Typical. You wait ages for a profound, fast-paced show paying homage to fathers and then two come along in speedy succession. Following Des Bishop’s passionate take on his New York youth here is the suburban London version from Russell Kane, which is arguably superior and certainly more resonant for anyone who grew up in the Essex/Herts heartlands in the Eighties.
In Smokescreens and Castles the skinny-jeaned jester homes in on his parents’ embrace of the Thatcherite dream of buying their council house and simultaneously raising their emotional drawbridge. A motif of being bricked in emerges — dad added walls to his semi and to his feelings. But more is crammed into this hour, from a pithy explanation of the BNP’s demise to a vivid picture of his parents’ awkwardness at his graduation, to the absurd pampering on business class flights. Kane has ploughed the family furrow before but this time he digs deeper and unearths a sting in the tail.
Some stand-up neurotics become bogged down in onstage overanalysis. Not Kane. The more he analyses his obsessions the funnier he is. Few comedians can bring the house down with an exquisite gag about Nick Griffin and also prompt rafter-shaking laughter by simply saying "sociolinguistic integrity".
Until August 30. Info: 0131 226 0000, edfringe.com
Russell Kane: Smokescreens & Castles
