Comedy review: Simon Brodkin - 100% Simon Brodkin, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

Thirteen years on from his Fringe debut, Simon Brodkin is finally getting around to introducing himself. The reasons why are only obliquely suggested. But after his long-running stint as a character act, most famously as the roguish “chav” Lee Nelson, and high-profile stunts where he sought to embarrass the likes of Donald Trump, Theresa May and Sepp Blatter, this latest hour is unquestionably a departure, as he affects to reveal the man behind the masks. Only to an extent though, as his third act reveals him to be every bit as waggishly cheeky as Nelson. And just as keen to misdirect Fringe audiences as he was the President of the United States’ security detail.

Simon Brodkin - 100% Simon Brodkin, Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) ****

Establishing himself as a privileged, indulged manchild in middle-age, a self-declared “crap dad”, his wife’s endurance and disdain is revealed in the indiscreet testimony of his oblivious self-focus.

Brodkin’s spouse and offspring have zero dimension beyond casting him in a more rascally relief and serving as the set-up for jokes, of which there is an impressively high hit-rate. But while several of these have a porn-inflected hue, it’s Brodkin’s relationship with his daughter that teases out this otherwise secular Jew’s concerns about rising anti-Semitism, how it has affected his feelings towards the Labour party and the abuse he has received online.

Elsewhere, a hilarious line about the robbery of Michael McIntyre has an enjoyably Nelson-esque echo while reinforcing a projection of Brodkin’s petty insecurity about his own career. He is perhaps over-fond of the pullback and reveal-style gag, but they are invariably well executed. And he does pursue a more subtle line of enquiry into male emotional inarticulacy that brings the show to a satisfying end. 100% Simon Brodkin is a welcome evolution. - Jay Richardson

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