****

4 Stars

Bo Burnham is only 19 years old and, having made his name in his native America thanks to the lo-fi videos he recorded of his comedy songs which went on to get over 60 million hits on YouTube, he is this year making his Edinburgh debut.

The show is a mixture of song, rap, stand-up, haiku and even Shakespearean sonnet and the whole hour is punctuated by Bo’s apologies for lulls and silences which barely exist. There is no doubting this young comedian (or prodigy, as he informs the audience he prefers to be known) has talent to spare, both in his musical abilities on keyboard or guitar, and in the speed and skill in his lyrical trickery. He plays the disaffected teenager with aplomb – on the night I saw the show, his façade slipped only once, during one of several interactions with a guide dog sitting silently on the front row, which proved very funny throughout the hour, and prompted Bo to realise just how much dog material he has in his show! Bo freely admits he isn’t good with audience interaction, but I loved his response to one heckler early on, a dead-pan; ‘This is a listening show’.

But, and unfortunately there is a but, this show didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I’ve seen Bo live before doing a half hour set at the Carlsberg Comedy Carnival in Dublin last year, and he blew me away. There was little in the way of stand-up or interaction between the songs which entertained, shocked and made me laugh uncontrollably on several occasions. With this hour-long Edinburgh show, Bo is perhaps trying to show he’s more than just a musical comedian (and maybe get away from those lazy Tim Minchin comparisons), and the show has been garnering 5 star reviews from all sides. But for me, and perhaps I’m missing the point (or maybe it was because I’d seen or heard a lot of the material before), I would have liked a little less posturing and a little more content. Despite this, there’s no doubt that this young man is going to go far, whichever comedy route he chooses to follow from here.

Reviewed by Sarah

Pleasance Dome – Queen Dome

21:35 – 22:35