Review of the comedian's festive gameshow, in the guise of Sean Bean

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if it weren’t for Adam Riches pretending to be Sean Bean, riding an inflatable reindeer and booting mince pies into the audience.

The rowdy comedian is clearly hoping to set a festive trend with this touring seasonal version of his anarchic late-night Fringe show Dungeons And Bastards… and he could just be on to something.

With The 12 Beans Of Christmas built on the audience participating in all manner of silly activities, it could almost be considered a surreal successor to vintage prime-time gameshows like The Generation Game – only with Riches as a Bizarro Brucie, playing with the participants’ discomfort rather than trying to put them entirely at ease.

Riches has made a career out of playing alpha males, and the fact that this particular alter ego is untroubled by doubt gives the show an unstoppable momentum, immediately established by his boasts that nothing in history could match the spectacle of his opening moments.  When he offers the mince pies with a gruff ‘you want some?’, it’s hospitality and threat in one. 

For fear of reprisals from such a savage character, everyone pulled up on stage, however reluctantly, just HAS to go with it, no hesitation permitted. ‘It’ can be any sort of nonsense, from singing the medieval Latin Christmas carol Gaudete amid many distractions to firing a grape from a human trebuchet (Riches himself). Meanwhile, a game called Bastard is basically Traitors with all the pseudo-psychological nonsense stripped away to name which of the opposing team is the titular bastard, Bean’s favourite word.

There’s a Taskmaster-level of invention – and futility – in some of the stunts, while the fact that in all the games it’s ‘loser stays on’ further encourages people to do their best. 

The real Bean’s limited range gives this show a strong aesthetic – did I even hear Islands In The Stream playing in the background, but sounding like the theme tune to a swords-clashing epic? As Riches says, there are games here to delight all ages, ‘dark and middle’. And if you like themed wordplay like that, you’re in luck, as Riches’s brisk, witty script is packed with the bastards. 

For a no-nonsense character, ‘Bean’ is forced to oversee a lot of nonsense here, just like the real actor gives it his all on screen, however ridiculous the prospect. But Riches always acknowledges the chaotic stupidity through the superficial machismo.

He’s such a powerhouse performer, this stage is one place you know Bean WON’T die… The swagger is compelling, and even if the comic appears momentarily fazed when he loses a sheet of prepared questions down the back of the stage, the force of personality powers through, like it always does.  

The only complaint is that 50 minutes is just not enough of this foolishness (Well, that and the fact it was hard to sing along to the 12 Beans Of Christmas showstopper as the lyrics’ font size was too small). Merry Bastard Christmas to one and all.

• The 12 Beans Of Christmas is at Leeds Hyde Park Book Club tonight and Cambridge Junction on Friday

Published: 18 Dec 2025