Tonight I witnessed a rare event. A comedian who had a great opening and I am thinking what a natural, but, with 15 minutes to go, I wished he would just finish. A number of the audience took the walk out option. Quite simply, he died. American Rick Shapiro has the reputation of being a fast talking, sexually explicit comedian. However, when the rapid delivery descends into crazed ranting and the timing of punch lines is missed, the humour dries up. The subject matter didn’t offend but the abuse he directed at some members of the audience did. There is an art to the put down. Irony and banter work. Vicious sarcasm doesn’t. A touch of humility wouldn’t go amiss but I am not sure that is in his psyche. I saw the show on the opening day of the Fringe. Who knows, he might be better later into his run. *