Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Eddy Hare is half of ‘the UK’s lowest energy double-act’, Crizards, whose shows are known for their listless mood and laid-back pace, and there’s little departure from that in his first solo show.

The delivery is still and the material intricate, with Hare painstakingly building a whole worldview from a single offbeat idea: that he is a proud uncle-of-two. 

It’s a responsibility he takes intensely seriously. In his telling, it is a position only marginally less pivotal than fatherhood to his nieces’ upbringing. And as any other male comedian new to parenthood might reconsider his relationship with his own dad, Hare introduces us to his three uncles, of conveniently contrasting personalities. 

We also learn of his socially uncomfortable interactions with a children’s entertainer, the Portuguese love of smoking (half of his family’s from there), his first email address – which contains a swagger entirely absent from the mild-mannered 31-year-old now before us – and about the drugs he’s taking for a hairline, that’s long been receding making Hare seem like a cruelly ironic surname.

It’s all sweetly absurd, and VERY slow burn, with an occasional song (simple and low-key, of course) for texture. If there’s a layer beneath understatement, that’s where Hare’s deadpan operates. 

The commitment to the central uncle-based angle is absolute and goes from impressive to maddening then back to impressive again once you realise there’s no choice but to go along with this unsinkable premise. Submit to that, and Hare’s gentle humour – silly but never acknowledged – is a reassuringly comfortable place to be.

Review date: 8 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Pleasance Courtyard