EDINBURGH Comedy
Fringe Round-Up Until August 29
He’s been splashed across front pages the world over. He’s strutted his stuff on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury next to Kanye West. But no one knows who the hell Simon Brodkin is. And that’s because, despite being Britain’s premier prankster (Donald
Trump, Theresa May, Simon Cowell, Sepp Blatter and
Kanye have all been ‘done’), his antics are always attributed to ‘an anonymous comic’ in the papers.
Previously he appeared in character as South London wide boy Lee Nelson, and it’s only now that he’s coming out as himself – performing as plain old stand-up Simon Brodkin… Turns out it’s a long overdue, canny career move.
His new show, Screwed Up HHHH, is a full-on rat-a-tat gag-fest, but it’s also honest and brave as he recounts how his recent ADHD diagnosis finally explains all his attentiongrabbing pranks. Who’d have thought, says Brodkin, that instead of being an audacious provocateur speaking truth to power, it turns out he was just in need of more dopamine?
Kiri Pritchard-McLean (right) also self-diagnoses on stage, suffering from what she calls ‘reverse body dysmorphia’, which is a brilliant way of saying she is fearlessly frank when it comes to body image.
In Home Truths HHHH she gleefully pats her ‘prosecco paunch’ and refers to her farmer’s-daughter look – ‘I will always look like I can carry more than I weigh’. Whether she’s simply owning the room in her stunning sequined leotard or airing more profound views on her Welsh identity, there’s no escaping the fact that Pritchard-McLean has funny bones through and through.
Nick Helm is another comedian who has always worn his heart on his sleeve, sometimes to the point where you fear he might suffer an onstage breakdown. In What Have We Become? HHHH he delivers what is essentially an update on the state of his mental health, with comic songs and poems thrown in. Helm is always a compelling presence but this time around he exercises more control while maintaining his appealing, vulnerable edge. For the first time ever he’s actually enjoying himself – and it shows.