Nick Doody: Look At This Massive Picture Of My Face
Live Review

Of all the posters for Fringe shows around Edinburgh this month, Doody's were the ones you were certain not to miss. They simply showed a massive picture of his face overlaid with the words Look At This Massive Picture Of My Face. The more savvy among you will already realise that it's a parody of the large scale pictures of other comedians less self-consciously sported by promo posters all over town, though Doody clarifies the point with a demo of two of the most common expressions adopted by comedians – 'you've surprised me getting off my horse' being one.

The show continues in reflexive mode with a kindly request to pay attention (it's frequently a problem in the free venues) leading into a routine about ignoring flight attendants' safety procedures aka their 'big moment'.  An otherwise respectable looking couple however didn't seem to see the irony that they continued to whisper to each other and even got out a phone that they both proceeded to look at it. Really there's no telling some people….

Had they bothered to pay full attention, they would have had no problem seeing that Doody is one of the most incisive comics on the Fringe.

Doody's always been unafraid to push at boundaries in his material. Here he notes how easily offence can be taken; for example how a certain word in the English language could prove inadvertently but potentially inflammatory spoken in the presence of a black dwarf. There's a response to the media's simplistic comedian-bashing topic of this Fringe (there's always one) which this year generalises about rape jokes, 'of course rape is wrong. That's why I did a joke about it, and not a rape.'

A woman shortly afterwards walks out. Doody wonders if she was offended or he had inadvertently reminded her of something she needed to do. And with remarkable comic timing, a few minutes later a pre-teen boy follows. 'Ah now I see,' notes Doody laughing.

Further into the show there's more observational material, straightforward stuff but filtered through Doody's common-sense, slightly exasperated view of the world. Female beauty products come in for his withering wit as does male sexuality. Approaching 40 as he is, there's more a wisdom at play he claims, but one that can on occasion be undermined by his cock.

Moving on to take in religion he creates a fantastic routine about how the notion of a Creator led to random aspects of religious practice… while a taxi driver's theory on 'what's up with Muslims' is sublime.

For a conclusion Doody, having mounted the political horse, leaves with a frankly visceral and vivid image of the beast Thatcher and her sucklings Cameron and Osborne that's likely to be imprinted on your retina when you go sleep. A gem of the Fringe, and a free one at that.