Aidan Bishop: No Sissy Stuff - Fringe 2009
Live Review

It’s largely an abundance of charm that gets Aidan Bishop through his hour. The laughs aren’t big ones by any means, but by the end of it you just can’t help liking the fella.

That’s not just because he’s a good-looking lad with an accent from Queens, New York, it’s because his personality manages to work its way in to your consciousness.

Bishop begins his hour in very relaxed mode, almost too much so. He tells us he’s setting out to examine his sexuality (not question it, mind) and look at dating with the help of his Bachelor Pad – a badly written flip-pad mounted on an easel.

Off he ventures into his observations about women most of which, at first, appear stereotypical – how women favour romance over porn, how men shouldn’t be themselves in relationships and how women always prefer a bad boy – but he pulls it back, often subverting the stereotype he’s just reinforced.

As the show progresses there are moments of spark, when he opens the door to let some air into the stuffy Wee Room, he runs out shouting what a great show it is, a recommendation he repeats at the end when joins us in the crowd. It could so easily seem arrogant but instead is simply playful.

Elsewhere there’s a cheeky dance routine, he models a bra (badly- somehow he manages to get it on inside out) and a simple deconstruction of a typical episode of Sex And The City is a delight. Then there’s a lovely moment when his Bachelor Pad starts answering back.

There’s also a strong self-deprecating element. Towards the end he taps into what we’d all noticed, saying: ‘You’re thinking that I could have written the notes in his Bachelor Pad a bit neater and could have at least used a ruler.’