Comedy review: Stuart Goldsmith: Like I Mean It

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Goldsmith has become the consummate raconteur. He is relaxed and genial onstage as he fills up an hour with tales of his life as husband and dad.

Liquid Room Annexe (Venue 276)

***

He knowingly plays with his own middle-classness, toys with affected horrors of his new life and has fun with pseudo-confessions about his shortcomings as a parent and regrets as a husband.

This is all very nicely entertaining. Then there are some superbly funny, clever digressions on the subject of meat farming, vegetables and drones. Unlikely as it sounds, these are moments of comedy brilliance. There is also a thought-provoking bit about Life On Earth (he has Netflix now) and how we work out goodies and baddies in life.

Goldsmith is a comedian of intelligence and class. Listen to the way he describes things and you hear a proper wordsmith. This is a lovely hour, albeit regularly interrupted for a deeply irritating running gag on deconstruction.

To be fair, he has found a new way to bring his internal monologue out and into the show but I still found it self-indulgent after a few repetitions. He is smooth, charming comic who will warm up any wet Edinburgh afternoon.

Until 27 August. Today 3:45pm.