one4review | On 13, Aug 2026

Rob Duncan was Printer of the Year 2024. This is something he makes abundantly clear in the beginning of his show. And this, along with his 15 years of working in the print industry (and a number of years performing with his brother), has led him to bring a new category of dramatic arts to the Edinburgh Fringe – performance printing.

From the moment he is introduced on stage (by a printer, of course) Rob Duncan is a delight, with a jolly gentility that well suits the overtly nerdy nature of the show. Complete with a complicated computer set up, toupee and a positive platoon of printers, Duncan goes through many fun and funny facts about printing, with a number of jokes in varying degrees of silly and geeky.

For a show that hinges heavily on a lot of pre-programmed technical assistance, it was a shame that so many of the bits of printing and automation in the show failed to go ahead without a hitch with paper jams, things not printing when they should or, somewhat less forgivably, gags being spoiled by paper from previous shows being reused and visible before the printing had occurred.

These mistakes are understandable; this type of show, involving multiple printers activating at specific cues, printing specific things, is a nightmare organisational spidersweb to put together, especially given the notoriously temperamental nature of desktop printers which can jam, stall or otherwise fail at seemingly any time and for seemingly any reason. And, thankfully, Duncan’s amiable and somewhat disorganised nature on stage made the audience more than willing to forgive the technical issues. Unfortunately, this lack of polish was evident throughout the show, with Duncan a little unsure of his script at points or other minor gaffs and it did leave the feeling that the show was a bit uncooked as a result, though hopefully these issues will be ironed away throughout the run.

But at the core of the show is a nugget of something truly unique and charming, much like Rob Duncan himself and I would definitely be interested in seeing him again.

3.5***

21:15 (1 hour)

5th-30th (not 17th)

Bluebell at Underbelly, George Square