Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

If you’re in need of cracking writing, slick performance, and sophisticated PowerPoint animation, look no further than this gem. Steve Goodie gives plenty of fast-talking huckster energy off the top of the show and keeps the audience engaged – without going manic on them – for the whole thing.

This is a tribute show to parodist extraordinaire ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic from an endearingly nerdy comedian, handy guitar/accordion player – and proud fan. Over the hour,  Goodie documents his early obsession with Weird Al, catching him on the radio when he was 12 and being enthralled ever since.  

Goodie’s animation skills have him in conversation with both his comedy hero and Daniel Radcliffe, who played him on the recent spoof biopic, in footage that has overtones of Scorsese’s King Of Comedy. Weirdly, it isn’t weird; audiences want to be beguiled. 

Goodie was also an early fan of Harry Potter and has ingested the books, the films and the theme parks, so having one hero in the biopic of the other must have felt like a lot of birthdays come at once. 

He weaves his own story in with that of both stars, with ego fully in check, and following in his comedy hero’s footsteps in being a fluent changer of lyrics, parodying ‘Weird Al’s parodies with the perfect articulation necessary. He does himself and his subjects proud.  

When Radcliffe was promoting his film on the Graham Norton Show, he cited Tom Lehrer as the funniest Man of the Century and performed The Elements Song, which I’ll never tire of hearing. It may be 65-year-old material and has probably bypassed a couple of decades of cool audiences, but it still lands, including with a tiny six-year-old, who should have been in bed but was about as delighted as you can be to be at a show.

As with the parodies of Weird Al’s hits, there’s comfort in watching something familiar that has been given a polish and fresh lustre for a new audience, infused with the warmth of a fan and the skill of a performer.

Review date: 7 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Julia Chamberlain
Reviewed at: theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall