Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Will & Noah have put a lot of effort into their Fringe debut as a double act, with neat graphics (with a little help from AI) and music and sound cues to help elevate the sketches.

However, it sometimes feels as if these devices are more of a crutch for ideas that don’t quite make it – the sting providing a prompt that a punchline just happened in case you missed it, as can easily happen.

The idea that Will BF and Noah Geelan’s show is the antidote to us being on our phones too much is as good as any other, with the suggestion that original comedy content is being overwhelmed by repetitive user-generated slop. Sensibly, it’s not interrogated too much. In fact, when they try to address it at the end with some nonsense about defeating the algorithm that serves up substandard comedy online, they get needlessly entangled in their own meta-thinking. They’d previously identified a mash-up reprising many of the previous skits as ‘crappy’ and ‘really contrived’ – so it’s a shame they couldn’t see the same here. 

They struggle a bit to define the personality of the double act, beyond some preppy ‘oh boy!’ energy and their uniforms of crushed velvet jackets, bowties and braces holding up coloured trousers. But if there is a style, it’s to get carried away with their premises. 

Sometimes that works, sometimes it feels like they run out of puff with simple jokes padded out beyond justification. Case in point: Oppenheimer but instead of developing the atomic bomb, he developed the sitcom.

Tellingly, the few quickies they have that go against that ethos are strong, with the coin-toss a stand-out, so they do know when to stop if needs be.

In the credit column, their Alexander Graham Bell musical in the style of Hamilton and full of laboured, ill-researched, anachronistic  lines is a giggle. And the two characters meeting for the first time in a toilet queue at a house party unfolds rewardingly. 

The Uber drama, too, holds the attention as the absurdity forces it into unexpected directions to keep us on our toes.

On the debit side, Where’s Wally? Live is a great idea, but rather than just get the gag out the way – as their audience volunteer intuited was the best  course – they had to play out the much less funny follow-ups

They mock Elon Musk for suggesting Saturday Night Live have ‘woke James Bond’ as a sketch idea without fleshing it out, but it’s no worse a premise than their Batman skit. And the ‘making incels’ premise is just baffling.

And in the mixed results column comes the pair extending  ‘tickle the little invisible man on my hand’ pub gag into a full mini-drama, which deserves credit for ambition if not consistency. The commitment to the bit means it’s also the thing you’ll most remember about the show, given its prominent placement. 

The pair are engaging performers, but haven’t yet nailed the consistency.

• Chortle’s coverage of sketch and multi-character acts at the Edinburgh Fringe is supported by (but not influenced by) the Seven Dials Playhouse. Read more

Review date: 8 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Underbelly Bristo Square