He’s a comedian with approval issues, so desperate for fame and acclaim that he spends money he hasn’t got showcasing his talent... that he also hasn’t got. In a festival full of such characters, will a parody stand out?
Barry Castagnola’s been around comedy long enough for his spoof creation, Donny Donkins to have perfectly captured the traits of the stand-up hopeful naive about his chances and his ability. He’s got a ‘five-year plan’ to make it to the top, erroneously thinks he’s ‘edgy’ when he’s just crass, and arrogantly boasts that he’s ‘Stewart Lee, merged with Bill Hicks, but more funny.’
All he needs is to be spotted, he thinks. so he’s bet the farm on this big showcase of assorted TV ideas he’s convinced will break him through to the big time, complete with cheesy jingles and painful catchphrases. ‘You’ve been Donked!’
There’s more to this than astute industry in-jokes – although that’s a big part of a show that would probably struggle to exist outside the Edinburgh bubble. The Tom Cruise interview gets off to a cracking slapstick start, whereas today’s real chat-show guest, Arthur Smith, proves game, too. We’re in Partridge territory, of course, but unlike Norwich’s finest, no one could seriously believe Donkin would ever get near a TV camera.
Presenting isn’t his only imagined talent, of course, as he delivers awkward stand-up, a tissue-thin ‘character’ act, magic tricks without the magic, a cringe-inducingly graphic mime, and a bash at topical satire filmed at Margaret Thatcher’s funeral. It’s scattergun, but in keeping with Donkin’s unfocussed aim just to get on telly by whatever means.
It’s not much of a spoiler to reveal that a wheel come off proceedings with each passing segment, and Donkin does not emerge triumphant. But there’s also a sense that the comic momentum of the conceit, initially so strong, starts ebbing away too, as there’s only so many times his incompetence can score a laugh.
‘I feel I’m losing you slightly,’ Donkins – or is it Castagnola? – says around the crucial 40-minute mark, soon afterwards pleading: ‘Stay with me.’ Truth is, most sections could be tighter, as a brilliant 30-minute concept struggles to reach 60.
Donkin’s a finely observed creation, just out of his depth both in the fictional world and, to a lesser extent, the real one.
