Edinburgh Fringe 2019
Angus Brown: Everest
Angus Brown
Genre: Comedic, Comedy, Stand-Up, Storytelling
Venue: Imagination Workshop
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Climb Mount Everest with an accomplished Australian comedian and storyteller.
Review
We are climbing mount Everest, one step on the ladder at a time, one base camp at the time, before reaching our ceiling/summit. This is the premise for an hour of skilled and nifty stand-up/storytelling from the pleasingly mouthy, world-wide and witty comic Angus Brown.
Angus takes us through an hour of sharply and sometimes in-yer-face observation of his family life, friends, places he’s been and wisdom he has picked up along the way. He is facinated by those who have taken the challenge, to reach the sumit of one of the (If not the) most corpse-strewn mountains in the world, the biggest, potentially most pointless challlenges for humans there is. This absurdist element allows us to look at the absurdities of life and the little man (and woman) as we seek to reach the stars. Life is both a view of the hierarchy upwards, the climb to somewhere higher because it is there, and perhaps for an even simpler, more ultimately satisfying reason…
The material often tears along at a breathtaking speed because this articulate comedian knows his material, is at ease with his audience, had PHD-level life observations but isn’t adverse to a fart gag either. The audience were laughing one moment and falling out of the roller-coaster the next, clinging on as they attempting to follow where the weaving monologue was heading. He can deliver words aplenty and then stop and pull our an improvised quip almost at the same time.
I was a little lost here and there and the material sometimes becomes a little too fast and dense. But our host is pretty much at ease with that and trusts us to stay with him. The comedy draws on some profound reflections on life but is mostly rooted in earthy tales of vignettes from the world we all know – of relationships, parenting, dealing with the day’s challenges and it all converges regularly on that metaphor of up, up and further upwards. It’s a show that gazes skywards but is delivered cheekily and properly here on the horizontal flat.
The audience enjoyed it immensely and appreciated some high-brow material that was offered to us like a smooth beer, satisfying and tasty. Prepare for some strong language, piercing directness but also a genuine respect of the audience’s role as necessary listener to both stand-up gags and valuable stories. I left with the right kind of thoughtful frown and an urge to get to Argos in the morning to buy a cheap stepladder. Oh, and maybe a red beanie hat. Highly recommended.
