Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Rohan Sharma: Mad Dog
Rohan Sharma/ Queenie Miller
Genre: Comedy
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard Below
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A debut hour that toys with our expectations. Mad Dog is part cultural mirror, part rapid-fire absurdity in an effort to eke out the truth.
Review
In his debut hour, rising comedian Rohan Sharma brings new meaning to the phrase ‘Asian Fusion’ with a unique take on being a British Asian via some clever subversion and playful patter. Sharma is performing at the Pleasance Courtyard, Below at 7:10pm until the 24th August.
As seats fill up (impressively full for a Monday night), gentle images roll by on the big screen: a happy Indian family smiling, hugging, radiating love. It’s all very sweet.
Once the final stragglers arrive, Sharma takes to the stage. He is exactly where he’s meant to be and yet, all at once, lost. Not literally or emotionally – watch the show to get more context on that one – but figuratively. He opens up about feeling pressured to live up to the stereotype of being an Indian comedian in Britain. His struggle isn’t that of the generations before him, but rather one of being so integrated into UK culture that he feels far too distant from his heritage to make a show that does justice solely to the hardships of being different.
Instead, we take a fun departure from all that end up hearing a lot about Colonel Gaddafi’s supposed time living in white, middle-class Beaconsfield, take part in Sharma’s madcap ‘racism test’ and have our expectations regularly challenged about what we assume about comedians whose heritage is easily stereotyped. This is the crux of the show. Beneath the wacky tangents and inventive multimedia gags lies a debut hour that is holding up a mirror, asking us: If I’m watching an Indian comedian, does the set have to be all about being Indian – or can we just have a laugh?
There’s real intelligence in the structure. Sharma doesn’t just reach for the safe laughs; he nudges us to self-reflect, without the material ever getting mushy, patronising, or ill-judged.
His ‘Mad Dog’ persona never fully convinces – Sharma is too gregarious, awkward, and endearingly goofy – but the key is that he knows it. So, when he ties the show together, subverting expectations and getting the crowd clapping along, it all clicks into place.
Rohan Sharma: Mad Dog feels like catching a comedian at the very start of an exciting journey – there are polished twists suggesting a more seasoned act, and yet rougher edges that could, with time, be refined into something truly special. He’s irreverent, cheeky, and he also handled an unfunny heckler with ease. A genuinely funny debut show.
