Jason Manford

Published Friday 24 August 2007 at 16:25 by Jeremy Austin

A mark of a good comedian is him or her saying something so bloody obvious that it is a wonder no-one else has.

As far as Edinburgh goes, Jason Manford’s stock Muslim gag is one such event. My dad says the weather in England is like the Muslims in Iraq, he says, as the audience shifts uncomfortably. Either it’s Sunni or its Shi’ite.

This year’s show from Manford is quite deliberately an hour of stand up with no theme. To successfully undertake such a thing is a big ask of a comedian and while Manford shows enough skill bantering with the audience, in order to carry his laid back style through the hour, his routines need more energy than they posses.

His closing routine on the subject of his driving test lost the admittedly odd audience on the night of the review and he failed to pick up on this and, excuse the pun, change gear accordingly.

A small criticism, though. Manford is a relaxed, natural comedian who otherwise identifies well with his audience. Again, his laid back style could benefit from a slight edge. When a member of the audience drops their mobile he hands it back making a point of not being the sort of comedian who would make an inappropriate phone call on it.

Good to hear it. Avoid comedy cliches. But some sort of comedy comment seemed to be needed. Manford is a skilled comic and with more direction could be one of the must sees of the Fringe.