one4review | On 29, Aug 2026

Famously booed off the stage at America’s Got Talent, Reuben Solo has always been something of a maverick performer. With a massive social media following and a love of incredible experimental bits that make for great short form content, there’s no denying that, while he may have struck out on US TV, he hits home runs with the right crowd.

Definitely not a standup, Solo’s act falls under the broad umbrella of “alternative comedy”, often involving clever set ups and ideas that make for amazing comedy. For example, this show starts with Solo languidly making his way to the stage accompanied by film-noir-esque jazz while an internal monologue narrates his (and sometimes the crowds) actions. It works so well, as many of his bits do.

It’s a little inaccurate to think of Reuben Solo’s performances as a one-man show. In reality this show is a two-hander with only one of the double act visible as the sound tech (Casey Filips) is considerably more involved than many. He helps the humour with a range of sound effects that he’s able to produce seemingly instantly, making both set ups and punchlines in response to the semi-improvised patter of Solo on stage. A recurring “nice joke” sting that plays whenever Solo does (or, sometimes, fails to do) a good line is particularly great. Filips also comes on the mic to help control the chaos and, indeed, appears as Solo’s hard-boiled internal narrator.

Solo clearly likes trying to think up new ways to interact with the audience and deliver his special brand of alternative and, as with all experiments, not all of them work. This is something which is uncomfortably true of one of the major bits in this set which I think crosses the line from “not funny” to “inappropriate” and borders on “illegal”.

An opening gag when Solo pretends to guess an audience member’s name, only to reveal that he already knew it as he had a printout of the list of ticket holders works well, but then Solo proceeds to start reading off names of attendees. Full names. And he starts calling them out trying to find them in the crowd. Including the name of your humble reviewer, obviously. It soon becomes clear that Solo and Filips have combed over the door list for people who have names they can riff on – a Thomas the Tank Engine sound for Thomases, Austin Powers music for a guy called Austin, and so on. They don’t push it too far by making fun of people with “hilarious” foreign names or anything, but that’s not many steps further down this road. He comments on how many tickets one person has bought, how few another has. It feels a bit like weird school bullying and oddly exposing for an audience. It also breaks some fairly fundamental rules of audience participation, sidestepping around people giving consent for their names to be shared with a crowd of strangers and jumps straight to the pointing and laughing. Ironically it’s the crowd who’s trust is betrayed by Solo here. And it’s odd because this is the only point where Solo’s work feels darkly edgy rather than playful and I’m pretty sure that’s unintentional and it sets an uncomfortable tone for the rest of the show.

Maybe I’m being sensitive. Most of the crowd didn’t seem to mind, though I think there was a palpable shift in their mood when Solo started double checking the names he was given by people kind enough to talk to him against his list. But for me, it really tarnished an otherwise great show that, as a fan of Solo’s online content, I had been looking forward to all Fringe. And the bit is not that good even if you do enjoy it and it takes up a long chunk of the show that could easily have been something else.

Live, Solo is obviously a bit less slick than his shorter content and perhaps that led me to have unrealistic expectations but the (internationally touring) show still felt a little under cooked to me. If you’re already a fan, I’d say it’s definitely still worth it, but if not, maybe check out some of his TikToks before you buy tickets.
*** 1/2
Reviewed by Tom
20.05 to 21.05
Until 31st August