Fringe Comedy review: Simon Munnery - Renegade Plumber

Simon Munnery: Renegade Plumber | The Stand Comedy Club (Venue 5) | Star rating: ***

If you’ve seen Simon Munnery before, you know roughly what to expect. There will be well-crafted two-liners, clever wordplay, some rambling stories, silly drawings, homemade props and bits that don’t work. All of this will be delivered in his endearingly nervy, mad librarian style.

His latest show is primarily concerned with his invention of an ingenious under-tent heating system. He guides us through the creative process, and his attempts to patent the design, in great detail. Too much detail sometimes.

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But that’s the thing with Munnery. He’ll test your patience but reward you with a fantastic gag or inspired piece of whimsy. He’s worth the effort.

He creates tension by latching on to a seemingly unworkable idea and persisting with it until the audience is baffled into submission.

Only Munnery would force a crowd to sing along at length to an obscure Glasgow folk ballad they’ve never heard before. Only Munnery would risk losing the room completely with a misjudged line about disabled children and muddled material about the Grenfell Tower fire.

But he still manages, almost despite himself, to pull us back in. The wedding speech he delivers at the end is marvellous. He’s a ramshackle pro, eccentric and unique.

• Until 28 August

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