one4review | On 21, Aug 2026

James Trickey is clearly an excellent writer and a witty young comedian. His stand-up is packed with set-ups and punchlines centred around his Cambodian / English origin, and the story of his older father meeting his mother. There really is a boatload of jokes in this show.

We can see the Michael McIntyre-style approach in Trickey’s tightly constructed set-ups and punchlines, but on this wet Edinburgh evening, the audience are more supportive than cracked up. A lot of these well-written jokes simply don’t land as well as perhaps- they should?

This might just be an off night: much of the material is tight, the writing is smart and there are more than enough jokes here to fill an hour.

Trickey eventually tells the story of being punched during his last Edinburgh show, which is incredibly ripe ground for a Fringe hour. He’s definitely a smart guy, but there’s an element of his showmanship that still needs developing. Despite talking about things that are deeply personal to his life, I didn’t leave feeling that I really knew him as an individual.

Perhaps the most emotional moment in the show comes when Trickey genuinely opens up, but the audience doesn’t seem to notice that he’s being emotional at all. The vulnerability is there, but we don’t quite register it – someone gets up to cross the stage to go for a piss. I want to mention Trickey is fast – he improvises in the moment quickly – getting bigger laughs than his written material – i think audiences want to see more of that.

That perhaps gets to the heart of what isn’t connecting tonight: the material is personal, but the person behind it isn’t always reaching us.

He’s very quick with one-liners, a witty improviser and he absolutely does make the audience laugh consistently.

The writing ability is obvious, and there’s a huge amount of tightly constructed material here. Split feels like the work of a comedian whose showmanship is still catching up with his writing, and someone who should develop over the next few years into a comedian that kills.

***

Reviewed by Stephen “Sharpie” Sharp
Pleasance Courtyard Bunker Two
Until 30 August
21.25 (1 hour)