Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

It’s hard to know what to make of Jain Edwards at first, but that’s all part of the plan. Her casual, collected delivery seems sincere, but the tone, and some of the premises seem off. 

Did her parents really have the best Shrek-themed marriage in Rhyl? Did she really experience an exorcism? And what’s with the fixation with a less well-known Gunpowder Plotter and killers Aileen Wournos and Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in England and arguably the most famous person from her hometown?

These darker obsessions, combined with references to witchcraft, set up a supernatural, folkloric undertone, amplified by the odd-looking moustachioed nesting dolls she unpacks over the hour

Back in reality, she opens up about her relationships, describing them as loving and equitable when it’s obvious there are more red flags than Tiananmen Square. She’s a natural optimist with a glass-half-full spirit that perseveres even with a horrible but hilarious incident when zorbing. 

The flip side of always seeing the best in people is that she’s a people-pleaser herself, ever compliant. At its lowest, that saw her getting a job to fund a boyfriend’s BabeStation addiction. But what a catch he was, a Flat Earther with a Samurai sword collection, definitely worth the sacrifice.

Still, she gets her own back here, now the scales have fallen from her eyes, with the worst consequence imaginable: having his search history revealed.

She finds validation when she takes up comedy, enjoying it from the start. Despite seeing it’s a boys’ club, she’s happy to do what it takes to fit in, but this joy soon becomes tainted, too. The supposedly progressive comedy circuit does not come out well from this at all, with many shutting Edwards out and telling her she’ll never have a career. That she’s presenting such a beautifully constructed debut show at the Fringe gives lie to those predictions.

In her life, as in this hour, the pivotal point came with a late-in-life autism diagnosis that explains, perhaps, why she was too trusting of people, taking what they said at face value.  This newfound clarity heralds a rather delicious resolution to the show too. The way she wraps all this up, making sense of (almost) everything that came before, is elegant, artful and deeply satisfying.

Review date: 13 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Underbelly Bristo Square