one4review | On 21, Aug 2026

Pierre Novellie comes out and immediately mocks himself for having done stand-up for the last ten years as a virtual unknown and now doing a “best of” show. As he puts it, it’s like a band you’ve never heard of releasing a greatest hits album.

Strangely, I hadn’t heard of Novellie either (says more about me, really). Glenn Moore mentioned him at his WIP show, recommending him as they do a podcast together. I found out recently that the gaming podcast is apparently so funny that even people I’ve met at the Fringe who don’t like gaming listen to it, simply because these two are so incredibly witty together.

Novellie is a giant of a man and relentlessly mocks himself for how large he is. He’s blessed with a searing wit and a relatable, self-deprecating nature, all the while being incredibly smart. He’s always one step ahead of the audience. He bangs out set-ups, punchlines and philosophical insights around language, growing up with a name like Pierre Novellie, how he looks, and what it’s like to be a star rugby player for a moment on the Isle of Man.

There’s an intelligence running through everything he does. He’s a master of wordplay and enjoys playing in the gaps between expectation and reality, and the space between English and French. Always interesting and entertaining, Novellie is undoubtedly a talent of epic proportions and deserves far more attention than he currently seems to be getting from the press and wider media.

One of the few I’ve discovered at the Fringe whose show I was sad to see end, and who I’ll now be watching for the rest of my life.

I’ll definitely be catching his other show, Pierre Novellie: One More Then Bedtime.

Catch a stadium-level stand-up currently playing to rooms of 150.

*****
Reviewed by Stephen “Sharpie” Sharp
Assembly George Square Studio 1
13.00 to 14.00

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