There is plenty of funny fodder in How I Won Best Newcomer 2017 – Fogg's position as the youngest associate producer in American TV history and attending the Emmys in that job is enough to fill an entire show. There's also an accident-prone father and the established but nevertheless funny disappointed parents gambit.
He does go through all of this in his show, knowing this coupled with an intriguing title fills you with high expectations, however what is extracted is markedly average. That is, without the heckles, anyway – and they were constant. From technically before the show had started did a front row member called Jacob outshine Fogg's output, which got few laughs in comparison. Myriad topics around the attainment of success were overshadowed - perhaps there were too many for them to be substantial enough in their own right.
Drama erupts part way through the show. It took the audience into a panic as to whether it was real or rehearsed. As to the reality, I can't let that go but it seemed like a lot of effort for not much back from a flummoxed audience.
It lacked an ingenuity to lift it to being an uproariously clever and poised early evening hour of stand up. That said, Fogg had charisma and bucket loads of jokes, the vast majority of which landed, but it missed some of the originality you expected from reading the event description.
For tickets and more information visit the Ed Fringe website.
It's so irritating when the audience think that they're better than the performer - it would drive me insane >:(