Edward Aczel: BBC At The Fringe

With fellow comic John Smith.

More Edward Aczel videos

Edward Aczel is a project manager for a marketing company in Aylesbury, who has been performing comedy in his spare time since 2005. He has been runner-up in the BBC New Comedy Awards (2005) and semi-finalist in So You Think You’re Funny (2006). More recently he has appeared on Radio 4’s Loose Ends, Happy Mondays, Pick of the Week and 28 Acts in 28 Minutes.

Edward Aczel Doesn’t Exist
Live Review

Not so much a show, this, as a test of will. Can you remain entertained by Edward Aczel’s dry-as-dust stand-up even though he wilfully shuns any sense of presentation, let alone showmanship. With an act that’s more lull than LOL, this could be the longest 55 minutes of your life.

This artisan of anti-comedy delivers the full hour in a dreary monotone, barely above a whisper, as what he’s saying is often repeated in dull black-and-white PowerPoint slides. Is this a sharp satire on comics who uses such technological whistles and bells to try to elevate pedestrian material, or is it just boring? Who knows.

Certainly a few people here didn’t get the joke, with one man berating Aczel for not being able to work off-the-cuff when he was reading one segment from his sheath of notes. That the disgruntled punter, who walked out with his mates, appeared to have got in on a venue pass, which makes his interruption unforgivable, no matter how much he disliked the show.

The slides explain his career aims; as this is allegedly a presentation to explain why this mild-mannered middle manager would be an asset to any comedy project. He’s got a process flow diagram showing how he can become bigger than McIntyre, then further frames telling us how, for example, he would make an impact on any TV panel show.

Amid the pitch is a catalogue of bizarre yet dull pilot ideas, such as Edward Aczel: Time Travelling Mediator. Straightforward lists are the best way for Aczel to showcase his odd sense of humour – the bizarre aliases he suggests for himself in his rider are particularly silly – and there are some gems here. Mind you, none of these are unlikely as Claudia O’Doherty’s What Is Soil Erosion?, a genuine Fringe show.

As well as showcasing his competence, Edward Aczel Doesn’t Exist also serves as a masterclass – or at least a class – in stand-up, so we get advice from mic technique to heckler putdowns invoking how fat his antagonist’s momma might be. The irony of such a miserable performer telling anyone what to do doesn’t need to be spelled out.

For all the spurning of comedy convention, there are actually some jokes here – aside from the big one that is his entire stage persona. One particular story, involving characters in their various hats, evokes then undermines an old Tommy Cooper sketch. But – guess what – it goes on way too long.

More than Cooper, though, Aczel is in the spirit of Ted Chippington, the listless, monotonous early alternative comedian who so inspired Stewart Lee. The problem with such anti-comedy is that it’s a nice concept but often unbearable in reality, and Aczel flirts with both in a show that’s fitfully hilarious, but equally very draining.

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Edward gets perplexed reactions simply because he's so different from your standard stand-up. His material is very clever and funny, you just have to get into it!

Michael Monkhouse, April 2012

Saw Ed Aczel at the comedy bunker in Ruislip this week. Had never seen him before. Judging from the comments here, and my perception of how he went down, clearly he's a bit marmite. Personally thought he was excellent, laughed loads.

flapdoodle, October 2010

We saw Edward in a Comedy Showcase at the Edinburgh fringe, we laughed ten times more in his 10 minutes than in several other comedians' 1hour show. Possibly not for everyone as other postings state, but the entire crowd loved him

Bernard Farrell, August 2010

Absolutely abysmal

Stan Butler, June 2010

Saw him at the Leicester comedy festival. A very funny man, really great. Still laughing when I think about him saying 'I've just pulled a really long white hair out of my nose'

Paul Rasmussen, April 2010

Just been to see Ed at the Ashley Green Village Hall, a small and unusual venue. A very mixed crowd so tough for some of the other acts however Ed was excellent. His style is slow but every nugget is worth the wait! I laughed almost hte entire time, if not at his words then just at him! Looking forward to seeing how his routines develop. The only way to truly know if to see him yourself. He isn't going to be for everyone that is for sure, but I know a full room of people really enjoyed him on Saturday!

Barry, March 2010

Awful. Truly, truly awful. I went to see Edward Aczel at the Leicester Comedy festival last night and he was embarrasingly bad. There was precious little in the way of laughter, just an uninteresting man reading poor gags from a piece of paper. A throughly disappointing evening.

John, February 2010

I'm genuinely not sure what Arthur is going on about. I went to see Ed at Soho theatre and there was plenty of laughter. I've seen him before and understand if people dont get it, or enjoy it. But to say no one in the audience enjoyed it is a lie.

James, January 2010

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