Festival review: Marlon Davis: Enter the Davism; Pleasance Courtyard (venue 33)

By Jay Richardson
Published on 17/08/2012 16:59

Chubby of cheek and sunny of disposition, Marlon Davis was never meant to be an authority figure, as he admits.

Yet for all that – and despite his terrible first stand-up gig, recounted here in unnecessary detail – the Fringe newcomer certainly knows how to hold a room.

A triumph of style over substance, his material may lack inspiration – ridiculing Groupon for being ill-targeted, Waitrose’s essentials range for being anything but and musing on Cat Bin Lady a full year after the story broke, for example.

But he’s a compelling storyteller whose anecdotes carry the elusive stamp of urban authenticity, a London council estate lad embarking on a dicey odyssey through Trainspotting-style areas of Edinburgh to purchase a bike for the festival.

Regardless of which of his eccentric parents he’s living with, he conveys the impression of an immature man-child, handling the economic downturn by rechristening it after a chocolate bar.

He offers up a bit of broad social satire about the culture of racism and homophobia in football, although nothing too arch, before revealing he’s actually the father of a young son, endearingly revealing how the mantle of responsibility has only increased his childishness.

Rating: * * *

Until 26 August. Today 7:15pm.