Edinburgh Fringe comedy reviews: Chloe Petts: Big Naturals | Liam Withnail: Big Strong Boy | David Ian: Am I Mean? | Luke Connell: Bloody Marvellous | Will Davies: Much Peril, Many Intrigue

COMEDY

Chloe Petts: Big Naturals ★★★★☆

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 24 August

Chloe Petts was intoxicated by lad culture when she was growing up. She saw Kasabian 14 times, got heavily into football and was so captivated by boobs that she claims to have got a paper round to have regular access to Page 3. She’s even named this fantastic show after the things she loves the most: big natural breasts.

It’s unusual to see this loud period of British life explored through the lens of a queer woman, who uses her intelligence, perspective and world-class stand-up skills to sift through what its legacy means for her.

She imagines what it would have been like dating during this period, and jokes that at least back then men wore their toxicity on their sleeves. Her descriptions of young lads in Fred Perry shirts squaring up for a fight is beautifully vivid, and the honesty with which she recalls the excitement she felt during these times – “like Billy Elliot watching ballet for the first time” – is delicious.

The wonderful material she has about her parents, women’s football and joining a Christian rock band at the age of 17 paint a picture of a life I’d love to see depicted in a television comedy drama.

It’s an entertaining and supremely satisfying development for Petts, who, in her admirable devotion to playfulness, has never been this personal on stage. She starts to reveal a little about the sort of romantic partners she always went for when she was younger (joking that one of the appeals of petite women is that she gets to finish their dinner) and, crucially, talks about why football is a go-to receptacle for so many people’s emotions.

Don’t think for a moment that this is heavy: it’s the kind of show that has wide appeal and is drenched in laughs and warmth. We must never take Chloe Petts for granted.

ASHLEY DAVIES

COMEDY

Liam Withnail: Big Strong Boy ★★★★☆

Monkey Barrel (Venue 515) until 24 August

Liam Withnail is one of the finest comic storytellers in the business right now. He proved as much with his outstanding 2023 show, Chronic Boom, which detailed his horrible realities of living with ulcerative colitis. This year’s show is every bit as good. Dealing with addiction, escape and finding your place in the world, it’s truthful, tender, optimistic and funny as heck.

In Big Strong Boy, Withnail takes us back to Dagenham in Essex, regularly voted one of the most depressing places to live in the UK. He started drinking when he was very young, and as a teenager regularly stole money from his dad to buy vodka. He wanted to go to drama school but was told he needed some life experience; while others gained theirs by travelling the world, he got a job in Homebase. He felt suicidal.

Then one day he left home without telling his family (though he did later email them to make sure they knew he was safe). He nicked a bunch of cash – in various currencies – and headed for Edinburgh, where he has been living ever since. Living in a hostel led to drama school, a career in comedy and marriage.

Withnail’s debut show, True Defective, detailed his experiences with addiction, and this year marks a full decade of him being free from alcohol and drugs. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have other addictions, and he touches here upon his relationship with food.

Big Strong Boy is one of those special shows that highlights the value of comedy as a vehicle for discussing difficult subjects. Withnail has spent enough time on the club circuit to know how to keep a crowd’s attention with well-paced laughs. He also knows how to have them leave the room having learnt and understood something important, but with renewed hope.

ASHLEY DAVIES

COMEDY

David Ian: Am I Mean? ★★★☆☆

Gilded Balloon Patter House (Venue 24) until 24 August

Enlivened somewhat by the presence of David Ian's former boyfriend slap-bang in the middle of the front row on the day I saw it, Am I Mean? shapes up to be a typically waspish hour from the comic, supplemented with his gushing appreciation of all things Cher. Incorrigibly bitchy, to an almost pathological degree, snidely critiquing audience members and establishing his authority, Ian can unquestionably be brutal without compensatory charm sometimes, a dubious tactic for someone who routinely comperes, though perfectly on brand.

Capable of some utterly self-centred, reprehensible behaviour towards his oldest, closest friends, the offhand remark of a partner sent him into pangs of internal reflection, not least as he's just met someone he unequivocally loves, his baby nephew. Worried that the child will grow up to see his uncle as a lost cause, stewing in his own selfishness and bitterness, Ian ramps up the transatlantic drama of what amounts to an extended apology tour, up to and including this show. The Cher framing adds little beyond reiterating his performative and diva-ish urges. But he doesn't soft soap his past awfulness and elicits steady laughs for his having been so bad.

JAY RICHARDSON

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COMEDY

Luke Connell: Bloody Marvellous ★★★☆☆

Laughing Horse @ The Brass Monkey (Venue 153) until 24 August

A professor of medieval French literature in his day job, Luke Connell is on a quest to convince you that we're not so far removed from the Middle Ages. With the number of phalluses in the Bayeux Tapestry still a subject of hot debate, his focus is firmly on the esoteric, the eccentric, the monastic and the outright mad. And he finds many correspondences with modernity.

Despite his obvious love for his vocation, he doesn't take Bloody Marvellous at all seriously, indulging in silly ditties to emphasise his points, having no compunction about mocking medieval ignorance. They were called the dark ages for a reason. So he gets plenty of material out of the bizarre depictions of animals, uninformed by first-hand observation, monks who sought to fly and some unquestionably sexy depictions of Lucifer.

Lightweight, with only a surface level of academic inquiry, this is an amusing, slideshow-based lecture that prioritises storytelling over historical accuracy. You'd perhaps prefer Connell to dig deeper into his divorce once he's mentioned it, his belated mention of Henry VIII and a song about his fellow Henrys affording him a greater opportunity than he grasps. But that might tonally wobble an otherwise jolly, undemanding presentation.

JAY RICHARDSON

COMEDY

Will Davies: Much Peril, Many Intrigue ★★☆☆☆

Just the Tonic at the Caves (Venue 88) until 24 August

Will Davies eventually finds his feet in this show, musing darkly on the architecture of post-war Germany and indulging in a little gentle whimsy about elephants. But it's a long, tiring road to arrive there and too little, too late. He makes so much of his sadness, weirdness and social awkwardness initially that it suffocates the hour with an oppressive melancholy that his low-key, impassive delivery is never going to dispel. There's possible amusement in misconceptions about his sadsack character. But he arrives at the wheeze of manipulating his employers over his neurodiversity too belatedly, a little injection of mischief that this show badly needs.

JAY RICHARDSON

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