Review by Steve Bennett

Is it too demanding to ask that an hour-long solo show has some sense of purpose?

Glaswegian Mearns is a competent club comic who is easily able to chat entertainingly for 60 minutes. But just because he can, it doesn't mean he should, and it all proves a pretty forgettable, and ultimately unsatisfying, experience.

A mark of a show's depth must be the speed at which it gets under way. Mearns, tellingly, banters with his audience for a good quarter of his allotted time. And while he occasionally gets a good laugh from the usual 'where do you come from, what do you do?' line of questioning, it's really a bit aimless, and much more suited to a distracted comedy club audience than those seeking a one-man show.

His core material is funny enough, though nothing extraordinary, as he talks mainly about time as a criminal solicitor in one of Glasgow's less salubrious districts.

It's a solid, if slightly old-fashioned, routine, raising more than a few smiles and the odd bigger laugh.

Yet it all seems just a little too slight to be worthy of its own slot on the Fringe, where there are scores of shows with ideas and ambitions more worthy of a punter's time.

Review date: 1 Jan 2001
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett