one4review | On 14, Aug 2016

I’d not heard of John Scott prior to this Fringe, but clearly lots of other people have, because this show was standing room only. I was lucky to manoeuvre into a space where I could see a sliver of the stage, but what I could see didn’t make me too bothered about missing out on visuals. This isn’t physical comedy: it’s pure, face-paced, spoken-word stand up.

There’s a nice balance in the show, with the alternation between big world/small world commentary. Mr Scott suggested he would put in more of what the audience preferred, so it’s entirely possible another night would yield a different show. It might do that anyway, because he looks (and talks) like he has a vast library of material in his head, and just pulls out the bits he likes most at that given minute.

The delivery is confident and articulate, and the material comes at a fair lick – no slowing down for the inebriated. This means if something offends (and it might), there’ll be something along soon enough that doesn’t. Almost all of his material is intelligent and considered, a mix of thoughtful and incisive political satire, personal anecdotes and general observations. And it’s all delivered in a marvellous Scottish accent (some things are just funnier in a Scottish accent).

Espionage (Kasbar), 18:15

Reviewed by Laura