Comedy review: Jamie Oliphant: The Oliphant in the Room, Just The Tonic @ The Tron, Edinburgh

Most stand-ups with a day job give the impression that it’s merely paying the bills. But teaching assistant Jamie Oliphant takes his responsibilities, if not himself, seriously, with this debut hour from the likeable anecdotalist a dispatch from the classroom.

Jamie Oliphant: The Oliphant in the Room, Just The Tonic @ The Tron (Venue 51)

Jamie Oliphant: The Oliphant in the Room, Just The Tonic @ The Tron, Edinburgh * * *

Often, it’s just straightforwardly amusing tales – kids saying the funniest, most precocious, scariest things.

Oliphant is not an obvious authority figure and in an era of social media; his charges’ popularity and following easily eclipse his modest achievements as a performer.

Children, and indeed their parents, are a bellwether for the way society is headed. And he offers intriguing insights into the future, with well-meaning, progressive educational strategies disabused by the realities of toiling at the chalkface.

Until 25 August

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