REVIEW: stars to #FinlayChristieChampagneCasanova @ Monkey Barrel Comedy @edfringe
‘An hour straight of good jokes, nothing less, nothing more’
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An hour straight of good jokes, nothing less, nothing more.
This show made me feel young, being a year older than Finlay, seeing him explain what an incel was to someone in the front row must be the gen z equivalent of hearing someone explain the internet to your parents 20 years ago. Being a zoomer isn’t the only embarrassing identity Finlay flaunts on stage, he is a self admitted, posh, comfortable, trauma free comedian who in his own words “can afford to keep doing stand up even if you think I’m bad”. Finlay gets us onto his side fairly quickly, doing better than a lot of trust-fund comedians do at the fringe, mostly by telling some hilarious, embarrassing stories that paint him as the butt of the joke.
There’s not a huge structure, deeper meaning or moral epiphany to this show, it very much felt like a comedy club set. It’s an hour of funny stories about being robbed on holiday, being not rich enough to have your own private island, and British civic pride being a quaint little relic we don’t really care about. In this regard – its a solid machine gun of gags, impressions of various political figures, anecdotes that Finlay never comes out on top from, and in one case an incredibly awkward pair at the front of the audience crumbling under the mildest form of scrutiny about whether or not they’re dating. Finlay is a talented comedian with a lot of tricks up your sleeve. He very smoothly can jump between formats and styles very comfortably and it’s safe to say everyone can find things to belly laugh at here.
Whether you’re a zoomer like me, or the parent of a zoomer who wants to laugh at them more than with them, its hard to say you wont get your moneys worth. I personally prefer comedy with more of a deeper meaning or message running through it, or about a certain theme, but as a comedy club style set this show is great. There’s only a few all too predictable jokes, especially when it comes to politics and history. This predictability, and lack of grander narrative is something that hold Finlay back from being more memorable than just a very solid hour of jokes. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Finlay Christie: Champagne Casanova is on at 10:40pm every night at Monkey Barrel Comedy (4) in August. Tickets here.