves a skilful and lively musical accompaniment.
At the Fringe, their shows are always scheduled to play at around 6pm. One year I went to see their show, followed by other evening shows and then Late ‘n’ Live – the legendary late-night comedy showcase starting at 1am and finishing at 5am. When I went into Late ‘n’ Live, Golden came over to me and remarked on what a great laugh I had at the show earlier in the day. He was still going strong and had a lot of stamina to keep going and it wouldn’t surprise me if Cryer and Golden kept treading the boards for years to come.
Golden has been entertaining audiences for years and I saw his regular collaboration with Cryer again at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2018. Armed with guitar and creator of such classic songs as Peace and Quiet where the tone starts low and gradually gets deafening, Golden has an army of comic songs running alongside Cryer’s jokes. Golden proved he could play the guitar by playing it perfectly behind his back. This is a classic Fringe double act that makes for a very entertaining hour long show.