one4review | On 14, Aug 2026

Novelist, otherworldly, view-askew story-spinner Olaf Falafel is back.

It all begins with a typically weird VT and, from there, logic is politely shown the door. Goths apparently need showers. Jason Statham has balance problems. Dr Bananos’ nursery crimes amuse us. Somewhere along the way, children are advised that, sooner or later, they’ll all have to do things for money that fill them with shame. It is impossible to explain.

Jokes arrive with force. One minute there’s a song about Gü pots that will make you gaga, intrusive thoughts that keep you only marginally awake at night, an ode to sausage-on-a-stick self-help happiness, and a perfectly observed idea that fun requires structure.

Falafel loves a band reference, and this year is no different. Shakira, U2, Earth, Wind & Fire are all done with such abandon; kids will be searching them out on the way home. Then there are Disney characters painted on the sides of vans, Liam Neeson’s dog ultimatum, and props, songs and video segments that are all perfectly judged.
And then he turns up the heat for the final third: Guitar Hero farm animals, a throwaway video sequence on Sonic the Hedgehog hair bobbles, and, of course, the return of Jason Statham, all delivered with the confidence of a man who has spent years building his own Marvel comic universe entirely of his own making.

Falafel has become a cult institution at the Fringe. After more than 20 years of gloriously daft shows, he remains one of the very few acts where words such as auteur and genius apply, and in this form, no other act currently in Edinburgh can touch him for sheer universal appeal. Entirely self-funded, fiercely independent and forever marching to the beat of his own bizarre drum, Falafel here is at the top of his game.

Brilliant!

5 stars *****
Reviewed by Steve H.
Main Room at Laughing Horse @ The Pear Tree
Until 30th (excl. 19th)
14:30 – 15:30