Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Paul Williams: Don’t Look at Me
Paul Williams
Genre: Comedy, Music, Stand-Up
Venue: Assembly Roxy
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Don’t Look at Me is a one-hour musical comedy set from Edinburgh veteran Paul Williams. The New Zealand-born comedian brings us a story about himself, a topic he proclaims to be the leading expert on.
Review
Paul Williams is an Edinburgh veteran and, as he puts it, his shows usually center around a story — a big moment in his life. Unfortunately, however, nothing happened this year. Don’t Look at Me’s strength then, lies in chaos.
It’s worth noting that Williams spends a decent while in the (roughly) third act of his show talking about reviews…both good and bad. While listening to this monologue, I was worried I’d be bullied into a good review irrelevant of my opinion. Interesting, though, he inadvertently pinpointed the very ethos of FringeReview. He spoke about how reviews are arbitrary and subjective, and that most bad reviews he’s received have one thing in common: they don’t understand him. This is the challenge of reviewing comedy. It’s not about whether I laughed (which I did) or if others in the room did (which they also did). It’s about whether or not the comedian achieved what they set out to do. I believe wholeheartedly that Paul Williams did.
Back to this idea of chaos. The show can best be compared to a standard book musical. It contained a series of songs with transitional book scenes in between. A standard theatrical algorithm, though, would argue that each of those pieces should relate to one another. The standard structure dictates a linear flow for the story. Not only does Williams follow a non-linear path, but it’s not always clear if he’s even on one. Without giving too much away, this meandering road seemingly to nowhere makes the payoff that much sweeter.
On an aside, Williams displayed a masterclass in audience interaction and control. He played through a number of distractions and tech hiccups, making many feel purposeful. He also got incredible buy-in early by not just asking for input, but demanding it. This creates the intimacy required for exceptional comedy, a challenge given Roxy Upstairs’ leaning toward conventional plays and musicals.
There is some room for improvement, primarily in pacing. The weight of time given to certain stories and asides feels a bit incorrectly weighted, but I imagine this will be ironed out as the run progresses.
