From greasy spoon owner to the London Palladium in five years. That's Brian Gittins's ambition, and he's well on the way – Gittins (the alter ego of actor David Earl) supported Ricky Gervais in London last month. Aspects of his act recall Gervais's work – particularly the David Brent titter that follows every duff punchline. Closer comparisons can be drawn with the likes of Count Arthur Strong or Jeremy Lion.Gittins is another character who trades in anti-comedy; in the gulf between a pathetic man's ambitions and his total lack of entertainment ability.
But he lacks those characters' credibility. Proprietor of "the best roadside cafe in a 12-mile radius of Pyecombe", and wannabe comedian, Gittins has left his wife Cheryl to come to Edinburgh – a separation which (as revealed in a twist of sentimentality) is causing him heartache. It's a pleasing but not entirely convincing persona. Buttoned into an ill-fitting tux, Gittins is leering and physically uncomfortable, with (in Cheryl's words) "a knack for making people feel awkward".
But it's hard to buy into his reality – hard to believe he has been performing for four years, when he's so inept; and hard to believe that this aspiring pro would end up sharing his pain while fooling around with tatty puppets.
The puppets are Gittins's cast for a musical about his life ("Look at my cafe, isn't it good?/ This is where I sell a variety of food") and provide the most coherent part of an hour that elsewhere lurches from pregnant pause to uneasy silence. Gittins depends for most of his big laughs on audience participation; he has four poor punters perform the Hokey Cokey while wearing incongruous rubber masks. Elsewhere, it's all bad knock-knock jokes and doodles in search of a character strong enough to redeem them.
