A thoughtful premise squandered by a performance that refuses to be vulnerable about it’s themes.
The show starts with Fab standing in front of us, holding the microphone stand tight and telling us how he’s been mistaken for things based on how he looks: that people are surprised he’s from a middle-class background because he’s Black and from London, or by his French family and ancestry. He talks of intersectionality, then explains it for audience members who need more context. The show promises an entertaining romp through these identities, the stereotypes placed upon them, and their relationship to our self-image. It’s a fruitful premise, but the execution leaves something to be desired.
Callbacks, for example, often rely simply on references to prior punchlines, without the punchline working again in the new context. There are some decent jokes, but they are delivered without confidence or enough appreciation of timing. A less monotone, single-speed delivery could bring more rhythm and variation, as there’s little sense of building tension towards a payoff or playing with tempo.
This is a shame, as the show’s final joke—and the ‘running’ theme that wasn’t overly present throughout—challenges the willingness to play into stereotypes for others’ pleasure. As a gay, middle-class Black man wearing a beret, there’s certainly material here for an interesting exploration of intersectionality. The finale, where Fab recalls being mistaken for someone “from the street” by a nerdy IT colleague, suggests a revelation that sits uneasily against the preceding hour of playing into familiar middle-class stereotypes and Waitrose jokes that the Fringe is already full of.
Deeply personal anecdotes are largely absent, to the show’s detriment. It often feels like we are joking around the aesthetics of the theme rather than making comedy from Fab’s personal relationship with these identities and how they have affected his life. This lack of vulnerability makes it harder to empathise deeply with his experiences. The thoughtful premise introduced at the start fades until the ending. With material more tightly focused around this through-line, and more personal, introspective moments, this could be a funnier and more distinctive show.