Tim Minchin obviously has quite the following.  His show at the cavernous Pleasance Grand was a complete sell out on the evening I attended.  By contrast this was my first experience of the man, but I found it such a delight that there’s no doubt I’ll go back for more. As he wanders onto the stage Minchin resembles a gothic scarecrow, all dishevelled hair and eyeliner.  However this physically slight man completely filled the stage and had the audience mesmerised for over an hour with his unique blend of music and comedy.  Minchin is a wordsmith of the highest order.  He plays about with language, manipulating meaning and cramming couplets into every single number.  Of course, there’s always the danger that all the humour has been concentrated into his music, but the interspersed stand up routine was of a similar high quality. His songs are varied and cover a broad range of topics.  My particular favourites included a hoedown number which took a well-directed swipe at blind faith, a song for his wife which traded romance for realism and the closing number which necessitated a dancing bear.  By the end of Minchin’s performance the audience were very audibly whooping and hollering for more. Minchin wrote a particularly angry song especially for one critic who gave him a 1 star review a few years back.  I think that this particular inspirational avenue is now closed off as there is no doubt that this is a 5-star show. *****