Brighton Fringe 2026
All-New Nik Coppin
Nik Coppin
Genre: Comedy
Venue: Laughing Horse at The Walrus
Festival: Brighton Fringe
Low Down
In his new show, Nik Coppin tries out something new. Join him as he road-tests new material, and the audience gets to decide which jokes, sketches, and puns stay in his repertoire and which are consigned to the comedy dustbin. Feedback doesn’t get more immediate than this.
Review
Over the last twenty years, stand-up comedy has exploded. More comedians than ever are trying to carve out a comedy career. Against this backdrop, coming up with something new and original can prove difficult. Nik Coppin may have found an unusual solution.
As he tells us, this show is about immediate feedback. You, the audience, are allowed not to laugh. After each randomly selected piece, we are invited to give vocal, immediate feedback and to score the joke. Such an approach is not for the faint-hearted.
So, this show is built on interaction. Fortunately, Nik is a seasoned comedy performer, both as an MC and a stand-up. He has performed at fringe festivals around the world. Indeed, I previously reviewed his regular festival compilation show, Shaggers. This has long been a fringe favourite.
Given his history, a show built around audience interaction is playing to his strengths. He possesses a warm, outgoing and energetic persona. He talks at great speed, thoughts fly in and out of his head as he works. Quick off the mark, the interchanges are fun and always end in something funny. As this show requires the crowd to work with him, he never picks on, belittles or makes fun of the audience. His skills allow him to create an atmosphere of mutual co-operation. We are all in this together.
The audience quickly warms to him; they get the format and quickly learn what is expected of them. This starts with Nik’s list of jokes, sketches and puns. We are invited to randomly pick numbers to decide which joke Nik performs next.
There were 17 on the list, and I think he covered them all. This gives some indication of the pace at which the show is delivered. Time flew by; it didn’t feel like an hour had passed. And this is important because the show’s energetic pacing gets the audience going. It builds excitement as we don’t know what is coming next. We pay attention, and it’s fun. It’s all part of the connection between performer and viewer.
As for the jokes, puns and sketches, they vary greatly in length, format and funniness. They don’t all work; some are even groan-worthy. There were puns that were clever rather than funny, and stories that didn’t quite work and one in need of a punch-line. That said, some of the stories had punch lines you couldn’t see coming, even though you knew there would be one!
Interestingly, Nik did include insights behind the curtain, explaining how to craft a comedy show, a story, or a gag, and why it might not have worked. This added a bit of depth to the experience.
But, and this is important, this isn’t meant to be a show where everything works. What went over well with one audience may not work with another. Under Nik’s skilful management, the parts that didn’t land actually enhanced the show’s enjoyment. Once the audience was given permission to laugh at not laughing, they found themselves laughing at their own response.
All of this was managed at a furious pace and with great aplomb. There was a continuous laughter track over the hour, and a warm feeling of camaraderie as we responded to Nik and told him what we thought.
In terms of things to look at. Well, that’s tricky. Some jokes would benefit from a bit of editing; there is too much setup/backstory. Some accents were spot-on, and some, not so much.
It is important to remember that bits of this stuff are not supposed to work. Nik is supposed to get things wrong, mess things up, and have the material not be crafted to perfection. The danger of suggesting possible improvements is that, by becoming better or more professional, you destroy what makes this such a joyful show.
I think Nik has created a comedy show with a difference. It’s fun, a lot of fun. Having the audience as part of the performance and facing very direct feedback on your material adds something extra than if his 17 jokes were in a standard set list.
Speaking to Nik afterwards, there is a limited run of these shows. It is my hope that he continues to do them and doesn’t try too hard to iron out
