In his last two shows – first Cheese and Crack Whores, then Breaking Gadd – I’ve found Scottish grindhouse comic Richard Gadd a bit too much: the sex, drugs and brutality too lurid, the man-in-freefall shtick not wholly convincing. Without giving too much away (no more, at any rate, than the Waiting for Gaddot title), you definitely don’t get too much Gadd in this new, late-night show, which is set fair to be the underground comedy hit of the fringe. It’s his best show yet, a high-concept piece of stunt comedy that’s daft, dramatic and destabilising in equal measure.
It also strikes a far surer balance between credibility and cartoonish black comedy. Waiting for Gaddot isn’t pretending to be real, but it is focused on funny, as we see flashbacks of Gadd visiting his randy ma in her trailer park, while back in the venue, technician Ben (played by fellow comic Ben Target) prepares us for our host’s imminent arrival. Against the chaotic backdrop of a collapsing gig, the backstory unfolds of a love rivalry between Gadd and the comedian Ian Smith (who stages a protest against the show), and a race against the clock to Edinburgh in the back seat of a police car.
It’s brilliantly done. There are several hilariously dysfunctional dialogues, via Facebook and text message, between the panicky Gadd and his dimwit techie, before the two timelines – onscreen and onstage – converge towards a breathless finale. Infrequently, Gadd lapses into crude habit, deploying violence and (usually gay) sex for easy laughs. But mainly, the show sends up that impulse (“he’s just a shit Kim Noble”), hinting at the schlocky, self-pitying set he’s written and that we’re not getting to see. Its replacement is vastly superior: this is an uproarious, unpredictable slice of multimedia comedy, from a comedian of whom – it would appear – less is triumphantly more.
- At Banshee Labyrinth until 30 August. Box office: 0131-226 0000.
