Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

After taking a rare year off in 2024, CMB is back with another assured, delightful and frequently hilarious hour of material that presents like a chocolate box of lovely little routines.

His big news is that he ‘destroyed his life’ by walking away from a mortgage and an eight-year relationship, but he seems to have landed on his feet with a new partner who he takes an obvious pleasure in talking about on stage, in kind of a romantic way. He seems smitten, which is nice to see.

The new girlfriend, like his last, is from Australia, so far the nation most appreciative of his inexplicable sexual charisma. CMB’s theory is that, in a nation of bronzed gods, there’s a certain exoticism to ‘wee speccy guys,’ like something interesting David Attenborough might find under a rock.

Attenborough is one the many interests to get airtime in this show, alongside a lengthy description of Skyrim, smoking his girlfriend’s medical weed pen, and an examination of why the music you listened to as a teenager will always seem like the best music in the world (this last topic giving him an opportunity to bust out his excellent Morrissey impression.) 

If that sounds like a grab bag, it is, but that’s because CMB is one of the rare acts who can talk about anything – he’s so comfortable and charming on stage that he’s freed himself of the need to address big themes or nail his material to a tight narrative: whatever he wants to talk about is fine by us.

That being said, he does touch on some weightier topics: the death of his maternal grandparents who contributed significantly to his upbringing, and his changing relationship with his sexuality as he gets older and realises things about himself that were probably always true. 

His delivery on these topics is so relaxed and sincere, it makes a refreshing change from acts who feel like they’re working out their issues on stage or mining their personal histories for nuggets of emotion. CMB is in a place of peace, and his company is as wonderful as ever.

Review date: 13 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Tim Harding