This is Simon Munnery's 30th year at the fringe. As the show title suggests, and as he alludes to throughout his show, he hasn't really broken out into mainstream media.
This is an hour of poetry, 'singing' in a loose, Billy Bragg –esque style, the occasional joke and bizarre ramblings. Almost all of this was delivered in the awkward, stuttering manner of a man not quite comfortable in his own skin.
I might have missed the plot, or perhaps am not of the generation Munnery targets – after all, he has been coming to the Fringe longer than I've been alive – but I really fail to produce much to praise.
There was a funny joke about the England football team, and one about his daughters, but otherwise for the majority of the hour I was spent trying to discretely check my watch and smile politely.
I couldn't find a connecting theme. There was no consistency to the show. One minute it's a poem. Then it's a 'skit', then there are some jokes, then songs, then he has a bucket on his head, then he was playing with pegs. It was similar to watching a man desperately scrabble for anything that could be passed off as entertaining, and mostly completely missing the mark.
There were one or two mildly amusing parts but they couldn't save this otherwise uncomfortable and unfunny hour of captivity in the Stand Comedy Club.
* * * * *
Simon Munnery: Standing Still is performing at the Stand Comedy Club at 16:00. Tickets and more information are available on the Fringe website.
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