Earl Stevens has walked comedy's walk and talked its talk, and he's here to tell us the tale. His career is the classic stand-up trajectory.
He worked the clubs back in California before making it big in NY. He made his name on TV's Comedy Coronary and gigged on Letterman. Then, as megastardom beckoned, cocaine intervened.
It's a tragic story, flecked with hope and hilarity. But none of it is true. Earl Stevens is the creation of Paul Putner, erstwhile Fist of Fun co-star. He's a compellingly close-to-the-bone pastiche of washed-up stand-ups. This might have been John Belushi if he had lived. And had no talent.
Stevens's Edinburgh act - supposedly the story of his decline and rebirth - crams in a giddying succession of dark and dissonant routines, all performed in a blizzard of nervous energy. There are choice cuts here from Stevens's 1970s peak: his hit character Poodle Man, who assaults toy dolls with an electric drill ("Comedy's changed a lot since then") and the trailer for his sitcom, My Rabbi Is a Robot.
Putner's satire on the supposedly streetwise US stand-up scene is biting: he conveys masterfully the gulf between Stevens's self-image and the bathetic reality. This is lethal but lovable character comedy, from the leftfield.
Until August 27. Box office: 0131-556 6550.
