one4review | On 14, Jul 2025

Banter, brilliance, and the baffling business of being British.

It’s fitting that Raul Kohli brings Raul Britannia back to Edinburgh, the city where it all kicked off. Walking on stage in a classic 1996 Newcastle United shirt with “Shearer” on the back, he looks like he’s about to take a corner at St James’ Park—but instead, he takes on an entire national identity—boots, bias, and all.

This isn’t some lazy nostalgia trip. Kohli digs into his upbringing in the North of Newcastle, where his dad ran a corner shop and sectarian chants sometimes rang out louder than goal celebrations. He spins those memories into material with equal parts fire and fondness. He doesn’t flinch from the racism, the casual slurs, or the far-right noise. But he never loses sight of what holds communities together: football, family, and that strange, silent loyalty between a corner shop and its regulars.

He’s got a knack for sleight-of-hand comedy—luring the audience in with light-hearted jabs about queuing and accents, then hitting them (gently, hilariously) with razor-sharp insights on empire, class, and identity. He’s done the homework too—his deep dives into colonial history are sharp, brutal, and brilliantly phrased, but never dry or smug.

Don’t mistake it for a TED Talk with punchlines, though. Raul Britannia is comedy first. Kohli keeps it pacy, warm, and full of genuine laughs. The real trick is how he makes it proud and critical, silly and sincere, political without the soapbox.

He’s a proper storyteller—one of the few left doing it with this much care. There’s a ladder of nuance in this show where lesser comics would stumble on the first rung and never recover.

Watch. Learn. Laugh. You’ll be better for it.

****
Reviewed by Steve H

The Stand Comedy Cub
Edinburgh
22 June 2025