Yes, the TikTok show. Anyone attending this performance has unashamedly seen one or all of these ‘stars’ grace their For You page late at night when they should have been asleep. Henry Rowley is known for his posh boy impressions, Ayamé Ponder for her reactions to videos and short, comedic life stories.
While there were plenty of audience laughs and crowd work that produced a lot of chuckles, it was clear that the four performers, while very funny, were not naturally suited to the stand-up routine. They would probably have felt more at home where they are best known: behind a screen. Each comedian had around 15 minutes to produce their best work which, given the sparse allotted time, meant that jokes remained fresh and amusing, with the constant change in style refreshing. However, had each one had their own hour-long stand-up show, I feel the crowd would not have given them the time of day.
Some jokes crashed slightly as they were rather Southern-centred, a rookie mistake for performers aiming to amuse a majority Scottish crowd. Quips about London postcodes and boroughs went over some heads, and a long ‘posh people at music festivals’ joke felt slightly unrelatable.
As such, the one Scottish man performing procured plenty of laughs demeaning Edinburgh as housing the Scottish middle classes and telling tales of growing up in the land of Buckfast and Irn-Bru as one of eight children.
There was some hilarity when discussing relationship status within the crowd, with a majority of single women to one single man sparking a comedic take from a female comedian on the struggles of modern-day dating.
It seemed clear that on stage, holding a microphone and delivering jokes to faces that could actually be seen was not the natural forte of these performers, and a career in stand-up comedy would not have come to them had people not had too much time on their hands and migrated to TikTok during lockdown.
Despite this, there were many moments that truly did amuse the audience, and the fast-paced nature and quick turnaround of the show kept the performance from becoming stale. If you’re looking for laugh-out-loud comedy, this is probably not the place, but if it excites you to be able to point at your phone and then at the stage and see the same thing, then maybe it is.
Knock, Knock is on at 4:00 pm at Pleasance Courtyard – Cabaret Bar from 9 to 17 August, excluding 14 August. Tickets available here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/knock-knock.
Image provided to The Student as press material.