one4review | On 20, Aug 2025

Mr. Chonkers sets the scene—robed, gloomy, and foreboding—then begins greeting the audience with a series of gloriously ridiculous salutations.

An audience member is tasked with looking after all of us if the performance isn’t good. Then Chonkers bursts the room to life again—subverting the very entrance he just made, catching us off guard and making the room reverberate with laughter.

When his face is revealed, it’s devilish: eyes gleaming, smile cheeky and mischievous, with a Belushi-like intensity that crackles through the room.

He’s a consummate clown. Constant eye contact, constant reflection, constant play. He compliments, then mocks us, himself, and the venue with aplomb.

What’s remarkable is how freeform it all feels. Less experienced clowns rely on structure to survive; Chonkers has one central scene and a few side gags.

Yet he takes a tired, primarily middle-aged audience and pulls us in, teases us, and dances with us—eventually making everyone burst into laughter and follow him eagerly down insane rabbit holes of attractive older women and cultural stereotypes.

At one point, despite regular laughter, he becomes convinced the performance isn’t going well. He stops and asks for a volunteer to share what they do for a living.

A psychologist.

Chonkers then requests a diagnosis mid show — this after what must be some of the weirdest human behaviour I’ve ever witnessed on stage. In the midst of perhaps the strangest, funniest performance of the Fringe, he is diagnosed with a personality disorder.

He seems delighted, the whole room collapsing into laughter again and again. Chonkers risks everything, and somehow makes it pay.

This is the lightest touch of craft I’ve ever seen in clowning—and it still works brilliantly.

Otherworldly, hilarious, and exactly the shock to the system I needed.

I left entranced… sad that this is sold out and I can’t buy my friends tickets.

****1/2

Reviewed by Sharpie

Summerhall – Anatomy Lecture Theatre

22.15 (1hr)

Until 24 Aug