Edinburgh Fringe Comedy reviews: Patrick Monahan | Jacob Nussey | Jack Traynor| Andrew White
Patrick Monahan shoots from the hip and brings everyone into his laughter zone, kicking off our first roundup of Fringe comedy. By Kate Copstick and Jay Richardson
Patrick Monahan: The Good, The Pat, and The Ugly
Gilded Balloon (Venue 24)
★★★★☆
About 45 minutes into his first performance of the Fringe, Pat Monahan takes a glance at his set notes and says: “I am very aware we need to get this show started.” There are just six of us in the room but, by that time, we are all just so relaxed and full of laughter and funny that we would happily go with the guy whatever he wanted to start. He has a voice so rough you could grate cheese on it and a comedic delivery that lies somewhere between boyish enthusiasm and sheer joy.
If you are looking for wit and carefully crafted lines, please try further on. If you want hard line politics or sharply honed observation, this is not really what he is for, although the section on golf (unlikely, I know) is fresh, spot on and very funny. But Pat Monahan could deliver the Shipping Forecast and it would have you grinning and giggling uncontrollably. This is a great and rare gift.
From the six of us in the room, together with some chunks of the show as planned, and the kind of warmth you could fire a bap on, Monahan creates (to say “crafts” would be ridiculous) a genuinely wonderful hour. It doesn't flag for a second – which is extraordinary, as it often seems he has no more idea of what is coming next than we do.
His kind of funny is an irresistible force and he doesn't leave anyone behind. Everyone is brought into the laughter zone at this gig. More than many comics – certainly many at his level – Monahan does not do a show. He is the show. Despite himself, I suspect. But it is a truly delightful thing to be part of.
Kate Copstick
Until 24 August
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COMEDY
Jacob Nussey: Primed
Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker Three) (Venue 33)
★★★☆☆
With the intriguing promise that comedy could facilitate an exposé of Amazon in a manner that more serious reportage might find legally actionable, Jacob Nussey's Fringe debut pledges to unpack his experience toiling in one of the retail giant's warehouses. Unfortunately, his delivery can't match Jeff Bezos’. And he knows it.
The main problem the Mansfield native has is that his low-energy mien and generally impassive face, allied to his often grim, alternately Dickensian and dystopian history of soul-destroying, low-paid work conspires against him. That's a real shame though. He's got a full CV of crap employment and he's spent his boredom productively, filing away telling details for illustrative if unappealing visions of life scratching a living with few aspirations.
A decent and versatile joke writer, still finding himself as a performer, Nussey's self-aware enough to acknowledge and draw humour from these limitations. Yet it's not a straightforward sell. Focusing on the human tedium, he's no union firebrand seeking to overthrow capitalism. He accepts his and the public's complicity in a system that prioritises convenience over morality. He gets political in a measured fashion, landing some amusing jabs at billionaire greed but there's nothing here to trouble Bezos' lawyers. Still, Nussey's recent escape into stand-up is cause for cheer.
Jay Richardson
Until 25 August
COMEDY
Jack Traynor: Before I Forget
Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker One) (Venue 33)
★★★☆☆
Heralding the arrival of an exciting, fiery talent, the roistering Jack Traynor barely has a show but hugely compelling stage presence. Funded by an excellent initiative from the Blackfriars pub in Glasgow and Brass Tacks Comedy, the Cumbernauld stand-up laments being “the only Scottish act doing an hour at the Pleasance”. Which is not strictly true but damnably close enough to depress.
With all the carpe diem of a competition winner taking his chance to storm the middle-class ramparts, what Traynor lacks in structured routines he makes up for with booming, can-do charisma and rascally energy. His basic conceit, the appealing aspects of dementia, as experienced by his grandfather and his likely inheritance given his family’s history with the condition, happily fits with his haphazard delivery of random anecdotes, cemented by some superb, instinctive crowd work – seeking out fellow misfits, such as those who've spent time in prison, and building sustained rapport.
His avowed appreciation of Susan Boyle, to the apparent confusion of his once cannier grandfather is typical of the comic. Though perhaps not fully finessed enough in an early preview, it explores his vulnerability behind his front foot bluster. Hearing an authentic, working-class Scottish voice at one of the Edinburgh Fringe's biggest venues shouldn’t feel so refreshing.
Jay Richardson
Until 24 August
COMEDY
Andrew White: Young, Gay and a Third Thing
Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire) (CabVol 2) (Venue 338)
★★★☆☆
After five days at last year’s Fringe, Andrew White's classy, composed exploration of identity returns for a longer run. Taking its title from his agent’s advice after he became a full-time comic, that he required a third adjective to set him apart, he speculates as to what that could be.
Keenly picking his character apart, the genial stand-up both confirms and confounds preconceptions about himself. That he's a guilt-ridden, privileged white liberal is virtually a given. Yet he's also prone to getting caught up in the most toxic aspects of sport fandom, even if he invariably finds a showy, musical theatre angle to make it his own.
Weaving queer history and social commentary about class, race, homophobia and trans rights through personal anecdotes, chiefly with reference to the experience of his non-binary, Jamaican-Irish partner, and the bigotry or doom-mongering of his West Country relatives, it’s all shared with admirable lightness of touch, only evoking an inclusionary message at the end. More directly, it’s also a well-aimed kick at simplistic pigeonholing and profiling. Despite recurrent recourse to the singular size of his manhood, the wry, floridly witty White contains multitudes. And to paraphrase his astute former English teacher, he's a pleasure to listen to.
Jay Richardson
Until 10 August
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