I’m sure the words ‘laugh a minute’ will be bandied around a great deal this Fringe season (or not depending on whether you are harassed with the words ‘free fringe’ at any point during a stroll down the mile), but this packed lecture theatre known to many politics students truly housed a man with a stand-up routine worthy of the phrase.
It is true that Gyles Brandreth did not stop talking, and neither did the people want him to. Opening the show with some unforeseen technical difficulties that resulted in a headset microphone having to be swapped out for the good old-fashioned handheld, this entirely improvised show was seamless from start to finish. Both ‘Naked Attraction’ with a 90-year-old and his long-term friendship with the royals garnered laughs from a packed audience, combining an extremely quick wit with a life seemingly extremely well lived.
The second half of the show was more audience participation themed (in a loose sense of the word) with ‘Brandreth’s Bistro’ bringing an audience member onto the stage to choose the topics of comedy for that afternoon’s show – thus rendering the performance different every afternoon and endlessly watchable. The starters were a choice of either ‘my worst moment’ or ‘rough sex’; the latter was sadly not chosen so instead we were treated to a story of Brandreth smashing a priceless Stradivarius violin on the 850th anniversary of the death of Thomas Beckett. Similarly, the show came to a conclusion with the audience question of ‘how influential were you as an MP’ manifesting itself into a discussion about the strangest places one can now get married.
A dance number in which Brandreth comically displayed his interpretation of President Biden doing Irish dance produced a great array of shoulder shudders throughout the audience, as well as many celebrity name drops bringing all those who might have been out of the loop thoroughly back in – sharing a lift with Michael Jackson and conversing with Prince Philip about the complexities of catheter were particularly memorable.
Despite the majority of silver surfers in the audience, this show brought together such a plethora of comedy and natural sharp humour that it would be almost impossible not to laugh out loud. With his outfit comprising of pink trousers in representation of Barbie and dark gilet in honour of Oppenheimer, there was nothing not to love.
Gyles Brandreth Can’t Stop Talking is on at 4pm from 5-27 August at Gordon Aikman Theatre. Tickets available here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/gyles-brandreth-can-t-stop-talking
Image provided to The Student as press material