Chris Gethard: A Father And The Sun | Edinburgh Fringe comedy review
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Chris Gethard: A Father And The Sun

Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Chris Gethard knows his place on the stand-up scene. He was once the ‘cool kid of American hipster comedy’, hosting a chaotic alternative talk show and getting cast in occasional roles in the likes of Broad City, Parks And Rec and The Office.

But now, at 42, he’s the archetypal suburban dad, living in New Jersey and absolutely loving it – and his three-year-old son, who was the main reason for moving out there.


Why, then, if kissing little Caleb goodnight is the thing that brings him most joy, has he flown across the Atlantic to talk to a few dozen people every evening in a converted billiard room? It’s the sort of soul-searching question many a comic asks after a brutal Fringe run, but Gethard is applying his curious, analytical mind to that dilemma from the get-go.


He also mulls fatherhood and the new versions of emotions such as stress, guilt and anger that his son can bring out in him. The comedian is cute and heartfelt when talking about his child’s development and has formed some pretty robust opinions about Elmo. Naturally, parenthood has also prompted Gethard to reflect on his relationship with his own father, an archetypically taciturn, workaholic, lower-middle-class man.

The landscape here is familiar, as so many male comedians have entertained similar thoughts when becoming a dad for the first time. But Gethard takes his own route through less trodden ground, interrogating his experiences and emotions with forensic intensity.

A Father And The Sun in a personal, philosophical show, placing riveting storytelling ahead of constant punchlines. Gethard paints vivid pictures of teenage bullies, of the joys and frustrations of fatherhood, of trick-or-treat pranks, and of keeping a tidy lawn.

It’s all told through the unmistakable prism of humour, but a laugh-a-minute it is not. What it is, however, is a tender, honest and touching hymn to the simpler pleasures of suburban family life told from the heart and with charm, modesty and affection.

Chris Gethard: A Father and the Sun is on at Gilded Balloon Teviot at 6pm

Review date: 8 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Teviot

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