Edinburgh Fringe Comedy reviews: Alfie Brown | Obie | Jaz Mattu | Laurence Tuck | The Duncan Brothers

Just the Tonic at the Caves (Venue 88), until 25 August

★★★☆☆

Obie: How To Activate The F***it List

PBH’s Free Fringe @ Globe Bar (Venue 161), until 25 August

★★★☆☆

Jaz Mattu Returns   

Just the Tonic at the Caves (Venue 88), until 25 August

★★☆☆☆

Laurence Tuck: Dark/Twisted/Nerdy/Awkward   

Just the Tonic at the Caves (Venue 88), until 25 August

★★☆☆☆

The Duncan Brothers: Blood Sword

Underbelly Cowgate (Venue 61), until 25 August

★★★★☆

Cowgate and the streets that run up the hill from it still feels like the Fringe. Crowds and beers and the smell of indeterminate meat products on rolls surround you. Many of the venues are Free Fringe. Some others are pay what you want. What's not to like?

Alfie Brown was a fearsome, fearlessly arrogant young comic. This show is about how and when and why he changed. For changed he has. Cancellation will do that to a comic. Cancellation of a career. Luckily they cannot cancel the man's talent, his ways with words and his ability to time a laugh. This hour is about remorse and redemption, along with Centre Parcs, nepo babies, babyccinos, and his love for his family. Alfie has four kids, that is a lot of love. 

In a lesser comedian's hands, this show would seem self-indulgent. But here, the hurt and the hate that exploded and engulfed him in the wake of a throwaway dissing of Jeremy Corbyn is wrapped in enough intelligence and peppered with enough humour to keep us on side and laughing, even though he is a nepo baby himself. He cleverly keeps his tirades directed at babyccinos and Tattle.life comments, plus the hypocrisy of ex Late Night Gimp Fight performers. The comedy industry, I should say (Alfie didn't), really should be ashamed of itself. Nike trainer-wearing comics have no business having a fit of the vapours at another 'N' word. Anyway… the balance and the switches between comedy routine and what might be termed “confessional” in its broadest sense is a tough one and Alfie handles it well, given how much death and break-up and financial ruin there is there. Don't go for big shocking laughs. Go to see how to make a comedy comeback with grace.

Perhaps Alfie should take a leaf out of Obie's book and just say, “F*** it”. Obie thinks we should all be saying “f*** it” more often in our lives. By the end of his hour, we agree with him, although I cannot help but notice that it would be totally impossible for the man to say “f*** it” any more times here. But he sets a good example. Obie has Weegie friendliness turned up to 11. The hour is loose, but we don't care because we are having fun with his memories of the great impromptu night out with his pals which turned into four days, his uncharacteristically Machiavellian plan to destroy a heckler who once made him cry on stage, and the tale of the night he deliberately performed drunk. Obie genuinely entertains his very diverse audience – from 19-year-olds in the front row to OAPs at the back – and the delightful Hiccup (chosen name) in row four, who has Tourettes, is practically adopted by him. I am asked, by an American from the row in front, on my way out, what it means when a girl (as is mentioned in the show) wants to “get her hole”. I feel like a cultural ambassador.

As I watch it, I cannot understand what Jaz Mattu's show is meant to be. Multifaceted for sure, but it seems that when all the pieces are put together to make the story, there is certainly a narrative but the hour is just not one I would describe as “comedy”. There are enough creative ideas here for several shows for many performers: the video game is sweet, the robotics an unexpected addition to the hour, and the roly polies, along with the singing, badly but enthusiastically executed. However, the pace is distractingly slow, and for a performer who understands physical comedy, there just seems to be so little narrative energy. If this had been a preview I might have understood the hesitancy, but we are several shows in. The little sketches (fans of audience participation will love them, and Jaz has even written you a script) are nice, but unnecessary at best and smack of desperation at worst. This is a show about family, especially his dad, and at its heart it is genuinely lovely. It might be better positioned in the Storytelling section.

Laurence Tuck wears a Frank Spencer beret but that is the only similarity to the sunny but stupid character. Laurence proclaims himself to be “dark, twisted and nerdy”. He doesn't seem to be any of those to a poster-worthy extent, but he does offer the kind of dedicatedly downbeat humour that fans of Edward Aczel will recognise. We get a selection of one-liners to kick off, play human top trumps and generally wander down the helpful setlist Laurence has taped to the wall. The show is prop heavy, but to no great effect, although there are flashes of properly clever comedy here and Mr Tuck does know how to work a callback. Perhaps I am just too disappointed that I didn't win the raffle. But when you play with negativity as your comedy schtick you have to be positive you have the energy for it. I am not sure I saw that here.

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More props, more darkness but so much fun with the Duncan Brothers. The Fringe has many signifiers for me and I get them all tonight: pools of vomit on the Cowgate, flyers that go directly from flyerer to hand to pavement, and the childlike, comic clowning glory that is a Duncan Brothers' show. This year's show is unique. The gangling giggle-makers were both diagnosed with haemochromatosis: genetic, potentially life threatening and incurable. So what did they do? They made a hilarious show out of it. This – complete with Star Wars intro, special(ish) effects and a chance for us all to become an echo – is the little known legend of The Blood Sword. 

There is everything you could possibly want from a top legend here: aliens from outer space, a Cave of 1000 Questions, a Chosen One, a giant leech, quite a lot of fighting, an almost unseemly amount of suckling, and even blood. For fans of knowing things, we do get an explanation of How Blood Works and why having too much iron in it is bad. The Brothers have too much of it. But they are here, they are still gloriously gormless and still great.