The idea may be cheap: a character comedy about a drunken children's entertainer. But the execution is terrific. Jeremy Lion is the creation of Justin Edwards, better known as one third of The Consultants. Rotund, sallow-eyed and bedecked in tatty multicolours, Lion's your man to keep the kiddies sweet at Christmas. Here's Lord Sebastian the turkey, to whom Lion gives voice while necking a can of Special Brew. Here's a medley of carols, plus a few Beach Boys hits unexpectedly woven in by sullen pianist Leslie. Here's a Nativity slide show, in which Lion and Leslie play all the parts, against the backdrop of a drab council estate.
The character could be closer to the bone. Lion's boozing is too explicit - it's impossible to believe he'd ever hold this job down. But reservations are easily forgotten in the face of several hilarious set pieces. Lion's effort to teach biology while dressed as Frosty the Snowman is fabulously, gruesomely inappropriate. And the show's finale, which sees Lion down a glass of wine for each verse of the 12 Days of Christmas, is appallingly funny. It's not that drunkenness and ineptitude are amusing per se - it's that Edwards performs them monstrously well. This is as dark as a December night, and as fruity as Christmas pud.
· Until August 25. Box office: 0131-556 6550.
