Brighton Fringe comedy review

Harun Musho’d calls this show the ‘worst idea I’ve ever had’, given he had to plough though a pile of piss-poor Tory political memoirs so he could share some of the contents.

But Neil Innes’ line – ‘I’ve suffered for my music, now it’s your turn’ – seems apt here, as now we, too, have to endure the self-serving prose of one of the least talented but most entitled generations of politicians in modern history.

More crucially, Musho’d doesn’t really know what to do with the extracts, other than deliver them with a bit of a sneer or a pat comment.

For example, when David Cameron writes that the Better In campaign against Brexit was ‘led by Labour but driven by Conservatives’, the comedian’s only comment is a wry: ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ 

So it’s less a comedy show than at political science lecture – and not an especially revelatory or insightful one at that, despite Musho’d having worked in House of Commons as an HR director through the long Conservative administration. He doesn’t offer up much of a coherent argument, other than ‘weren’t they appalling?’ then recapping some of the evidence that, yes, they absolutely were.

You’ll likely either remember this in all its gory detail, or not care much.  You can make a case that would should never forget the venal incompetence of these political pygmies, but there’s not enough new insight here. 

To remind us that this is still important, Musho’d recalls the number of excess deaths caused by Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock’s actions over the pandemic, especially the dithering over locking down when the warning signs were almost impossible to ignore. Though he also credits them with accelerating the vaccine roll-out, for a bit of balance. All of this is a bit grim for a comedy show, for sure.

Elsewhere, we’re essentially getting topical comedy without the topicality. In a political landscape that’s moved on to the new, hyper-charged madnesses of Donald Trump, Brexit and Covid seem like ancient history.  ‘Liz Truss killed the Queen’ jokes were doing rounds on Twitter about two seconds after the old monarch’s death. Can’t we have something new three years on?

Meanwhile, pretty much every review of Nadine Dorries’ bonkers conspiracy-theory tome The Plot was more eloquent and funny than Musho’d can offer in his short section – though the  sheer insanity and inanity of some of the passages is still eye-popping. 

And we learn – well, are reminded –  that Johnson writes pretty well but has zero credibility, tossing out easily disprovable falsehoods as ‘facts’, just as he did when he was the Daily Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent, sowing the seeds of Brexit with his bendy bananas piffle.

You know you’re in trouble when one of your best laughs – and there aren’t that many to choose from - comes from ex-Speaker John Bercow’s character assassination of Theresa May. 

Former chief whip Simon Hart’s recent volume is revelatory, too, though the stories of him  having to rescue Tory MPs from blackmailers and alleged Russian agents in brothels were – understandably - well-covered in the press when the book was published in February. 

Again, we are left asking what added value Musho’d is providing, beyond reminding us these stories exist – the shortcoming that’s so detrimental to the whole show.

Review date: 7 May 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Brighton Caxton Arms