The Groggy Squirrel

I went to see Andrew Bird by mistake. I had been recommended another show but forgotten the name and guessed it was this one. The minute he started, I realised I was in the wrong show and my heart sank a little that this was not the alternative weirdness I was promised , this was a bog standard ‘bloke with a mike’ type comic. He had began with some unremarkable ‘Edinburgh is a funny town’ shtick (which frankly I think he should just drop) but I am pleased to report that once he launched into the show proper he gradually and unexpectedly completely won me over.

Andrew had a lovely autobiographical tale to tell and told it in a very personable and entertaining way. It was a story of a private, internal school reunion of sorts. He realised he’d been away from high school for 10 years, he’d lost touch with his best friend, other friends were getting married and having kids – were they grown up enough? Is he ready for these things, should he behave more grown up and is he grown up now? Andrew goes on to fill us in on his last 10 years since leaving high school, how his career plans, music, technology, his ideas about love and relationships and the people around him have changed and that every time he feels that he should be grown up something happens to remind him that he’s not. Maybe we never grow up, maybe we just have more complex worries to deal with… He has created a beautiful little poignant backdrop of 3 pictures for the show and has a lovely surprise ending.

There were no cock jokes or polish plumber jokes or credit crunch gags, so he wasn’t really being a bog standard stand-up. It was actually a little more like Daniel Kitson, A story containing other funny stories and observations, about memories and unrealised dreams and friendship etc. I even found myself with a little tear at the end. He was a bit more mainstream and easygoing than Daniel though. Sometimes it is just so relaxing to spend an hour with a talented comedian who is just really nice and interesting and funny. I was surprised to find that Andrew was actually funnier than a few of the bigger names around I’d seen at the festival. Everyone says that you should try a random unknown show at the festival and its true, sometimes you might even enjoy them more than the ones everyone is raving about. If you are in need of a solid hour of sweet comedy Andrew Bird is a sure thing.

Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.