one4review | On 18, Aug 2025

“Generational Trauma”, is an absolute must-see.  Michael Porter and his Irish charm is a joy to watch.  He has a wonderful command of the audience, his crowd-work is flawless, and he manages to pick off his hapless targets with the expertise of a trained sniper.  Well, he did grow up in Northern Ireland, just saying!!

Where he grew up has the best comedy name in the world and I want to go and visit to check out this Irish landmark.  Following a horrific accident as a child, and subsequent brain injury, we are lucky indeed that he’s able to share his life stories with us.  Now residing in Edinburgh and in charge of The Comedy Cellar in Canon’s Gait Pub, his material is fantastic.  There’s no shortage of wild tales from his homeland, and his banter with the crowd in this packed room is as infectious as his big Irish laugh.

There’s a great feature on the Dublin/New York portal, which I hadn’t heard of.  A large screen, transmitting live between the 2 cities, giving a glimpse into each others lives.  This expensive art installation sadly had to close down, Michael will explain why, if you can’t already guess.

As a little bonus, we are introduced to Dutch comedy duo, Efde & Efde, 2 brothers hoping to bring a show to next year’s Fringe.  They give us a 10-minute taster of their brand of humour.

This was a great hour’s worth of comedy in a cracking venue, and I will be going back for more.

*****

Reviewed by Gavin

Venue – The Comedy Cellar – Canons Gait Pub

Time – 20.00

Until 25^th Aug (and weekly comedy)