Criminally John Kearns had half-price tickets available for
his repeat performance of last year’s show, how could I say no?
As it turns out he had a decent turn out, including the
famous Russell Howard (the second time he’s been in the audience of a show I’ve
watched – first time being Alex Edelman).
The large space of the Queen Dome, one of the most famous
Edinburgh Festival comedy rooms, previous host to Pappy’s for their excellent
show Last Show Ever and Tim Key’s room the year he won the Perrier (or whatever
it was called then), threatens to be too much for Kearns’ off-beat style – he’s
not afraid of the awkward silences from time to time.
Though soon in to the show you forget the space, and he
commands the room. An excellent touch came towards the end when an audience
member dashed out to leave – Kearns paused, waited in silence, and when the
slam of the door closing finally came he said a simple “there we go” – there’s
a bravado needed to pull off that kind of stunt in the middle of a performance.
The extended imagining of a shop reflects Kearns’ creativity
and power to take his audience on a journey, and the ending, cleverly
referencing a Morecombe and Wise act of the invisible object falling into an
envelope, makes for the perfect finish.
Score: no score for repeat watching
Venue: Pleasance Dome – Queen Dome
Dates: Run ended
Time: 20:20
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